Lisa Leslie: Famous UoP Graduate June 20, 2009
Posted by admin in : Famous UoP Students , trackbackLisa Leslie was born on July 7th, 1972 in California. Her mother lead a truck driving business and her father went his own way before Lisa was born. Tiffany and Dionne are Lisa’s two sisters.
When she was 13, she was asked to become a part of the basketball team in her junior high school. Being a left hander, she felt side-lined and taught herself how to play with her right hand which resulted in her becoming ambidextrous.
At 14, universities like Stanford University contacted her, asking her to join them.
She created a lot of ripples in high school wherein she won a number of championships for the school.
College and University of Phoenix:
Lisa got enrolled in University of Southern California for her undergraduate’s degree. She graduated in 1994. Soon after, she became a part of the University of Phoenix alumni for the purpose of getting a post graduation degree in business administration.
During her college years, Lisa’s basketball career was on fire. She played in about 120 games during which she scored at least 20 points, hut at least 54% of all her shots and knocked down at least 70% of all her free throws. She broke a number of records with reference to scoring, blocked shots as well as rebounding. She was awarded the Rookie of the year award and also the best female basketball player’s award during the 1990s.
The Women’s National Basketball Association:
The Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) began in the year 1997 and Lisa joined the Los Angeles Sparks Team soon after. In 2001, the team won the WNBA title. In 2003, she scored over 2500 career points and achieved the title of being the first WNBA player to do so. During the same year, she was part of the reason why the Los Angeles Sparks Team won a world championship. In 2005, she broke her own record and passed the 4000 career points mark and again, became the first player to do so. A brief summary of her WNBA awards over the years: She won the MVP during 2001, 2004 and 2006, the WNBA titles in 2001 and 2002, the Finals MVP in 2001 and 2002 as well, All-WNBA First Team in 1997, 2000, 2001, 2002,2003,2004 and 2006. The All-WNBA Second Team in 1998, 1999 and 2005, the All-Star Game MVP in 1999, 2001 and 2002. All Star Games in 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2005 and 2006. All Decade Team from 1997 to 2006, Defensive Player of The Year in 2004 and 2008, All Defensive First Team in 2006, All Defensive Second Team in 2005 and she won Player of The Week for 14 years in a row, setting the league record.
Olympic Career:
In 1992 during the USA Olympic Trials, Lisa was the youngest person to take part. During her four Olympic appearances, Lisa Leslie has won four gold medals, becoming the first female basketball player to do so. Lisa won gold medals during her appearances with the United States national women’s basketball team in 1996 and 2000. In 2000, Lauren Jackson pulled out her hair extensions after which there developed a severe rivalry between the two.
Additional Information:
Lisa took sometime off from basketball in order to start a family in 2007. After giving birth to a baby girl during the same year, she decided to go back to basketball in 2008.
Apart from playing basketball, Lisa is also a model and is a part of the Wilhelmina modeling agency. She is also an actress and has made a number of guest appearances in “Sister Sister” and “The Jersey”.
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