"Lynette Woodard Reached For the Hoops in Kansas"

A Moment in Time

Kansas Historical Society

A monthly series from the Kansas Historical Society

She started shooting with a stuffed sock when learning basketball from her brother. By age ten Lynette Woodard was in demand as a neighborhood basketball team member. The talented Wichita native was making her mark, often serving as team captain of the mostly male players.

As a ninth grader at Marshall Junior High School, Woodard was asked by the coach at Wichita North High to join the junior varsity team, but she declined. She preferred to wait until the following year to join the varsity team. At five-foot-eleven, Woodard was a standout in women's high school basketball. As a sophomore, she led her team to win the 5A state championship in 1975 and two years later received national recognition as an all-American high school team member.

Woodard took her team-playing philosophy to the University of Kansas in 1977. As a Jayhawk, Woodard scored a total of 3,649 points in four years to set a record as the top scoring college woman basketball player in the history of the National Collegiate Athletic Association. Many of Woodard's records and honors are still unchallenged today.

The Kansan next put her talent to work for the U.S. Olympics. In 1980 Woodard was selected as one of twelve on the Olympic women's basketball team, but due to the U.S.-led boycott, her team did not participate. However, Woodard led a second Olympic women's basketball team to victory and to a gold medal in 1984.

In 1985 Woodard was signed as the first woman on the world famous Harlem Globetrotters. She played as a Globetrotter for two years before competing professionally on Japanese and Italian teams. Woodard is now a member of MAGNA Securities Corp., where she serves as vice president of another history-making team -- the first brokerage firm to be owned by African American women.

Several other outstanding African American sports figures and team players also have called Kansas home. Elwood "Bingo" DeMoss, born in 1889 in Topeka, played second base as a professional member of the Negro League. He led the Chicago American Giants to four championships. Gale Sayers, born in 1943 in Wichita, advanced his football career at the University of Kansas; in 1965 "the Kansas Comet" signed with the Chicago Bears. Veryl Switzer of Nicodemus became an All American at Kansas State University before joining the Green Bay Packers. Switzer returned to K-State following his professional football career to continue his work with Kansas athletes. Barry Sanders of Wichita is said to defy gravity when running with the football. As a running back for the Detroit Lions, Sanders continues the tradition of talented athletes.