Ashwaubenon High School grad wins Oscar for basketball documentary

ASHWAUBENON, Wis. (WBAY) - The NBA finals which started yesterday, June 2, got us thinking about the only woman ever drafted by the NBA, Lucy Harris. Her story presented as an Oscar-winning documentary included the work of an Ashwaubenon High School graduate.

Speaking to the local teen, Josh Rosenberg, turned award-winning filmmaker about the basketball trailblazer, Rosenberg emphasized, “That’s one of those things that when you’re talking about documentaries, you’re asking someone to share their story. So, it’s almost impossible to become connected with those people, with their families.”

It’s hard for Rosenberg, head of production at Breakwater Studios, to not be passionate when talking about Lusia Harris, known as Lucy. Rosenberg helped make the Oscar winning documentary “The Queen of Basketball” a tribute to the first woman to score points in Olympic women’s basketball history in 1976. Harris is also the only woman who has ever been officially drafted by the NBA.

“She is really one of the great athletes that did not get her time,” Rosenberg highlighted.

Rosenberg graduated from Ashwaubenon High School in 2002 and then went on to get his broadcast journalism degree from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee in 2006. He now calls Los Angeles, CA home though.

Breakwater Studios is small but beat out larger studios like Netflix at the Academy Awards in March to win best short documentary. Rosenberg loves preserving the stories of deserving people. Lucy didn’t get to see her story win an Oscar. She passed away in January at the age of 66.

“After Lucy passed away, we had the whole team together and we just said this really brings home the importance of capturing people’s stories because when we lose somebody, their story goes with it,” Rosenberg said. “It just really kind of hit home for our team of what we do and what we get excited about.”

Rosenberg and Breakwater Studios are trying to get the Mississippi arena where Harris played in college, renamed in her honor.

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