Houston Sports - Sheryl Swoopes

Sheryl Swoopes

Born: March 25, 1971

Sport: Basketball (2-time All-American, NCAA Player of the Year, 6-time All Star, 2-time scoring champ, 3-time Defensive Player of the Year, 3-time MVP, 3-time Olympic gold medalist, Hall of Fame)

The 30th WNBA season will be wrapping up soon, and it is the last year without the Houston Comets.  Next year our city will once again have a team in the league for the first time since the original team, which claimed the first four consecutive titles in league history, folded in 2008.  Another "first" for the city was the very first member of the WNBA, and that's who gets the spotlight this week.  Sheryl Swoopes signed a contract with the new league 30 years ago this month, on October 23, 1996, and was assigned to the Comets when rosters were formed early the following year.  She became one of the very first superstars of women's basketball, achieving success at every level and in every location.  So before the final season of Houston's extended hiatus ends, let's take a look at one of the people who helped it get its start.

Beginning in 1997, Swoopes spent 11 years with the Comets

Hailing from the small town of Brownwood, near the very center of Texas, Sheryl Swoopes was the youngest of four children born to Billy Ray and Louise Swoopes.  When her parents were divorced and her father left the family before she was even a year old, Sheryl was left to be raised by a single mother and three older brothers.  Although she loved the game of basketball from an early age, including her first competitive action at the age of 7 with a group called the Little Dribblers, her brothers didn't usually want to play with her.  One brother, James, played on the team at Murray State University and finally began to work with Sheryl on her game, giving her experience playing against larger, more physical males and shaping her aggressive style.  Attending Brownfield High School, Swoopes earned All-State and All-American honors as she led the team to a 3A state championship in 1988.  Collegiate scouts were quick to recruit Swoopes and she eventually selected the University of Texas, which was a national powerhouse program.  But just four days into her stay at Austin in 1989, she changed her mind.  Feeling homesick and missing her mother, Swoopes surprised everyone by relinquishing her full scholarship and returning to Brownwood.

Ignoring those who said she had thrown away her career, Sheryl Swoopes enrolled at nearby South Plains Junior College, and they were thrilled to have the standout basketball player on their team.  She had been the Texas Player of the Year in high school, and in her second college season she was named the National Junior College Player of the Year.  In 1991 she moved to nearby Lubbock to join the Texas Tech Lady Red Raiders, where she led the team to two Southwest Conference titles and the 1993 NCAA National Championship in an 84-82 win over favored Ohio State University.  Swoopes was named National Player of the Year and Final Four MVP, and beat the NCAA record for points in a championship game with 47, surpassing Bill Walton's 44 with UCLA in 1973.  Without a women's league in the US, however, the only place for Swoopes to pursue a professional career in basketball was overseas so she initially signed a contract to play in Italy.  Her tenure with Bari, however, only lasted 10 games when they didn't honor their contractual obligations, and Swoopes returned home to finish her college degree and assess her options.  Although she coached and played pickup games, there weren't the opportunities she needed to continue playing the game she loved at the level she wanted.  Fortunately, an invitation came to try out for the US Women's National Team as they began looking forward to the 1996 Olympic Games.  The fact that the Olympics were going to be played in Atlanta, site of her national championship game just a few years prior, motivated her.  After competing with a US team that won gold at the 1994 Goodwill Games in Russia but only earned bronze at the 1994 World Championship, Swoopes helped lead Team USA to a Olympic gold.  Along the way, she earned a Nike endorsement that led to the Air Swoopes shoe, the first time a woman had her own Nike product, and married sweetheart Eric Jackson.

Women's basketball was rising in popularity in 1996 and when news broke of the formation of the Women's National Basketball Association, Sheryl Swoopes was the first athlete to sign a contract with the new league.  She was assigned to the Houston Comets, but could not begin playing immediately as she was pregnant with her only child, Jordan Jackson.  Swoopes surprised many by taking the court just six weeks after giving birth, and the league celebrated her performance as a working mother.  Alongside fellow Comets stars Cynthia Cooper and Tina Thompson, Swoopes finished the league's very first season in dominant fashion and won the championship game with a 15-point margin over the New York Liberty.  Returning in 1998 for her first full season, Swoopes continued winning games and winning over fans, getting recognized with her first All-WNBA selection as the team rolled to a second title.  The 1999 season was her first All-Star season, while she repeated with All-WNBA honors and a third straight title, but it was 2000 when she finally rose to the top of the league with her most dominating performance to date.  While repeating every award she had earned, Swoopes was named the league MVP and also took home Defensive Player of the Year honors.  She returned to the Olympics in 2000 as well, with Team USA sweeping away the competition with an 8-0 record as she earned her second gold medal.  On the heels of her most successful year ever, however, devastating news soon came.  Swoopes divorced her husband and suffered a torn ACL, costing her the entire 2001 WNBA season as she adapted to life as a single mother.  Alongside Cynthia Cooper's retirement, the Comets had lost their two biggest stars and their run as WNBA champions ended at four, but Swoopes took advantage of her time away from the court to co-author a children's book and hone her announcing skills as she participated in broadcasts and game analysis.

Coming back from injury, Sheryl Swoopes proved the game had not passed her by as she recorded her second MVP season, backed up by DPOY, All-Star, and All-WNBA honors once again.  By the year 2007, her last with the Comets, Swoopes had racked up 6 All-Star games, 3 MVP awards, and 3 DPOY honors, while also continuing to perform with Team USA and earning a third gold medal at the 2004 Athens Olympic Games.  She also made news in 2005 as the biggest named athlete, male or female, to publicly announcer her homosexuality, beginning a relationship with a Houston Comets assistant coach named Alisa Scott.  In 2008, Swoopes signed a contract with the Seattle Storm where she played for one season, and after not playing in the WNBA for two years she appeared in her final season as a member of the 2011 Tulsa Shock.  Finishing her professional playing career, Swoopes also ended her relationship with Scott and announced an engagement to Houston entrepreneur Chris Unclesho.  He had been a longtime friend, having met while he operated a club she attended during her time with the Comets, and after an extended engagement the couple were married in 2017.  Continuing to be an ambassador for the game, Swoopes accepted the head coaching position at Chicago's Loyola University where she served for three years before returning to Texas Tech in 2017 as the director of player development.  The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame inducted Swoopes in 2016, and she has also been honored by the Texas Sports Hall of Fame (1999), Texas Tech Athletics Hall of Fame (2003), Texas Women's Hall of Fame (2004), and Women's Basketball Hall of Fame (2017).  In addition to providing commentary and insights as the women's game continues to evolve, Swoopes remains involved in promoting women's health, mental health, and opportunities for young athletes through the Sheryl Swoopes Foundation for Youth.  As Houston welcomes the Comets back into town for the 2027 season, fans will continue to be able to look into the rafters at her retired jersey number and hope for the type of team success she brought to our city three decades ago.

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