No matter the NBA journey, players never forget the moment they get drafted. Now, imagine a woman who, at age 12, shot basketballs into the hoop in the dead of winter, with temperatures 11 degrees below zero, and went on to get into the NBA. That insurpassable hurdle was breached by Denise Long Rife in 1969. The San Francisco Warriors drafted her straight out of high school, marking a monumental moment for women’s basketball. But how did this all happen?

Who is Denise Long Rife? All to know about the first woman drafted in the NBA

Denise Long Rife was born in Whitten, Iowa. The small town consisted of no more than 200 people. Nobody knew that a historic gem, somebody who would be a transcendent figure for women’s basketball, sat among them.

Basketball meant everything to Rife. She played relentlessly at a time when women’s basketball still had six players on the court, and her dominance created a sudden crater in the world of sport. Standing at 5-foot-11, Rife was a force who made her name as a formidable scorer. It also meant making inventions.

Rife remembers inventing a “screw shot” during her prolific high school career.

“I’d be right underneath the basket, and I’d twist the shot with my hand, and the guards couldn’t really get to it, because I wouldn’t extend my arms out,” Rife told Sports Illustrated. “I would keep the ball close on the right side of my chest, and I would take the ball and ‘screw’ it and it would hit the backboard and go in.”

Rife never expected or even knew about the NBA teams. Yet, in 1969, the unthought and the unexpected happened. In the same draft in which the Milwaukee Bucks selected Kareem Abdul-Jabbar with the top pick, the Warriors selected Rife straight out of high school.

That moment was shocking. No woman had ever been drafted into the NBA. The Warriors’ then-owner Franklin Mieuli believed in her as the beacon of progress for women’s basketball. Rife never got to play in the NBA because her draft pick was nullified, as the league didn’t allow teams to draft players straight out of high school. But that wasn’t the end of her journey.

Mieuli launched the ‘Warrior Girls Basketball League’ with Rife assuming the position of the league’s star. It was a four-team league that played games before the Warriors’ home contests. She signed a contract with the team that included benefits, such as tuition for the University of San Francisco. The league lasted only one season.

Following that, Rife didn’t continue basketball since there wasn’t a professional women’s league at the time. She earned a Bible theology degree from Faith Baptist College in 1975 and, 20 years later, completed her bachelor’s degree in pharmacy, then worked as a pharmacist and retired in 2015.

What makes her great? A look into her career, stats, records, achievements, and more

Denise Long Rife is as legendary a basketball player as it gets. For context, nobody in the NBA has ever surpassed Wilt Chamberlain’s mark of 100 points. While in high school in Iowa, Rife did so three times. On one occasion, she was subbed out with 3:59 left in the game, and her total for the day stood at 111 before she was forced out.

“If I would have stayed in those extra four minutes, I would have made 128 points or more,” Rife said.

In her junior year, she led Union-Whitten to a state championship. The game garnered 3.5 million viewers, with highlights of Rife’s spectacle still available on YouTube. Rife scored 64 points that night, and that doesn’t even rank as her craziest achievement. In her senior year, Rife finished the year averaging 69.6 points per game. She finished her high school career with a then-record 6,250 career points.

Notably, the moment the Warriors drafted her, she instantly became a sensation. She was invited to ‘The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson’ a week after being selected. Rife also shared the court with Warriors star Nate Thurmond. Essentially, she set the precedent, and her achievements proved basketball had no limits.

The WNBA didn’t come into existence until 1996. However, when it did, Rife was seen as the launchpad for its development. She has been honored numerous times for her incredible career and achievements. As the Warriors founded the WNBA’s expansion team, the Valkyries, her story became the foundation of the team. In 2018, she was also honored at halftime during Women’s History Month.

“[Caitlin Clark] had, I don’t know how else to put it, advance notice of what the game was going to be like,” Rife said of the WNBA’s arguably best player today. “She has a three-point shot. Dribbles very well. Goes behind the back and goes the other way. I think she’d fare better in the NBA than I would have back then.”

That being said, Rife was ahead of her time. She didn’t get to enjoy what women’s basketball has become now. But without her, even the thought wouldn’t exist. She broke down barriers and showed unmatched courage. Her efforts now see women pursue basketball as a profession and the launch of multiple leagues across the globe.

Without any doubt, Denise Long Rife is a basketball legend.