Sheryl Denise Swoopes was born on March 25, 1971 in Brownfield, Texas, to Louise Swoopes. She has three older brothers.

Childhood
Sheryl began competing in basketball at age seven, in a local children's league called Little Dribblers, coached by Dickie Faught and Kathey Granger.

College
Sheryl attended Texas Tech, and played basketball for the Lady Raiders.

As of 2006, Sheryl owns several NCAA records: single-game scoring record (53 points on March 13, 1993 vs. Texas, tied for tenth place), single-season scoring (955 points in the 1993 season, fourth place), highest Championship Tournament scoring average (35.4 in the 1993 tournament, second place), best single-game championship scoring performance (47 points vs. Ohio State, 1993 championship), and scoring record for championship series (177 points, four games).

Sheryl also set several school records at Texas Tech. She scored 955 points in the 1992-93 season, which is an all-time scoring record for a single season (as of 2006). Swoopes' 24.9 points-per-game average for her career is the best in school history; she also has three triple-doubles and twenty-three double-doubles, fourteen of which came during her senior year.

WNBA
Sheryl was recruited for the Houston Comets during the 1997 inaugural season.

Sheryl came back from giving birth to her son, to play the last third of the inaugural season and lead the Comets in the 1997 WNBA Championship.

As a member of the Comets, she accumulated over 2,000 career points, 500 career rebounds, 300 career assists and 200 career steals.

Sheryl is the second player in WNBA history to win both the regular season MVP award and the All-Star Game MVP award in the same season. (The first player to accomplish this was Lisa Leslie.) Swoopes is also the first player in WNBA history to record a playoff triple-double.

Sheryl is a three-time Olympic gold medalist (1996, 2000, 2004).

On March 3, 2008, Sheryl signed with the Seattle Storm -- ending her eleven year career with the Houston Comets.

Personal
Swoopes is the first women's basketball player to have a Nike shoe named after her: the "Air Swoopes".

Sheryl married her high school sweetheart in June 1995 and had a son, Jordan Eric Jackson, in 1997. They divorced in 1999 (with joint custody of their son) and Sheryl came out as gay. Her partner is Alisa Scott (former basketball player and former Houston Comets assistant coach).