Former Beaver Shares BVU Impact on Hall of Fame Coaching Career
Leslie Huntington, a former Beaver softball player, will be inducted into the National Fastpitch Coaches Association Hall of Fame for her outstanding coaching with the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire.
Leslie Huntington ’92 will be inducted into the National Fastpitch Coaches Association Hall of Fame in December 2021, an honor stamping a storybook coaching career in which the Buena Vista University graduate has earned an NCAA Division III National Championship (2008) amid 499 victories, and counting, all during a 20-year tenure at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire.
In the wake of receiving the award, Huntington shared a teachable moment that came from BVU Hall of Fame Coach Marge Willadsen.
“We were playing during spring break my senior year in Florida,” says Huntington, a BVU starter on a national runner-up squad. “I had a freshman behind me who was pushing me pretty hard. We played two games per day and the first game was horrible for me. I committed four errors and struck out three times.”
“When my name was read for the hall of fame at the national coaching convention, which we had as a virtual event, I became pretty emotional.”
Leslie Huntington
Willadsen benched Huntington. Rather than sulk in the dugout, Huntington cheered on her team, encouraging her replacement and her other teammates. Without saying a word about the series of events, Willadsen inserted her senior in the starting lineup the following day and the season continued.
“Two weeks later, I was in Marge’s office and she complimented me on how I didn’t hang my head after getting benched in Florida,” Huntington remembers. “She said I did the exact opposite.”
Willadsen then told Huntington she didn’t bench her for the errors and strikeouts. Rather, she took her out of the lineup because of her body language during the first game.
“Marge told me that everyone makes mistakes,” Huntington recalls. “She said you’re going to make an error at some point, you’re also going to strike out. What’s important is that you don’t hang your head.”
The lesson became part of Huntington’s teaching toolkit once she became a coach in a career that started with youth softball in her hometown of Riceville and continued with a four-year stint as an assistant coach at Simpson College, followed by her head coaching tenure at UW-Eau Claire.
“When my name was read for the hall of fame at the national coaching convention, which we had as a virtual event, I became pretty emotional,” says Huntington, who majored in athletic training while playing basketball and softball for the Beavers. “I heard from several opposing coaches who’ve become very good friends of mine, and many of them I look to as mentors.”
She also heard from Willadsen, who resides in Arizona.
“As a head coach, Marge let me know how rewarding of a feeling it was to have a former player achieve this honor,” Huntington says. “I knew I’d wanted to coach ever since the days I was playing at BVU.”
BVU Hall of Fame inductee, the late Rusty Mohler, a key part of Willadsen’s coaching staff during Huntington’s playing days, also shared a comment that echoes each season on the diamond in Eau Claire. Mohler watched Huntington play basketball during her senior year and could tell the BVU guard wasn’t having much fun. He approached her after a game and shared this: “Leslie, play with a smile on your face. The games are supposed to be fun.”
“I’ve never forgotten it,” Huntington says. “At the Division III level, sports are at their purest. Our student-athletes don’t receive athletic scholarships. They’re here for the academic and the co-curricular experience, which is supposed to be fun. What matters most is that they’re getting an education and going on to contribute in their chosen field.”
Coach Leslie Huntington’s chosen field became the field upon which softball is played. She’s had so much fun and shared a wealth of teachable moments in leading student-athletes for nearly a quarter-century in what’s now described as a hall-of-fame career.