Denise Curry

Denise Curry (born August 22, 1959)

She was named MVP of Western Collegiate Athletic Conference three times and UCLA All-University Athlete of the Year in 1981. She was named the USA Basketball Female Athlete of the Year in 1981.

UCLA statistics Source

Amateur and Olympic competition For the US national team, she won gold medals in the Los Angeles Olympics in 1984, Pan American Games in 1983, World Championships in 1979, and silver medals at World Championships in 1983, World University Games in 1981 and Pan American Games in 1979.

Curry was a member of the USA National team at the 1983 World Championships, held in Sao Paulo, Brazil. The team won six games, but lost two against the Soviet Union. In an opening round game, the USA team had a nine-point lead at halftime, but the Soviets came back to take the lead, and a final shot by the USA failed to drop, leaving the USSR team with a one-point victory 85–84. The USA team won their next four games, setting up the gold medal game against USSR. This game was also close, and was tied at 82 points each with six seconds to go in the game. The Soviets Elena Chausova received the inbounds pass and hit the game winning shot in the final seconds, giving the USSR team the gold medal with a score of 84–82. The USA team earned the silver medal. Curry averaged 13.6 points per game, including 28 points in the overtime victory against China. She was an assistant basketball coach for the Cal State Long Beach women's basketball team for six years but retired from coaching in March 2009.

Honors Curry is a member of the Basketball (enshrined in 1997), Women's Basketball (enshrined in 1999), and Amateur Athletic Union Halls of Fame.

She was inducted into the UCLA Athletics Hall of Fame in 1994.

Her #12 basketball jersey was one of the first four retired by UCLA. She was honored on February 3, 1990, in a ceremony in Pauley Pavilion, along with Ann Meyers (#15), Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (#33), and Bill Walton (#32). This was the key moment in the "Pauley at 25" celebration of twenty-five years of the arena. The primary criteria for being chosen was that all four players were three-time All-Americans.