ATLANTA (AP) Lynette Woodard, the first female to play for the Harlem Globetrotters, and Bill Raftery, one of the most popular college basketball analysts, have been selected to receive the 2015 Naismith Outstanding Contributor Award, the Atlanta Tipoff Club announced Thursday.
The award is presented annually to individuals who have made contributions to and created a long-lasting positive impact on basketball. They will be honored this fall.
Woodard was a four-time All-America at Kansas from 1978-81 and is the leading scorer in Division I with 3,649 points. A two-time Olympian, Woodard became the first female to play for the Globetrotters, from 1985-87. She was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2004.
From 1970-1981, Raftery was the head coach at Seton Hall, where he had a 154-141 record and two NIT appearances. He has been a color analyst for 33 years and called his first Final Four this season.
