Lynette Woodard is a retired American basketball Hall of Fame player and former head women's basketball coach at Winthrop University. Woodard made history by becoming the first female member of the Harlem Globetrotters and who, at age 38, began playing as one of the oldest members in the newly formed American women's professional basketball league, the WNBA.
While at Wichita North High School, Woodard won two state basketball titles.
Woodard went on to play college basketball with the University of Kansas (KU) in 1978, playing there until 1981 in the AIAW era of college basketball. She was a four-time All-American at KU, and she averaged 26 points per game and scored 3,649 points in total during her four years there, and was the first KU woman to be honored by having her jersey retired. Before being passed by Caitlin Clark of Iowa on February 28, 2024, Woodard was the unofficial major college basketball's career women's scoring leader due to the NCAA not recognizing statistics from the AIAW.
In 1981, she was signed by an Italian team, UFO Schio (Vicenza), to participate in their league.
In 1984, she was a member of the United States' women's basketball team that won the gold medal at the Los Angeles Olympic Games.
In 1985, Woodard became the first woman ever to play with the Globetrotters. Incidentally, Woodard's cousin, Hubert "Geese" Ausbie, also played for the Globetrotters from 1961 to 1985.
In 1989, she was inducted into the National High School Hall of Fame. In 1990, she was inducted into the Kansas Sports Hall of Fame, and was signed by a Japanese women's team to play in their country. She played there until 1993.
In 1997, she was signed by the Cleveland Rockers of the newly founded Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). The following year, she was selected in an expansion draft by the Detroit Shock. She was waived by the Shock on May 7, 1999. Woodward's final WNBA game ever was played on August 19, 1998, in a 82–68 win over the New York Liberty where she recorded 18 points, 9 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 steals. During the WNBA's off-season, she began working as a stockbroker in New York City.
She retired from playing in 1999 and returned to KU serving as assistant coach of the women's basketball team. In late January 2004, she was named interim head coach, filling for the regular coach Marian Washington, who had retired due to medical reasons. She also served as athletics director for the Kansas City, Missouri School District from 1992 to 1994.
In September 2004, she was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Massachusetts. In June 2005, she was inducted into the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame in Knoxville, Tennessee.
Woodard also received the 2015 WBCBL Women's Professional Basketball "Trailblazer" Award on August 2, 2015, along with 9 other female basketball Icons including Cynthia Cooper, Nancy Lieberman, Sarah Campbell, E.C. Hill, Geri Kay Hart, Robelyn Garcia, Kandi Conda, Lisa Leslie and Tamika Catchings. The award recognizes some of the most influential people in professional women's basketball, specifically those who helped blaze the trail, shape the overall landscape and pave the way for women's professional basketball.
Woodard became a financial consultant for A.G. Edwards & Sons Inc., in Wichita.
In 2017, she was named the head coach of the Winthrop Eagles women's basketball team.
