Donnie Wilson, a graduate of the University of North Texas, became an Academy Award winner after a documentary he worked on won an Oscar on March 27.
Wilson hails from South Dallas and is one of the executive producers of The Queen of Basketball, which won the Oscar for Best Documentary Short. His role in the documentary earned him a spot beside NBA legends Shaquille O’Neal and Steph Curry, also executive producers of the film.
The subject of the win is a 22-minute documentary that follows the career of basketball legend Lusia “Lucy” Harris. She is known as a pioneer in basketball history as she scored the first basket in women’s Olympic basketball. She was also the first — and the last — woman ever to be drafted by the NBA.
According to Deadline.com, some of Harris’ accomplishments include winning three national championships at Delta State University in the 1970s and leading the U.S. Women’s Basketball Team to a silver medal at the 1976 Olympics.
Wilson said he was intrigued by Harris’ story and, at the same time, shocked that he had never heard of her and her accomplishments. He then made it his business to contribute to the project that sought to tell her story to the world.
Harris died on January 18, a few weeks before the documentary got its nomination. However, she got to see The Queen of Basketball screening at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2021. The documentary is now available for streaming.
Wilson wants the world to witness “the beast” that Harris was in the world of basketball and hopes that her story can inspire young girls. “I want every little girl to see this film… I think that if it inspires me that way, I can’t imagine what it would do to little girls,” he said.
Per NBC 5 News, Wilson said the Oscar win is surreal.
“I feel like I’m going to wake up in a minute and realize it was just a dream. So, I’m happy, cautiously happy,” Wilson said.
According to NBC 5 News, Wilson hopes that this win will keep Harris’ legacy alive and allow him to tell more stories. He also shared his plans of possibly making a feature film out of The Queen of Basketball documentary.