Alumni Convocation

For many of you, Leslie Guenther was a constant of your Hebron years. She was your math teacher, your field hockey, lacrosse or ski coach, but today, we celebrate Leslie as Athletic Director for 23 years, but one part of her many contributions to Hebron.

Mitzi was tapped in 1997 to become Hebron’s Athletic Director, and she quickly became a person who was ’always there’ for you and your teams. She fostered equity and inclusion to our athletic programs. With her leadership Hebron achieved Title-IX parity through the addition of girl’s teams, but more, she worked with coaches to insure that all had good access to training facilities, field spaces, courts and ice time, a particular challenge in the days before the creation of the Allen Field and Williams Center.

Networking, Communication and Cooperation are words that capture some of Mitzi’s talent for bringing people together. She became the long-serving president of our Maine Athletic Association, the MAISAD League, and later served for a decade on the Executive Board of the New England Prep School Athletic Conference, or NEPSAC. Through those associations she was able to enhance Hebron’s schedules and exposure. And as our competitiveness increased, so too did opportunities for expanded schedules. We met all of the Lakes Region schools of New Hampshire was well as perennial rivals Holderness, Brewster and Tilton. We regularly ventured further afield to compete with Dexter, Exeter, Governor’s, Milton, Middlesex, Pingree and others.

As we competed successfully on a larger stage, our championship bids increased. During Ms. G’s time, nearly all of our teams reached the NEPSAC Tournaments: Cross Country, Field Hockey, Football, and men’s and women’s Soccer in the fall; Basketball, both Hockey teams and Alpine Skiing in the winter; Lacrosse, men’s and women’s Tennis and Track in the spring - 15 teams in all, and of those teams, Football, Men’s Soccer, Men’s and Women’s Hockey, Men’s and Women’s Alpine Skiing, Lacrosse and Women’s Track all brought home NEPSAC Championship trophies. Mitzi also showcased our facilities and teams by hosting and being meet director for multiple NEPSAC Championships in Cross Country and Alpine Skiing.

While our Varsity teams experienced great success, Ms. G. also sought to create a positive and competitive experience at all levels of our program. Stories abound of the impressive runs by JV and Thirds Soccer, B-team Hockey, and JV Tennis. When the MAISAD group created the “MOXIE Award” to honor the member school with the most success at all levels during a year, Hebron proved a perennial winner. As well, our teams achieved a level of fair play as voted by our opposing coaches that kept a MAISAD Sportsmanship banner on display here year in and year out.

Between 2006 and 2008, Ms. G. had the distinct honor of joining the architectural committee charged to design the Williams Family Athletic Center. Working with the lead architects, Mitzi turned her experience managing all of Hebron’s program to create spaces for a wide variety of activities. From the beginning, she advocated for a community-based facility rather than a gymnasium. She was proud of the adaptable multi-season court spaces, the glasswalled weight room, the multi-purpose room and the climbing wall. But she was especially proud of pushing relentlessly for the inclusion of the suspended track, that signature feature that provides walking, jogging and exercise space for everyone in the community, a space where teams gather and exercise during the shoulder seasons, and the space where we all go to “Pack the Track” and cheer our Lumberjacks.

In many ways, Leslie Gunther has been a constant for many, many Hebron athletes. She was ever-present to do what needed to be done—whether running the chains for football, timing innumerable field hockey, soccer, basketball and lacrosse games, or having the needs of your team always in hand: uniforms, referees, travel plans, and meal arrangements, the details that helped you and your coaches be your best.

If you will indulge a metaphor, Leslie Guenther has been for Hebron Athletics like the reflecting mirror behind the lantern of a lighthouse, a constant presence which amplified and enriched your experiences, which helped you all to shine and achieve great success and to create a culture of excellence, cooperation and fair play in Hebron Athletics.

For these reasons, it is thoroughly appropriate that we should celebrate Leslie Guenther’s 23 years as Hebron’s longestserving Athletic Director with induction to our Athletic Hall of Fame, joining her name with icons Charles Dwyer, George Helwig, Addison Augusta, and Nat Harris— exemplars all of excellence and service to Hebron. Join us in celebrating Ms. G.!