Legendary K-State basketball star Ayoka Lee continues to make an impact on campus and in the community
By D. Scott Fritchen ’99
K-State Athletics
Her first day as a mental health clinician for K-State Athletics was July 28. Ayoka
Lee ’21, ’24 remembers it well, how she took her pet Bernedoodle, Bram, on a walk,
then drove him to day care, and then how she showed up at 8:30 a.m. at the Mental
Wellness Center on the second floor of the Morris Family Olympic Center. Nobody was
in the main office yet. She was all alone. But she spotted a purple nameplate on her
office door.
"I thought, 'Dang, this is my office now,'" Lee says, chuckling.
Later, Lee received her business cellphone, computer, keys, and she took a staff headshot.
Then she participated in welcome-back meetings with members of the K-State soccer
team. It all seemed perfect.
Wednesday morning, as she sits inside of her office, swiveling away from her desk
and computer in the corner of the room, she details how she attended her first K-State
rowing practice at 6:30 a.m. Then she reached out to some of her student-athlete clients.
She has one client scheduled in the afternoon.
This is Ayoka Lee. And this is life.
"Who am I?" she says. "I'm a child of God, first and foremost. I'm a very compassionate
person. I'm a trained therapist — that's something I do, and that I really enjoy doing.
I really enjoy helping people navigate their own hearts and helping them show up authentically
and congruently.
"And I'm a retired athlete now, which is kind of fun to say."
Not yet two months into her tenure at K-State Athletics, Lee knows one thing to be
true.
"This position was my dream job," she says. "I knew I wanted to work in athletics
with student-athletes, but I didn't think I'd be able to get into this until I was
three or four years out of school. I heard that the former clinician was going to
leave and that this position would open sometime in the summer. Fortunately, they
were able to take me on."
Lee meets with student-athletes and builds a mental health clinician-client relationship,
a slow build-up to a full caseload. She also presents to teams and builds relationships
with student-athletes from various sports.
"Getting to go to practices and see things with a different perspective and a new
lens has been really fun," she says.
Lee has been assigned to present to the women's rowing, men's track and field, women's
track and field, men's golf, women's golf, and tennis teams this year. Thus, part
of the reasoning behind Lee attending rowing practice before the crack of dawn on
Wednesday.
"It was kind of fun to see everything," she says. "It was really cool to see how much
goes into that sport and how to do everything the correct way."
Lee wears a gray K-State women's basketball sweatshirt and black pants and sits below
hardware that tells of her academic and athletic success. Above a shelf rests two
Academic All-America certificates and several crystal plaques — Big 12 Freshman of
the Year, All-Big 12 Second Team, All-Big 12 First Team, Academic All-Big 12 First
Team, and Big 12 Women's Basketball Scholar-Athlete of the Year — that along with
an undergraduate degree in psychology, and a master's in couple and family therapy,
and a certificate in financial therapy, instantly catches the eye.
Not shown on the display is that the 6-foot-6 Lee was a member of the K-State women's
basketball team for seven seasons, underwent multiple surgeries, and subsequent rehabilitation
processes, and toward the end of her career received her temporary clinician license
and then her full license, and she worked evenings at Andrews & Associates Counseling
in Manhattan. And, oh, by the way, she also finished her K-State career as the third
player in Big 12 history with 2,000 points, 1,000 rebounds and 300 blocks, and her
2,533 points ranks fifth in Big 12 history, her 1,262 rebounds ranks sixth and her
356 blocks ranks fourth.
For those younger K-State student-athletes who might be unaware when sitting on the
cushy purple leather couch for the first time, they will spend the hour-long session
conversing with greatness, one of the most likable people in K-State Athletics history,
one of the most determined student-athletes in K-State sports history, one of the
most accomplished all-around student-athletes in K-State Athletics history, and one
of the most recognizable faces in K-State sports history.
"I think some student-athletes definitely come in here and read all the awards," Lee
says, smiling. "They're like, 'Man.' And I'm like, 'Yeah.' I think my experience being
in college so long and then also with injuries is very attractive to an athlete, like,
'This is someone I know who's going to understand my experience.' Absolutely, there
are clients who request me for those reasons. I'm glad I can be helpful in that way
even though obviously everyone's journey is different."
Lee's journey began in Byron, Minnesota, a town of about 5,000 people nestled approximately
five miles west of Rochester. Lee participated in track and field and played volleyball,
but basketball, was, well, different. She grew up a member of the National Honor Society
and was voted class president at Byron High School. She was a three-time letterwinner
in volleyball and a two-time letterwinner in track and field. She was named a 2018
Miss Minnesota Basketball finalist. Her and her mother visited K-State in October
2016. She committed to K-State on Jan. 1, 2017. Her first night in Manhattan? She
was rehabbing a torn ACL suffered in her final high school game. She was young, anxious,
wondering about the future — relatable topics in the world of athletics.
"Anxiety is a big topic," Lee says. "Anxiety around performance, and anxiety around
identity, and how their identity is so intertwined with their sport. That's the biggest
one I've seen. There's a lot of complexity in that. Who told you what you do is so
closely tied to who you are and your identity being so tied to your sport, what has
that provided you with? That's probably the biggest one."
From that young star from Byron, Minnesota, who sat out her freshman season, came
greatness.
On Jan. 23, 2022, Lee scored 61 points in a single game. It remains the most points
scored in a game in NCAA Division I women's basketball history. The feat launched
her into a stratosphere shared by only a few women's college basketball players.
She was the face of K-State women's basketball.
"I tried really hard to not let it be my whole identity," she says. "I really fought
against it for a long time. And it's hard when you have such a great fan base, which
is great, and it feeds into that. So many people know me only by being a great basketball
player. So, it's about how I can in these spaces gently introduce myself as something
other than that, or bring other parts of myself into these spaces, and be OK if they
don't want to see that but still being authentic to who I am and how I want to show
up."
Lee was certainly authentic in the hours after a loss to USC in the NCAA Tournament
in Spokane, Washington, in late March. She wiped the tears. She knew it was the final
game of her record-setting career. Shortly after, Lee explained that she was listening
to her body, which had incurred a rash of injuries in seven years, and wouldn't pursue
a career in the WNBA.
"I'd been playing for so long," she says. "Oh, man. It was definitely sad. As to be
expected, it was sad, like, this is a place and a space that I'll never be in again,
or at least not within the same context. Not specific to that particular moment after
the game, but the weeks after the season was over, there was a feeling like I knew
it was going to be good, but it wasn't good yet. It was a grieving process. There
was a part of me that I'm never going to experience in the same way. I took time to
grieve that. I also knew there was so much more to life. I could book a flight for
a vacation. I could go see a friend. Those were things I'd never been able to do because
I'd been tied to the sport for so long. There was definite sadness and grief. There
was numbness, too, just because it's a lot. I couldn't feel it all in the news conference.
"There was a sense of heaviness from grief, but there was a sense of lightness because
this was all uncharted territory. This was all new. There wasn't any rush to experience
everything that I could possibly experience or feel like I'd missed out on in the
past seven years. It was a very slow pace of life. And it was just refreshing after
the season. It was just really refreshing."
Then came summer. And then came Lee's opportunity to embark on a new chapter at a
place she knows full well.
"I knew I wanted to stay in Manhattan because I was already somewhat established in
my career here, and I didn't want to add one big transition on top of another big
transition," she says. "I think there's no better place to get into a career path
that I really wanted to be in. What better place to do it than within a system that
I know so well."
She still remembers the first time a student-athlete — her first client — sat on the
purple couch inside her office and began to talk.
"It was a little nerve-wracking and really exciting, but once the session got going,
you get into a groove, and it's like, 'Yeah,'" she says. "It's fun to get to know
student-athletes in a different way and to provide space for them to show up however
they need to be. It's fun just to build that rapport."
On Wednesday morning, Lee sits in her chair inside her office that she's occupied
for less than two months.
"Life is good," she says. "A lot of work, but I really enjoy working. It's an easier
schedule, and I have more time to do what I want on the weekends."
This is Ayoka Lee. And this is life.
"I just like the small things," she says. "I have a lot of really great friends and
people. Even working within this department brings me so much joy, just my co-workers
and being in a space where there's room for collaboration. It's been really cool to
develop new friendships after being done with basketball. The word that comes to mind
is 'peace.' That slowness. There's no need to be in a rush.
"Everything I need I have."
She pauses.
"And that brings me joy."
A champion for living united
In addition to her work on campus, Lee also has been making an impact in the community.
Lee volunteered to serve as the 2026 Campaign Champion for the local Konza United Way, encouraging community members to give back to their neighbors in need. Local programs
supported by the Konza United Way include the Boys and Girls Club of Manhattan, the
Manhattan Emergency Shelter and more.
“The Konza United Way transforms lives — especially for ALICE [asset limited income
constrained and employed] families who work hard but struggle to make ends meet,”
Lee said. “I’ve seen firsthand how powerful that impact can be when local organizations
receive United Way funding. That’s why I said ‘yes’ to being this year’s Campaign
Champion. Growing up, United Way–funded programs changed my life, and now I want to
pay it forward. Every dollar you give strengthens our community and helps families
thrive. Together, we can create a future where everyone has the chance to succeed
— but it starts with your investment.”
— Editor’s note: Ayoka Lee profile originally appeared in K-State Sports Extra in Sept. 2025; additional reporting by Ashley Pauls, K-State Alumni Association.