Bernadette Locke-Mattox
Bio
Bernadette Locke-Mattox is a trailblazing basketball coach and former student-athlete whose career has helped open doors for women and African American coaches across the sport. The Roane State Community College (TN) standout continued her playing career at the University of Georgia, where she was the first female student-athlete to earn All-American and Academic All-American honors. Locke-Mattox went on to become the first woman to serve as an assistant coach for a men’s NCAA Division I basketball team when she joined Rick Pitino’s staff at Kentucky in 1990.
She later made history again as the first African American head coach of a women’s basketball program in the Southeastern Conference, leading the University of Kentucky women’s basketball team from 1995 to 2003, and later as an assistant coach for the WNBA's Connecticut Sun. Throughout her career, Locke-Mattox has been recognized as a pioneer, mentor, and barrier-breaking leader whose impact extends well beyond the court.