Leann Burkholder

This is the second in a series of articles profiling the 2015 inductees into the Butler County Sports Hall of Fame. NAPLES, Fla. — Earning 11 varsity letters, Leann Burkholder was a busy athlete in high school.She hasn’t stopped.The 1984 Butler graduate went on to play college basketball at the University of Pittsburgh and coached high school girls basketball for 25 years, earning numerous awards along the way.Burkholder’s body of work has landed her a spot in the Butler County Sports Hall of Fame.She will be inducted at the organization’s annual banquet April 25 at the Butler Days Inn.“Basketball always came naturally to me,” Burkholder said. “I used to go out and shoot in the driveway when I was 10 and the first competitive team I played on was in fifth grade.“I didn’t quit playing until two years ago. Some coaches and other friends in Naples get together once a week and play at the high school. I finally had to give it up.”But she did plenty in between her first and last game.Burkholder scored 993 career points at Butler — third leading scorer in program history at the time of her graduation — and missed out on 1,000 only because of an injury.“Two sprained ankles kept me out of one game my senior year or I would have had it,” she said.Burkholder averaged 25 points and 12 rebounds her senior season in being named All-WPIAL and all-state. She lettered three years in basketball, four in tennis and four in track and field.She was a WPIAL doubles champion at Butler and the high jump was her best event in track and field. But basketball was clearly her game.“I played center in high school because I was the tallest girl (5-foot-10) on the team,” Burkholder said. “But I could play outside, too. I wound up playing guard at Pitt and started a few games.”Burkholder wound up serving as an assistant varsity girls basketball coach at West Waterloo High School in Iowa from 1990-2005.The program was nationally ranked and she coached two players — Molly Goodenbour (Stanford) and Gillian Goring (North Carolina State) — who went on to play in the WNBA.She also coached Nina Smith, the National High School Player of the Year in 1999.Burkholder was selected Iowa High School Athletic Association Assistant Coach of the Year in 2004.“We took six teams to the state tournament’s final four and never won it,” she said. “We lost the state title game 37-35 one year, lost in five overtimes in the semifinals another year.”For two seasons, Burkholder was head varsity boys basketball coach at English Valleys Community Schools in Iowa, one of only three women in the state coaching a boys varsity team at the time.A middle school teacher during her Iowa years, Burkholder wound up moving to Naples, Fla., in 2005 and underwent a career change. She is now a financial advisor in Florida, but did serve as an assistant coach at Naples High School from 2005-12.David Walker, the Naples girls head coach for 33 years, became her life partner. The two remain together today.“We took two teams to the Florida final four,” Burkholder said. “David’s been inducted into two Hall of Fames in Florida.”Now it’s her turn.“Basketball has been great to me,” she said. “Many of my basketball contacts have helped me build my current business. I worked a bunch of camps, coached AAU ball and did a lot of traveling ... I miss doing that, but the time’s just not there anymore.“I worked Pat Summitt’s camp in Tennessee, I know all of the coaches in the Women’s Final Four. That’s what’s great about travel basketball. You get to meet so many people.”Tickets for the Hall of Fame dinner are $30 in advance, $35 at the door. Tickets are available at Bill’s Beer Barn and Snack-N-Pack in Butler, Moses Jewelers at the Clearview Mall, Parkers Appliance in Chicora and Saxonburg Drug.