LeDuc recognized by state sports writers as athlete of the year

Canton High graduate Mike LeDuc was the first CHS athlete to be recognized by the Connecticut Sports Writers Alliance. He was named the Bill Lee Athlete of the Year.

SOUTHINGTON, April 26, 2015 – A year ago, Canton’s Mike LeDuc was a senior at Connecticut College finishing up a spectacular collegiate career. Last spring, he won the third of three Division III national championships in capturing his second straight national title in the 3,000-meter steeplechase. A few months earlier, he won his first NCAA Division III crown in cross country.

Today, LeDuc is a biology and horticulture teacher in Glenville South High School in Glenville, Illinois. And when he learned he had been chosen by the Connecticut Sports Writers Alliance as the Bill Lee Male Athlete of the Year, he was humbled and paused.

He hesitated about making the trip back East. His Connecticut College coach Jim Butler was much more definite – you’re coming – even if he had to pay for his flight.

The two shared a laugh over that conversation Sunday night at the Alliance’s 74th annual Gold Key banquet where LeDuc accepted the Athlete of the Year award – the first Canton High athlete to be honored by the organization. Former CHS field hockey coach Nancy Grace was recognized in 1993 as the state coach of the year.

“Mike doesn’t like to make a big deal about himself,” said Butler. “I was told that he beat out (UConn’s) Shabazz Napier who was one of the finalists and I think Mike was a little embarrassed by that because Mike is a humble man.”

The Alliance has been awarding athlete of the year awards since 1976 and LeDuc joins some prestigious company. Former Houston Astros first baseman Jeff Bagwell of Killingworth won the award three times. The Alliance has also honored marathon champion Bill Rodgers, Olympic gold medalists Dorothy Hamill and Bruce Jenner, Super Bowl champion QB Steve Young of the 49ers and several UConn basketball stars such as Kemba Walker, Chris Smith and Tony Hanson.

“Athlete of the year for a little kid out of Canton High School and a Division III college in New London… to me that is a big deal,” Butler said.

Connecticut College’s Jeff Morin, Canton’s Tim O’Donnell, Mike LeDuc and Connecticut College’s Jim Butler at Sunday’s Gold Key banquet.

LeDuc’s senior season was spectacular. He won two national titles and earned All-American honors in two events at the NCAA Division III indoor track and field national championship meet in the 3,000 meters and 5,000 meters.

Tim O’Donnell, who coached LeDuc in cross country, indoor and outdoor track at Canton, said the award was an unexpected but well-deserved honor. LeDuc joked that in high school O’Donnell talked him out of playing soccer to come run for the cross country and track program.

It was a good move. LeDuc earned All-State honors at Canton before graduating in 2010. It was in Canton where he was first introduced to the steeplechase – an event that LeDuc earned Division III All-American honors four times at Connecticut College.

“I tell the kids that you’re not here for the glory or recognition,” O’Donnell said. “If you get some recognition, it is a bonus.”

LeDuc shared the stage with several exception Connecticut athletes and citizens Sunday night. The Alliance awarded Gold Keys to Enfield’s Craig Janney, an Olympic hockey player and a 12-year NHL veteran, Killingly’s Tracy Lis, who scored a state record 3,681 points in high school and a Big East record 2,534 points at Providence College, former Derby High and Yale running back John Pagliaro and long-time FCIAC executive John Kuczko.

Lis talked about moving away from basketball where she was a star. She played one year in the American Basketball League with the New England Blizzard in 1997-98 before retiring from the sport that had defined her as a youngster. “I began to accept that I was just Tracy Lis the person – not a basketball star,” she said.

Gold Key recipient Tracy Lis, right, praises Capital Prep’s Kiah Gillespie about her excellent high school career.

During her speech, Lis did call over Kiah Gillespie, the Capital Prep star who was recognized as the high school athlete of the year. Gillespie, who will attend Maryland next fall, joked earlier in the evening that she scored only 2,000 points (actually 2,208) in her high school career. Lis hugged her and reassured her that – yes — that was a lot of points.

Only 17 girls in Connecticut history have scored more than 2,000 points in their scholastic basketball careers and only six have scored more than Gillespie. “Be proud of what you do, what you did,” Lis said. “Never, ever say you only scored 2,000 points. That’s amazing.”

While one doesn’t know what the future holds, LeDuc is settling in as a teacher in Illinois. Late last week, he led a team from Glenview South to the state horticulture championships where students engaged in competition that included identifying different types of plants.

Even as the staff at the Aqua Turf cleaned up tables after the banquet with most of the 350 banquet visitors gone, LeDuc and his family and coaches sat around their table, shared stories of the past and future and laughed. Oh, by the way, Butler’s offer for plane fare was kindly declined by LeDuc.

Mike LeDuc and friends share good times at the Gold Key banquet.

More than 350 people attended the 74th annual Gold Key banquet Sunday.