Venus Lacy won a basketball gold medal with the USA team at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. Lacy was a native of Chattanooga, Tennessee who played in college at Louisiana Tech. In 1998 and 1999 Lacy led the Lady Techsters to the NCAA Final Fours, but both years they lost to Auburn. In 1990 she was a consensus All-American and was named the National Player of the Year. She was inducted into the Louisiana Tech Athletic Hall of Fame in 2011. In addition to her 1996 Olympic appearance, Lacy won a bronze medal with the US team at the 1991 Pan American Games.
Because there was no American professional league when she graduated, Lacy played in Greece, Italy, and Japan, leading her Greek team to the European Club Championship in 1996. In 1996 Lacy was the first player chosen in the initial ABL (American Basketball League) Draft, going to the Seattle Reign. In February 1997 she was involved in a severe car accident and, because of her injuries, was never again the same player. When the ABL folded 1998, Lacy went undrafted by the WNBA. She did get picked up by the New York Liberty in early 1999 and played in a few games with them in 1999 and 2000. She later settled back in Chattanooga where she married, had children, and raised her family.
United States