From NKAA, Notable Kentucky African Americans Database (main entry)

In 1990, Bernadette Locke-Mattox became the first woman and first African American woman to be named an assistant coach in Division I Men's NCAA basketball; she was an assistant to Rick Pitino at the University of Kentucky through 1994.

Locke-Mattox was also the first African American head coach of the Women's basketball team at the University of Kentucky, where she coached women's basketball from 1995-2003.

Locke-Mattox served as an assistant coach for the USA National Basketall Team, which won the gold medal in 1988. She was also an assistant coach in the WNBA for the Connecticut Sun from 2003-2012.

She was an outstanding basketball player at Roane State Community College in Tennessee, and transferred to the University of Georgia. The Georgia team was the 1980-81 Women's Basketball Invitation Tournament (WBIT) National Champions. 

Bernadette Locke-Mattox was born in Rockwood, TN. She is married to Vince Mattox; they currently live in Lexington, KY, with their son. In June, 2026, she was inducted into the NJCAA Hall of Fame.

For more, see First Black Women Coaches Division One Mens Basketball, at The African American Registry website.