Lucille Kyvallos

Women’s Basketball Coach & Sports Advocate

A woman of vision, Lucille Kyvallos wrote in 1973, “Women who achieve in sport add a new dimension to the role of women in American society.” This statement is as true today as it was forty-eight years ago. No one will turn back the clock on changes.
Kyvallos helped to create.

Kyvallos coached from 1968-1979 and developed skillful players who performed in aggressive defenses and fast-break offenses. She brought the National Collegiate Basketball Championship to Queens College, defeated the two-year undefeated Women’s National Champion in 1974, and got invited to play in Madison Square Garden in 1975, drawing over 11,000 spectators. Among her many awards and achievements is her selection as the Coach of the Year by Lady Champion in 1976, “The Coach You Would Want to Play For” WomenSports, 1977, and the U.S Coach for the National Women’s Basketball Team in Bulgaria’s 1977 World University Games. Kyvallos was also recognized by the New York State Resolutions and New York City Proclamations for outstanding achievements in women’s collegiate basketball.

Kyvallos has changed the playing field for women and, in so doing, changed the expectations of women’s achievements as well.
It is not too much to say that Kyvallos helped women move from the locker room to the board room, from secretary to CEO.