Denise Curry played college basketball at UCLA, leading them to the 1978 AIAW Championship and being named All-American in 1979-81. During her career she averaged 26.4 points per game, a UCLA record that has stood for over 35 years. In 1981 she was named USA Basketball Female Athlete of the Year. Curry began playing for the US National Team in 1979, winning gold that year at the World Championships and a silver at the Pan American Games. She added another silver at the 1981 Universiade, but then won gold medals at the 1983 World Championships and Pan American Games and the 1984 Olympics. Curry played professionally in France with Stade Français, winning French national titles in 1986-87.
Curry later went into coaching, first as an assistant at U Cal Berkeley, and then as an assistant with the San Jose Lasers of the Women’s American Basketball League. She was head coach at Cal State Fullerton from 1997-2000, and became an assistant coach with Cal State Long Beach, before retiring in 2009. Curry is a member of the Basketball Hall of Fame, the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame, the AAU Hall of Fame, and the UCLA Athletics Hall of Fame. In 1990, she was one of the first four UCLA basketball players to have their numbers retired, joining Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Bill Walton, and Ann Meyers.
United States