Sheryl Swoopes
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40 free Sheryl Swoopes trivia questions with answers — sports quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
Sheryl Swoopes was a star before American women had a major pro league to play in. She won a college national title at Texas Tech with one of the great scoring nights in tournament history, then helped launch the WNBA and turn the Houston Comets into its first dynasty. These questions cover the fun facts fans look for: her West Texas childhood, the college records, the signature sneaker, the MVP seasons, the Olympic gold medals, and the teammates, coaches and rivals along the way. They also follow her after her playing days, into coaching, broadcasting and the Hall of Fame. The quiz suits WNBA fans, students researching a women's sports pioneer and anyone who likes a good basketball story. Every answer comes with a short explanation, so you pick up something new even on the ones you miss.
30 of 40 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Which sportswear company gave Sheryl Swoopes a signature basketball shoe, the first ever named for a woman?
Nike
Nike launched the Air Swoopes in October 1995, well before the WNBA played its first game, and built a big advertising campaign around her.
Q 02Sheryl Swoopes named her only child after which NBA superstar, to whom she was often compared?
Michael Jordan
Michael Jordan is the namesake of her only child, Jordan Jackson. Swoopes, often called the female version of the Bulls star, also once played him one-on-one.
Q 03Why did Sheryl Swoopes miss the first six weeks of the WNBA's inaugural season in 1997?
Her son's birth
Her son's birth came that June, and Swoopes made her debut for the Houston Comets about six weeks later, in time to help win the league's first title.
Q 04Sheryl Swoopes made headlines in 2005 as one of the highest-profile team-sport athletes to do what?
Come out as gay
Come out as gay is what Swoopes did in October 2005, the year of her third WNBA MVP award, saying she could not help who she fell in love with.
Q 05Sheryl Swoopes returned at age 40 to join which WNBA team, snapping its 20-game losing streak with a buzzer-beater?
Tulsa Shock
Tulsa Shock brought her back three years after her last WNBA game. Her shot beat Los Angeles 77–75 in August 2011 and ended a league-record skid.
Q 06Sheryl Swoopes holds which place in WNBA history, secured months before the Houston Comets ever took the court?
First player signed
First player signed by the new league, Swoopes was then assigned to the Houston Comets rather than chosen in a draft.
Q 07Sheryl Swoopes won the first of her three Olympic gold medals at the Games held in which American city?
Atlanta
Atlanta hosted the 1996 Games, where the US women won every game after spending a full year training and touring together as a national team.
Q 08Sheryl Swoopes entered the Naismith Hall of Fame in 2016 alongside Allen Iverson, Yao Ming and which dominant center?
Shaquille O'Neal
Shaquille O'Neal headlined the 2016 class with her. Swoopes was enshrined again a decade later, when her 1996 US Olympic team went in as a unit.
Q 09Sheryl Swoopes scored 47 points in the 1993 NCAA final, topping a title-game record set by which UCLA legend?
Bill Walton
Bill Walton scored 44 for UCLA in the 1973 men's final. No player, man or woman, had scored more in an NCAA championship game than Swoopes's 47.
Q 10Why did Sheryl Swoopes give up a full scholarship to the University of Texas after only four days?
Homesickness
Homesickness sent her back: Austin lay about 400 miles from her mother's house, so Swoopes went home and enrolled at a junior college within easy driving distance.
Q 11Sheryl Swoopes scored 47 points as Texas Tech edged which Big Ten school 84–82 for the 1993 NCAA title?
Ohio State
Ohio State, led by star freshman Katie Smith, grabbed the lead midway through the second half before Swoopes sealed the win with a late three-point play.
Q 12Which coach guided Sheryl Swoopes and Texas Tech to the 1993 NCAA title, the school's first in any sport?
Marsha Sharp
Marsha Sharp landed Swoopes as a junior college transfer, and their two seasons together produced 58 wins against only 8 losses.
Q 13Sheryl Swoopes scored 53 points against Texas in the 1993 title game of which now-defunct college league?
Southwest Conference
Q 21Which Houston Comets forward, the first college draft pick in WNBA history, won four titles with Sheryl Swoopes?
Tina Thompson
Tina Thompson went on to become the WNBA's all-time leading scorer, a mark she held until 2017.
Q 22Which coach led Sheryl Swoopes and the Houston Comets to four straight WNBA titles from 1997 to 2000?
Van Chancellor
Van Chancellor had applied to six of the league's eight original teams, doubting any would hire him. He later coached Swoopes to Olympic gold in 2004.
Q 23Sheryl Swoopes, a three-time WNBA MVP, was also the first to win which other league award three times?
Defensive Player of the Year
Southwest Conference play ended in 1996, when Texas Tech and three rivals left for the Big 12. Her 53 came against the very school she had quit after four days.
Q 14Sheryl Swoopes starred for Texas Tech University, whose campus is in which West Texas city?
Lubbock
Lubbock stayed part of her life: she later returned to Texas Tech as a broadcast analyst and then as an assistant coach.
Q 15At age seven, Sheryl Swoopes began playing in a local children's basketball league known by which name?
Little Dribblers
Little Dribblers gave her a first taste of organized games at seven. By high school she was an All-State and All-American player.
Q 16Sheryl Swoopes grew up playing basketball against her older brothers in which small West Texas town?
Brownfield
Brownfield is where her mother, Louise, raised the family. Swoopes credited physical games against her brothers for toughening her up.
Q 17Sheryl Swoopes was named Female Athlete of the Year for 1993 by which news organization?
Associated Press
Associated Press voters chose her after a college season that also brought the Naismith and WBCA player of the year awards.
Q 18Sheryl Swoopes played her first professional games in 1993 for a club in which European country?
Italy
Italy was a short stay: she played only ten games for Bari before coming home, citing contract disputes, the language barrier and an unfamiliar culture.
Q 19Sheryl Swoopes and Team USA beat which country 111–87 in the 1996 Olympic women's basketball final?
Brazil
Brazil had beaten the Americans 110–107 at the 1994 world championship, where Swoopes's team settled for bronze. The Olympic final reversed that result.
Q 20Which Houston Comets guard, Finals MVP in all four title runs, formed a star trio with Sheryl Swoopes?
Cynthia Cooper
Cynthia Cooper had spent a decade with European clubs before the WNBA existed and was already in her thirties when the league tipped off.
Defensive Player of the Year went to Swoopes in 2000, 2002 and 2003. In the first two of those seasons she was the league MVP as well.
Q 24Sheryl Swoopes was the first WNBA player to record which statistical feat in both the regular season and playoffs?
A triple-double
A triple-double means reaching double figures in three statistical categories. Swoopes had already managed three of them in college at Texas Tech.
Q 25Sheryl Swoopes was the second player to win WNBA season MVP and All-Star Game MVP in one year; who was first?
Lisa Leslie
Lisa Leslie did it first. She and Swoopes were also teammates on three straight gold-medal Olympic teams, in 1996, 2000 and 2004.
Q 26After 11 seasons with the Houston Comets, Sheryl Swoopes joined which WNBA team in 2008?
Seattle Storm
Seattle Storm kept her for a single season before waiving her in February 2009. Her old Houston club had folded two months earlier.
Q 27Sheryl Swoopes's Houston Comets beat which team 65–51 to win the first WNBA championship in 1997?
New York Liberty
New York Liberty had beaten Houston in three of their four regular-season meetings that year, then lost the one game that decided the title.
Q 28Sheryl Swoopes and the Houston Comets won the 1999 WNBA title weeks after which teammate died of cancer?
Kim Perrot
Kim Perrot, the starting point guard on the first two title teams, was diagnosed with lung cancer that February and died in August 1999.
Q 29Sheryl Swoopes's life story was told in a 2013 film for which ESPN documentary series?
Nine for IX
Nine for IX takes its name from Title IX, the 1972 law that opened school sports to women. Every film in the series was directed by a woman.
Q 30Which coach took a year away from her college program to lead Sheryl Swoopes's 1996 US Olympic team?
Tara VanDerveer
Tara VanDerveer stepped away from Stanford for a season, and her national team went 60–0 over the course of the year on its way to the gold medal.