page 12
daily nebraskan
thursday,may 1, 1980
sf2)?te
For UNL softball 'mom,'
sleep last consideration
By Ron Powell
For most UNL athletes, participating in
a sport, going to college full-time and hold
ing a part-time job would be enough to
occupy almost all of their time.
But Nebraska softball pitcher Connie
Gonyea does all three of those things and
still has time for something else that
probably has the highest priority-being a
housewife and mother of four children.
Gonyea admits things get a little Jiectic
trying to balance her time between school,
softball, home and her part-time job selling
after-market products for car dealers, but
she has no regrets about it.
"I just wish I had the time to concen
trate on one thing and do it well," Gonyea
said. "There are some things I have had to
sacrifice to get everything done and one of
them has been sleep. Sleep gets the least of
my time."
Gonyea, a junior English major, recently
turned 35. She was a housewife, a softball
player in summer leagues and coach of
junior high and high school teams in Waver
ly before enrolling at UNL in the fall of
1977.
"When I got out of high school (she was
graduated in 1963 from Lincoln Pius X), I
thought I wasn't good enough to go to
college because my grades were just
average," Gonyea said. "I wanted to go
into coaching then, but there weren't any
girls' sports in high school, just P.E. (Physi
cal Education) classes. If you did those
things, people thought you were a tom
boy." Gonyea said she first thought of college
five years ago, and it took a friend two
years to talk her into it. She said she
originally came to UNL to learn more
about coaching. She now has added the
goal of becoming an English teacher to her
coaching aspirations.
She said she didn't have any doubts
about ' being able to play on the college
level because she had played against many
college players during the summer.
"At first, I thought it would be hard for
them (teammates) to accept me, but they
accepted me right away," Gonyea said,
whose team nickname is Mom.
She said her husband, Wayne, and her
four children, Angie, 13, Wayne, Jr., 12,
Tammy, 9, and Joseph, 6, have adjusted
well to her busy schedule.
"It's made them rely on each other
more," Gonyea said. "My oldest daughter
has taken over for me, helping with the
cooking, laundry and cleaning around the
house.
Gonyea has been one of the Huskers'
leading pitchers for two years. In 1979, she
compiled a 94 record while setting a
school record with 22 appearances. This
season Gonyea is 7-5 despite bouts with"
pneumonia and flu as well as a pulled
muscle in the abdomen.
Although her age has not affected her
pitching, the designated hitter usually takes
her spot in the batting order.
But in two games at the Big Eight tourn
ament three weeks ago, Gonyea got four
hits in six trips. She had not been at bat all
season before the tournament.
"I guess I get DHed because of bad
wheels; I just can't get around the bases
fast enough," Gonyea said. "But at Big
Eight, I showed them 1 still might have it at
tne plate."
I
Photo by Mark Billingsley
UNL softball pitcher Connie Gonyea finds time to work out with the team. Gonyea
also carries a full load of classes, works a part-time job and has four children.
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