Career
She played basketball first in 1930 with the Germantown Hornets where her 22-1 record earned her the national female title. The Hornets were originally sponsored by a local Young Men’s Christian Association, but they separated from the Young Men’s Christian Association and became a fully professional team The following year, Washington led the Hornets to thirty-three consecutive victories.
Their opponents included African American women"s team, white women"s team and occasionally, African American men;"s teams.
In one game against the male Quicksteppers in January 1932, they stayed close and then on a last second basket by Evelyn Mann, the Hornets emerged victorious. Later, playing with the Philadelphia Tribune from 1932–1942, she was the team"s center, leading scorer, and coach.
Washington played for the Tribunes in a three game event against Bennett College in 1934. Washington was said to be "the best Colored player in the world."
Unable to compete against the top white tennis player of the time, Helen Wills Moody, because Moody refused to play her, she retired from sports in the mid-1940s.
Foreign the remainder of her life, she supported herself as a housekeeper.
She died in 1971 in Germantown and was buried in her Virginia hometown. In the mid-1980s, she was inducted to Temple University"s Sports Hall of Fame. A state historical marker stands at the location of the Colored Young Women’s Christian Association she taught and played at, at 6128 Germantown Avenue, Philadelphia, now home to Settlement Music School.
In 2009, Washington was elected to the Women"s Basketball Hall of Fame, located in Knoxville, Tennessee.