Born and raised in West Chester, Washington attended West Chester High School before matriculating to West Chester State Teachers College, where her solid academic achievements were exceeded only by her exceptional athletic prowess.

She starred in both basketball and track and field for the Lady Rams and was the lynchpin that anchored West Chester's 1969 national championship basketball team. Washington earned AAU All-American status twice while leading the Golden Rams to their national title -- the first ever in the history of collegiate women's basketball.

In 1973 she became women's basketball head coach at Kansas University, a post she held with great distinction until 2004. Washington posted an outstanding 560-363 record with the Jayhawks for a winning percentage of .607. She guided K.U. to 11 NCAA postseason tournaments and was named conference Coach of the Year three times. Washington also served as women's athletic director at Kansas. She was named Coach of the Year by the Black Coaches Association twice and received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the BCA in 2003. She was the first female to be elected president of the BCA and the first person to serve consecutive terms as president of the Black Coaches Association.

In 1991 Washington received the Carol Eckman Award named after the late West Chester State women's basketball coach who is recognized as the "Mother of the Women's Collegiate Basketball Championship." Eckman was responsible for organizing the first women's basketball championship in 1969. With this well-deserved honor Washington moved into some pretty heady company within women's collegiate basketball coaching circles. Other winners to name a few include Jody Conradt of the University of Texas, Kay Yow of North Carolina State, Sue Gunter of Louisiana State, Kathy Delaney-Smith of Harvard University and Marsha Sharp of Texas Tech University.

In 1996, she was selected as an assistant coach for the U.S. Olympic team, which went on to capture the gold medal. She was the first African-American to coach on an Olympic women's basketball staff.

Washington was inducted into the Kansas Hall of Fame and then was bestowed with the highest honor of all in 2004 when she was inducted into the prestigious Women's Basketball Hall of Fame.

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