Ozell Harris was a 1949 standout basketball player at Lincoln High, in Coldspring Texas. She earned an athletic scholarship to Texas Southern University where she lettered in basketball and graduated in 1954. After graduation, she accepted a teaching assignment at the newly open Kashmere Garden Junior & Senior High School. Under her tutorship, Linda Sims and Carolyn Harlan won the city tennis doubles in 1966 and Inez Tates won the state singles title beating C. Brown from Beaumont Charleston Pollard in three sets.