'The Queen of Basketball', based on the life of legendary basketball player Lusia Harris won the Academy Award for Short Subject Documentary at the Academy Awards ceremony in Los Angeles. The award win for the film comes nearly two months after the death of Harris, who scored the first basket in Olympic women's basketball history and was the first woman officially drafted by an NBA team. Director Ben Proudfoot accepted the award, which was presented along with seven other categories during the Oscar pre-show.
His edited acceptance remarks were inserted into the live telecast. Ben said in his speech, "If there is anyone out there who doubts that there is an audience for female athletes and questions whether their stories are valuable or entertaining or important, let this Academy Award be the answer."With Shaquille O'Neal and Stephen Curry serving as executive producers, the film debuted in July 2021 and Harris died two months ago at the age of 66. Harris won three national championships at Delta State University in her native Mississippi in the 1970s, then led the US women's basketball team to a silver medal at the 1976 Olympics in Montreal (the first Games where women's teams competed).