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A proposal that would provide teachers an average salary increase of $4,700 over two years passed both the Senate Education and Appropriations committees Thursday and could be considered by the full Senate as early as Friday morning.

The House already has passed its teacher pay proposal and sent it to the Senate. The leadership of both chambers have said providing a substantial pay raise for teachers is one of their top priorities during the 2022 session. Either plan, if passed, would represent one of the largest pay raises for teachers in history.

More than likely, a combination of the two plans will ultimately pass during the 2022 session and be sent to Gov. Tate Reeves, who has said he supports a teacher pay raise, though his plan is for a smaller increase than what is being proposed by legislators.

The plan passed out of the Education Committee Thursday was first proposed by the chamber’s presiding officer, Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann, and Sen. Dennis DeBar, R-Leakesville, chair of the Education Committee.

The plan is estimated to cost $210 million over two years. The money spent in the first year – $166 million – would adjust the salary ladder to provide a “significant” raise for teachers, DeBar said. The money in the second year would be to provide a $1,000 across-the-board raise for teachers.

The ladder, which is written in state law, determines the state compensation each year for teachers based on years of experience and education level. Each year, with no action from the Legislatures, teachers get a small increase – around $500 — as they garner another year of experience. Teachers also receive more pay based on their academic degrees. Currently teachers in their first three years of service do not receive an automatic increase. Under the Senate plan, they would.

The plan also would provide significantly larger raises for each five-year increment —  $1,325 for a teacher with a bachelor’s degree, $1,425 for a master’s, $1,525 for a specialist and $1,624 for a doctorate. The teachers would automatically get the larger step increases every five years and, importantly, the larger incremental increases would become part of their regular pay. Under existing law, teachers receive an additional $2,000 annually in their pay when they reach 25 years of service.

“We are giving teachers incentives to go into the profession and to stay in the profession,” DeBar said.

The House plan, which would be enacted in one year instead of the two years in the Senate bill, has an estimated costs of $219 million.

The plan would increase the starting pay for teachers from $37,000 to $43,124 annually compared to $39,897 for the region and $41,163 for the nation, according to information provided by the House leadership.

The bill also provides a $2,000 salary hike for teacher assistants. The Senate plan at this point does not provide a pay increase for teacher assistants.

Pay for Mississippi teachers, based on various metrics, is the lowest in the nation.

The post Senate teacher pay plan passes committees; next stop before full chamber appeared first on Mississippi Today.

The Senate Education Committee passed legislation Thursday banning the teaching of critical race theory in K-12 public schools and in the state’s public universities and community colleges. If made into law, opponents say the bill is likely unconstitutional. 

SB 2113 is among a litany of bills filed during the 2022 session that seek to ban the controversial subject. Both House Speaker Philip Gunn and Gov. Tate Reeves have spoken forcefully against critical race theory. They have vowed to ban the theory, which they say seeks to divide people by race, from being taught in schools. Supporters of critical race theory say that it is a misunderstanding of the academic framework, which examines the role racism plays in systems like health care, education, housing. 

The bill states no public school or public college or university “shall make a distinction or classification of students based on account of race” and cites specifically that critical race theory is something the legislation would “prohibit.”

At the K-12 level, the Mississippi state Department of Education has maintained for months that critical race theory is not taught. Rather, it’s a concept primarily discussed at the university-level — and that is where legal experts say the bill potentially violates the state and U.S. constitutions. 

It is unusual for the Legislature to specify the curriculum of public schools, especially public universities. Section 213 of the state Constitution mandates that the public universities “shall be under the management and control” of the Board of Trustees for the State Institutions of Higher Learning.

The bill likely infringes on the contractual right that faculty, especially those with tenure, have to academic freedom, said Matthew Steffey, who teaches constitutional law at Mississippi College.  

“Universities are set up with promises of academic freedom as part of their accreditation process,” Steffey said. “It’s extremely problematic for state law to try to infringe on the existing contractual rights and commitment at the individual professor level and at the university level. 

“Imagine a statute that says a biology teacher can’t teach evolution in a university biology class,” Steffey added. “That would severely constrain a university professor’s academic freedom.” 

Jarvis Dortch, the executive director of the ACLU of Mississippi, said K-12 teachers may not be able to challenge the bill if it becomes law, but that it will depend on the rules and regulations to enforce it put in place by MDE. Compared to university faculty, K-12 teachers have a more limited right to free speech in the classroom because they teach curriculum that is set by the state. 

“I think we expect much more debate and dialogue in a college setting than we do in K-12,” Dortch said. 

READ MORE: Is Mississippi really removing civil rights history from its teaching standards?

As written, Dortch said the bill is so vague it’s hard to tell how it might impact students and faculty at the university-level beyond placing limits on speech. He pointed to a line in the bill that would prevent public schools and universities from making “a distinction or classification of students based on account of race.” 

“I’m not sure what that means but I know it can touch on a lot of things from the law school at Ole Miss recognizing the Black Law Students Association or having a diversity program, any type of affirmative action program,” he said. 

The IHL board did not respond to a request for comment from Mississippi Today by press time. 

During Thursday’s committee hearing, Sen. Michael McLendon, R-Hernando, told members of the Senate Education Committee Thursday he had heard from many constituents concerned about the issue in the DeSoto County public schools.

“I have had so many of my constituents ask me if this is going on in our schools? Is there ever a chance of it going on?” said McLendon, who is the primary author of the bill. 

Senate Education Chair Dennis DeBar, R-Leakesville, asked McLendon if “basically this is a simple bill to ensure everything being taught in our classrooms is color blind, no preference of anything.”

“Absolutely,” McLendon responded.

Sen. David Blount, D-Jackson, said, “There is a lot that needs to be said about this retrograde bill, about racism, about race and power in Mississippi.” But Blount said he would withhold those comments since the full Senate was about to convene, cutting short the Education Committee.

Sen. David Jordan, D-Greenwood, a veteran of the state’s civil rights struggles, did ask why the legislation is needed.

“This to me is not necessary. It creates more problems than it solves,” Jordan said. “Teach the subject matter…As a retired teacher I think it does more harm than it does good.”

The post Anti-CRT bill passed out of Senate committee likely unconstitutional, opponents say appeared first on Mississippi Today.

The 2022 regular session of the Mississippi Legislature began Jan. 4 and is in full swing.

After the Jan. 17 deadline to file general legislation, the House had 1,035 bills assigned to committee; in the Senate, 887. Spending and revenue bills face later deadlines. The deadline for each chamber to pass its own bills and send them to the other chamber is Feb. 11.

To check the status of a bill in the Mississippi Legislature, click here.

Some bills of interest this year include:

Teacher pay raise

Senate Bill 2444 would increase teacher pay by years of experience and level of certification. It would raise pay an average of $4,700 over two years and restructure the way teachers are paid to provide them higher salaries in the long-term.

READ MORE: Senate leaders unveil historic plan to significantly increase teacher pay

House Bill 530 would increase all teachers’ pay by $4,000 to $6,000 a year and boost starting teachers’ pay from $37,000 a year to $43,125, above both the Southeastern and national averages.

READ MORE: House unveils its own massive teacher pay raise, tops Senate proposal

Medical marijuana

Senate Bill 2095, overwhelmingly passed by the Senate and pending in the House, would allow chronically ill Mississippians to use medical cannabis. It would replace a program approved by voters in 2020, but shot down by the state Supreme Court on a technicality.

READ MORE: Senate overwhelmingly passes Mississippi medical marijuana

Equal pay

Senate Bill 2451 and House Bill 770 would prohibit Mississippi employers from paying people of different sexes different pay for the same work. Mississippi is now the only state in the nation without an equal pay law, after Alabama passed one in 2019. Women working full time in Mississippi earn 27% less than men, far greater than the 19% gap nationwide. That gap grows worse for Black and Latina women in Mississippi, who are paid just 54 cents for every dollar paid to white men.

READ MORE: Will Mississippi continue to short-change women on equal pay?

Education and race

HB437 is among multiple bills filed that would prohibit the teaching of critical race theory in kindergarten through 12th grade schools. Some of the bills, including Senate Bill 2113, also would prohibit the teaching of critical race theory on the university level. State Department of Education officials have said critical race theory, which strives to explore the impact of racial discrimination on various aspects of society, is not being taught in the public schools.

HB750 would require the state Department of Education to develop a curriculum on African American studies and racial equality for the public schools.

College financial aid

SB2695 would require state financial aid to be based primarily on need.

Voting

HC20 is among multiple pieces of legislation that would restore voting rights to people convicted of certain felonies once they complete their sentence.

HC16 would move state elections, such as for governor, county offices and others, to presidential election years.

HB377 would restore voting rights to military veterans who were convicted of certain felonies.

HB893 would prohibit public officials from changing political parties during their term in office.

HC19 would impose term limits on legislators.

HB22 would allow no-excuse early voting.

HB292 would allow online voter registration.

Health care

HB108 would expand Medicaid as is allowed under federal law to provide health care coverage for primarily the working poor.

SB2107 would allow an exemption from vaccinations for children enrolling in the public schools based on parental or religious objections.

SB2726 would prevent entities receiving state funds from imposing a COVID-19 vaccine mandate.

Criminal justice

SB2407 would allow employs of people convicted of crimes to provide reports to probation officers to prevent the need for the employee to leave work to report to a probation officer.

SB2244 would make many people convicted to life in prison when they were under the age of 18 eligible for parole after 20 years.

HB560 would make it easier for people convicted under the age of 21 to earn supervised release.

Early childhood education

HB875 would develop a statewide universal pre-kindergarten program.

Social media

SB2573 would require social media companies to file report with the Secretary of State’s office detailing the reasons for restricting candidates and elected officials from their social media platform.

Initiative process

SC 521 would restore the initiative process to allow citizens to gather signatures to bypass the Legislature and place issues on the ballot. The proposal would change the language that the Supreme Court ruled this past May invalidated the initiative process. The process also would allow the initiative process to be used to change state law or the Constitution. The old process allowed the initiative to be used only to alter the Constitution.

Social policy

SB2356, dubbed the Real You Act, would prohibit people convicted of crimes from changing their name while incarcerated and would require medical approval or other approval for a minor to legally change his or her sexual identity.

The post Mississippi Legislature 2022: Bills to watch appeared first on Mississippi Today.

The House on Wednesday passed a Senate medical marijuana proposal, but only after changing the bill to lower the amount of cannabis a patient could get.

The amended bill now goes back to the Senate. If the Senate does not approve the House changes to the bill, it will move to conference committee, where leaders from both chambers will negotiate the specifics of a final bill.

The House vote on Wednesday was 104-14 on the amended Senate Bill 2095.

“This bill is about the people who are suffering,” said House Drug Policy Chairman Lee Yancey. “That has gotten lost in this debate … These are debilitating conditions, not something you can fake and go to a doctor and get cannabis.”

READ MORE: Senate vote on Mississippi medical marijuana bill expected Thursday. Here’s a look at the bill.

The House lowered the amount of “flower” a patient could receive from 3.5 ounces a month to 3 ounces a month. The Senate had previously lowered the amount from 4 ounces in its original draft to 3.5 ounces. The lowered amount is likely a nod to Gov. Tate Reeves, who had threatened a veto and said it allowed patients too much marijuana and would be a toehold for recreational use and the black market.

READ MORE: Senate overwhelmingly passes Mississippi medical marijuana

The House also removed the Department of Agriculture from any oversight of the program. State Agriculture Commissioner Andy Gipson had publicly objected to his office participating in the program.

In addition, the House amended the Senate bill to say that growing operations could be located in areas with local commercial zoning. The original bill said they could locate only in industrial and agricultural zoned areas.

Lawmakers are attempting to reenact a medical marijuana program after voters overwhelmingly passed one — Initiative 65 — in 2020, only to have it shot down on a technicality by the state Supreme Court. But the Legislature in this conservative state has struggled for years with the issue, despite growing voter sentiment that the state join most others in legalizing marijuana for medical use.

READ MORE: How regulated should Mississippi medical marijuana be?

House members unsuccessfully attempted numerous other amendments to the Senate marijuana bill in both committee and on the floor, but they failed. They included measures to provide quicker expungement of criminal convictions to allow people to participate in the program, and to reduce or eliminate taxes on medical marijuana. Similar amendments had been unsuccessfully offered in the Senate when it passed the bill.

The bill allows patients with more than two dozen chronic, debilitating conditions, such as cancer and epilepsy, Alzheimer’s disease and spastic quadriplegia to be certified to purchase and use medical marijuana. Conditions can be added to the list only by the Department of Health. It allows physicians, certified nurse practitioners, physician’s assistants and optometrists to certify patients for cannabis use. A patient has to have an in-person assessment, a “bona fide relationship” with the practitioner and a follow up assessment within six months. Only physicians can certify minors for use. For people aged 18-25 — most susceptible to abuse of the drug, drafters said — a doctor plus another practitioner have to sign off on certification.

The bill applies the state sales tax (currently 7%) to retail sales of cannabis. It also applies a 5% excise for cultivation and creates a tiered system of licenses and fees for growers and processors. Money collected goes into the state general fund.

The Senate bill has a prohibition on lawmakers voting on the measure or their spouses having an interest in a cannabis business for one year. Rep. Dan Eubanks, R-Walls, tried unsuccessfully to make that prohibition permanent and prevent lawmakers from “cashing in” and provide “integrity and transparency.” His amendment failed on a 69-39 vote.

Rep. Omeria Scott, D-Laurel, unsuccessfully offered an amendment to allow outdoor growing to more easily allow Mississippi farmers to participate in the program. Like similar amendments offered in the Senate, it failed. Bill drafters said that indoor growing allows the program to be more easily monitored and regulated and prevent black market and organized crime infiltration of the program.

The post House amends Mississippi medical marijuana bill, sends it back to Senate appeared first on Mississippi Today.

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As the Legislature debates how to increase pay for Mississippi’s public school teachers, some educators and advocates say they are surprised and pleased by the proposals.

The House and Senate introduced separate proposals last week. The Senate plan would bring the starting salary for teachers up to $40,000 and includes significant pay raises at five-year intervals as teachers gain more experience. The House plan includes a starting salary of $43,000 and a $2,000 raise for teacher assistants. 

“When I saw the Senate plan and then the House plan, I was really pleasantly shocked,” said Klara Aizupitis, a U.S. History teacher at South Panola High School. “I was not expecting anything close to this. I had been expecting more of what we had been seeing, the lip service saying there was going to be a raise and then having it actually be something much smaller.”

Aizupitis said the House plan looks “really wonderful” in terms of making Mississippi competitive with other Southern states and was glad to see it includes raises for teacher assistants, but the five-year increases in the Senate proposal shouldn’t be overlooked. 

“To have something every five years to be looking forward to…is actually really important for keeping teachers around, not only attracting them to Mississippi but keeping them here,” she said. 

Nationally, nearly 50% of new teachers leave the profession within their first five years, according to the National Commission on Teaching and America’s Future.

READ MORE: How much would your pay increase under the Senate’s pay raise plan?

Aizupitis has been teaching in Mississippi for five years. She coaches varsity soccer and girls powerlifting to supplement her income, as well as teaching at summer school. 

“I really want to keep teaching, and at the moment I can’t imagine myself doing anything else. But throughout the year, in the moments when I’ve been working 12, 13, 14, 15-hour days, there’s always something in me that asks ‘is it worth it?’” she said. “That I could be making as much, if not more, to actually have a life outside of my job is always something that is in the back of my mind.”

Tiffany Davis, a kindergarten teacher at Webb Kindergarten Prep in Greenville, called the pay raise plans “long overdue.”

Davis said she appreciated the House plan including a raise for teacher assistants, and had heard some teachers express concern about the Senate’s plan to phase in the raises. 

“They’re afraid you’ll get the first year’s (raise) and the next year it will be ‘oh, we ran out of money,’” she said. 

Davis, who has been teaching for 25 years, has taught classes at Mississippi Valley State University through a satellite campus and cleaned houses to make ends meet. She is not confident that proposals will make a significant impact, as she believes recruiting new teachers is also about making schools a place where people want to work. 

Davis also cited the decrease in new teachers graduating as another point of concern. 

According to a report from Mississippi First, there has been a 32% decline in graduates from Mississippi’s educator preparation programs between 2014 to 2018. 

“I think (these plans) will be a great starting point, because most people who are in the 

profession know going in that this is not a high paying job,” said Athena Lindsey of South Delta Middle School.  “So I think (this raise) will help them stay the course, because that’s what we really want. Once you get into the profession and you feel it and you love it and you know that this is your calling, you’ll stay. The problem is getting them in.” 

Lindsey said that she likes parts of both plans. She likes the pay bumps in the Senate plan, which she believes will help keep veteran teachers in the classroom, but also appreciates that the House plan includes teacher assistants, saying that they play a vital role in education. 

One aspect Lindsey hopes the Legislature will address is student loan forgiveness. She knows many teachers, herself included, who went back to school to see a pay raise by getting advanced degrees. 

“But by going back to school, you still put yourself further in debt,” Lindsey said. “So by putting yourself further in debt, even when you get that pay increase, you still can’t really feel it, you can’t see it, you can’t enjoy it.” 

Erica Jones, president of the Mississippi Association of Educators, also added that she thinks the plans should include raises for all education support staff, such as bus drivers, cafeteria workers, and facilities management, as well as the raise for teacher assistants currently in the House plan. 

 “A teacher pay increase at this point will be just what they need,” Jones said. “They have really had to battle going through the pandemic, working remotely, working on a hybrid schedule. As our educators continue to go in every day and do their best, this is the right time for legislators to increase teacher pay.”

Davis and Aizupitis emphasized the essential role that teachers play in shaping society, saying that they are hoping it continues to be recognized after these plans are considered. 

“Teachers are the profession that makes all other professions possible,” Davis said.

Clarification 1/19/22: The starting salary at the base level in the House proposal is $43,000, not $43,125.

The post ‘I was not expecting anything close to this:’ Teachers react to pay raise proposals appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Bipartisan support has grown in recent years for an equal pay law in Mississippi — the last state in the nation to fail to provide legal recourse for women paid less than men for the same work.

Bills are pending in both the Senate — which has passed equal pay bills twice in recent years — and the House, which killed those Senate bills but in 2018 passed a bill with an equal pay amendment attached and appears to have more support for the measure this year.

“I am pleased that equal pay for equal work has gained so much momentum this year,” said Attorney General Lynn Fitch, who has championed equal pay legislation for years.  “It is a simple but powerful way that Mississippi can empower women.  It demonstrates our commitment to affirming the inherent dignity of women and ensuring basic human fairness.”

Judiciary A Chairwoman Angela Cockerham, I-Magnolia, has authored House Bill 770, which has been passed out of committee and awaits a full House vote. Cockerham said that could come as early as this week, and that she hopes the measure will have bipartisan support.

“I am grateful that we have gotten it out of committee and before the full chamber,” Cockerham said. “… This would be monumental for the state of Mississippi and for the women of this this state.”

Senate Judiciary A Chairman Brice Wiggins, R-Pascagoula, and Sen. Nicole Akins Boyd, R-Oxford, have co-authored Senate Bill 2451.

Both bills would create a state “actionable right” for any employee paid less for equal work based on sex. Federal law already provides such a right, but taking an employer to task in federal court is a more difficult, and often more costly task for aggrieved employees.

READ MORE: Will Mississippi continue to short-change women on equal pay?

“The House has a number of cosponsors, bipartisan, for their bill as I understand, so I’m optimistic and hopeful that this is the year,” Boyd said. “I think this would send an important message to our young women that you are valued and that we want you to stay in Mississippi.”

Boyd said she recently held an informal “focus group” of young Mississippi law school students, and that to a person, both male and females in the group voiced strong support for equal pay.

Wiggins said the attorney general has continued to champion the legislation, and he said the Senate bill mirrors Alabama’s law, which was passed in 2019, leaving Mississippi as the only state without such a measure.

“This is a conservative approach — meaning the state will no longer be last on this issue, but it will not infringe on the rights of businesses,” Wiggins said. “… Part of the debate has been that people don’t want the state injecting itself into private business, and this minimizes that, while allowing a cause of action (for employees) on a state level … I look at my daughter, and I want this to tell her that the state of Mississippi is good for women in the workforce and for our next generation of women. This is about getting the right policy and I believe our bill does that.”

Over decades, legislative efforts to pass an equal pay law have been quietly snuffed out in committee, typically without a vote and typically without much public discussion by opponents. Opponents’ stated rationale has been that there are already federal equal pay laws, and that they don’t want to put undue regulations on businesses or cause a bunch of unwarranted lawsuits.

But efforts to pass an equal pay law have grown stronger in recent years.

Recent studies show women make up 51.5% of the population in Mississippi and nearly half of its workforce. They are the primary breadwinners for a majority — 53.5% — of families in this state, which is the highest rate in the nation.

But women working full time in Mississippi earn 27% less than men, far greater than the 19% gap nationwide. That gap grows worse for Black and Latina women in Mississippi, who are paid just 54 cents for every dollar paid to white men.

Women make up nearly 60% of those in Mississippi’s workforce living below the poverty line. The state has continually ranked worst or near-worst in most every ranking for working women.

Lawmakers on the Senate Labor Committee heard these and other similar statistics and issues in hearings in the fall. Senate Labor Chairman Sen. John Horhn, D-Jackson, vowed to push the issue again this year.

“I honestly couldn’t tell you where the opposition has come from,” said Horhn. “This just seems like a no-brainer, and it’s time to get this done.”

But it will likely again be (quietly) opposed by business interests and ultimately decided by a Legislature that is only about 16% female, and remains much whiter and more male than the state of Mississippi at large.

The post Equal pay for women: Is this the year Mississippi will join rest of the nation? appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Mickey Spagnola, veteran NFL writer and former Jackson Daily News sports writer, joins the Cleveland boys to discuss the Dallas Cowboys and their devastating Sunday defeat in the NFL playoffs. Spagnola, who has covered America’s Team for 38 years, talks extensively about Dak Prescott, how the Cowboys lost, and about a series of Dallas playoff debacles over the last few years.

Stream all episodes here.

The post Podcast: The Dallas Cowboys: America’s Team appeared first on Mississippi Today.

For the money Mississippi spends each year to imprison a kid, it could have paid the annual tuition to a state college — twice.

One out of every 14 people in Mississippi’s prison system — about 1,181 — were arrested and detained before the age of 18, Southern Poverty Law Center calculated for a recent report.

The practice of locking up minors especially harms Black families: 85% of these people who arrived to jail as children are Black.

Lawmakers are considering two bills aimed at reducing prison sentences for young people, which would help the state with its goal of decreasing the prison population, after a law passed last year expanded eligibility for parole.

“We’re trying to make a case that with the juvenile sentencing — it makes common sense. That’s just common sense if you want to decarcerate prisons,” said SPLC policy analyst Delvin Davis, who researched the report.

One bill, authored by Republican Senate Judiciary B Committee Chairman Sen. Joey Fillingane, addresses life sentences for people who were under 18 when they committed a crime. The new law would make most of these people eligible for parole after 20 years.

Another bill, called the Youthful Offender Law and authored by Democratic Rep. Jeffrey Harness makes it easier for people who were under 21 when they were arrested to earn supervised release for good behavior.

Mississippi remains one of the most incarcerating states in the nation, recently surpassing Oklahoma after that state passed significant reform that allowed more people to commute, or shorten, their sentences.

If U.S. states were countries, Mississippi would have the second highest incarceration rate in the world behind Louisiana, according to Prison Policy Initiative. About one out of every 100 people in Mississippi are locked up, including jails and immigration and juvenile detention centers.

The cost is extraordinary: Mississippi spends $18,480 a year to incarcerate one person. To compare, the cost of in-state tuition at Mississippi State University and University of Mississippi are each under $10,000 a year.

The U.S. Supreme Court has already ruled in 2012 that sentencing minors to mandatory life without parole is unconstitutional, even in cases of violent crime. Though, Mississippi challenged that ruling, and last year the new conservative court upheld harsh sentencing for juveniles in some instances because of the Mississippi case.

Science shows the human brain doesn’t fully develop until a person’s mid-20s and young people are more susceptible to peer pressure and impulsive behavior.

“Incarcerating youth has been proven to have many consequences, including an increased likelihood of recidivism after release, exacerbation of mental illnesses, and less success with educational achievement and gainful employment,” the SPLC report reads.

Nearly 70 people who entered Mississippi’s prison system as juveniles are still locked up 20 years later. The oldest of them is 67. Imprisoning those people alone is costing taxpayers $1.2 million a year.

The SPLC argues the state may reinvest that money in ways that help people reenter society and become successful, such as job training and counseling.

The post Lawmakers consider ‘common sense’ laws to ease prison sentences for minors appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Lusia Harris, the Wilt Chamberlain and Bill Russell of women’s basketball, has died. The Minter City native who led Delta State to three consecutive national championships at the highest level of women’s college basketball was 66.

Known to her friends and a legion of Delta fans as Lucy, Harris burst on the national basketball scene in 1975 when she led Delta State, known as the Lady Statesmen, to a 28-0 record and the national championship. And that was only the beginning. From a distance of nearly half a century, her accomplishments are mind-numbing. For instance:

• She averaged 26 points and 14.5 rebounds per game for her four-year Delta State career and was the MVP of all three national tournaments. She once scored 58 points in a game against Tennessee Tech. She scored 47 points in one of the first women’s games ever played at Madison Square Garden.
• She starred on several U.S. National teams and scored the first basket in Olympic women’s basketball history in 1976. That U.S. team won the silver medal.
• She remains the only woman ever drafted by an NBA team. The New Orleans Jazz famously drafted Harris in the seventh round in 1977. She declined to try out. There was no WNBA at the time. Harris played one season in a fledging women’s professional league and then returned to the Delta to coach high school basketball.

Harris was one of the first two women inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame, the sport’s international hall of fame, in 1992. She was inducted into the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame in 1990. She was an inaugural inductee into the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame in 1999.

Langston Rogers, another Mississippi Sports Hall of Famer and longtime Ole Miss sports publicist, was the Delta State sports information director in the 1970s and was there for the women’s basketball team’s incredible four-year run during which they won 109 games and lost only six. Over the three championship seasons, they were 93-4.

“Lucy was truly the first superstar of the women’s game,” Rogers said. “She just dominated. Nobody could dominate a game like Lucy could. She was 6-foot-3, weighed 185. She was a tremendous leaper, and she was so strong. She had great hands. Lucy would be the first to tell you she had a lot of help and she had a great coach (Margaret Wade), but she was the driving force of three national championship teams. She meant so much to Delta State.”

Rogers became emotional when asked about Harris as a person. “She was always smiling,” he said. “She was a force on the floor but she was soft-spoken and shy off the court. Everybody loved Lucy. I’m telling you this is a tremendous loss for Delta State, Mississippi and for women’s basketball around the world.”

Harris was the only African American player on the Delta State team, recruited by assistant coach Melvin Hemphill after she had starred for Amanda Elzy High School in Greenwood.

Mississippi Sports Hall of Famer Debbie Brock, the ball-handling wizard of a point guard on those Delta State teams, says she and Harris – and all the DSU players – were like sisters.

“There was so much trust, so much love,” Brock said, shortly after learning of Harris’s death. “In my mind, Lucy was the greatest women’s post player in the history of the game. Her game would translate right now. She was such a force, so talented and so strong, and she worked so hard at it.”

Harris traveled to Knoxville last summer for Brock’s induction into the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame. “Of all the people I wanted to be there, she was at the top of the list,” Brock said. “She was my presenter, even though she was in a wheelchair. I am sure it wasn’t an easy trip for her but she was there.

“And then she called me on New Year’s Day to wish me a happy new year,” Brock continued. “She said she was doing fine. That’s less than three weeks ago. I just can’t believe it.

“Lucy, to me, never changed. She was always soft-spoken, always kind, always full of love. But let me tell you, back then, when she got between the lines, she was all about winning. You know, we all were.”

Harris’s death comes shortly after an award winning documentary “The Queen of Basketball” – detailing her life and career – has introduced her to a new generation of women’s basketball fans.

“I am just so glad that somebody had the forthrightness to do that documentary,” said Ann Meyers Drysdale, the former UCLA basketball All-American who played on U.S. National teams with Harris and has gone on to a successful broadcasting career. “Lucy was the gold standard of what a center is supposed to be. I never played against her in a game but I did in practice, and I did not enjoy that one bit. She was so strong, she had such great footwork. She was unbelievably competitive. You did not want to mess with her or catch one of her elbows.”

Meyers, the widow of baseball Hall of Famer Don Drysdale, was speaking from her home in Huntingdon Beach, Calif.

“She was a great teammate. The thing with Lucy is that she was such a sweet, loving person off the floor,” Meyers continued, choking on her words. “I loved her as a sister and I am going to miss her.”

The post Delta State legend Lucy Harris, a basketball pioneer, has died at 66 appeared first on Mississippi Today.