OUTSTANDING ATHLETE

Induction Year: 2002 | Graduation Year: 1970

Susie K. Boone was a member of the 1970 graduating class. During her three years at Tecumseh she was a member of the volleyball, basketball and softball teams, starting for all three. She held the single game scoring record in basketball by scoring 32 points against Shawnee HS. She was also a member of the yearbook staff, Future Teachers of Am. and was the President of the GAA her senior year. However; her passion was tennis. Tecumseh did not offer a girls tennis team during this time. She began playing tennis at the age of six in Smith Park. She spent the first three years taking lessons in New Carlisle, then began taking lessons at Snyder Park in Springfield. Before long she was playing in local, regional, state and national tournaments. Susie spent her entire summers traveling around the country competing and wining titles. She was the state singles champion for four years in singles and five years in doubles. She played in three national tournaments and acquired her highest national ranking of 32. Once Susie completed her Junior tennis career it was off to Eastern Kentucky University where she played the number one position in both singles and doubles for all four years. She only lost three singles matches and one doubles match and was named to the All-American team in 1974. She graduated from EKU with: Associate of Arts Degree in Recreation Supervision and a Bachelors ofScience Degree in Parks and Recreation Administration.

She worked for the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Div. of Parks & Recreation from 1975-1994. During that time she began a community wide tennis program; started a girls basketball program; became the first Women's Athletic Director; successfully built the girls and women's softball program to a record number of 150 teams, became a Regional Amateur Softball Assoc. Commissioner.She was inducted into the Kentucky ASA Hall of Fame in 1994 for her contribution to women's softball. She then transferred into the Aquatic Section and was the supervisor of 14 different pool sites a staff of over 300 and a budget of $1 million. In 1994 she moved 15 miles North to Georgetown, KY and became the Recreation Superintendent. During her eight years there she was very instrumental in the development of community wide recreation programs for children, adults and families and played avital role in the research, development, construction and opening of a public recreation center that has 55,000 sq. ft.: two indoor pools, aerobic room, 2 full gyms, track, conference room, offices, etc. The building opened in August of 2002.

Susie's next challenge in Ballwin, Missouri was accepting a position of Superintendent ofRecreation in Ballwin this year. There Susie is directly in charge of another recreation center that is one of Athletic Businesses Facility of Merit Award winners, an outdoor pool that is going to be replaced with an $8 million outdoor family aquatic center, a budget of $1.75 million and staff of over 250.

Her passion now lies in her golf game and friend Summer, a Schnauzer. Her parents, Russ and Florence (Sprild) made many sacrifices both financially and time-wise to allow Susie to make her dreams come true; Bill, her older brother, traveled to and from tournaments and stayed very supportive. She thanks her family for providing her with a second education! Her role in life is to simply "make a difference" and she first accomplished that by teaching tennis at Smith Park. A special thanks to former Athletic Director Doug Chaffins for taking the interest and helping her develop her tennis game.