Boston University

Lesley Sheehan

Sport: Tennis
Year Graduated: 1984
Year Inducted: 1990

The finest woman tennis player ever to compete for Boston University, Lesley Sheehan spent her entire four-year collegiate career playing number-one singles and compiled an overall mark of 54-16.

A three time team MVP, and two-time team captain, Sheehan was ranked as high as second, and no lower than fourth in the ECAC, which includes 66 member schools. A four-year All-East selection, she was ranked among the national Top Forty, and became the first Boston University woman to qualify for the NCAA Division I Tournament in her junior year, and then returned to the tournament in her senior year.

She captured the Greater Boston Championships in three consecutive years (1982-84) and took the Middle State Collegiate Tennis Crown in 1983. That season she also won the singles title at the New England Championships and paced her team to a second-place finish. As a senior in 1984, she again captured the New England singles title, sweeping her opponent in straight sets. As a team, the Terriers finished fifth.

In recognition of her efforts, she received the Mildred Barnes Award as the top woman athlete as voted by the University's varsity coaches in her senior year and was also presented with the University's Scarlet Key for outstanding leadership in student activities.

Upon graduation, she competed in a number of professional tennis tournaments on the USTA Circuit, before returning to Boston University in 1985 to become the head woman's coach at the young age of 22. In 1989, she was named the North Atlanic Conference Woman's Tennis Coach of the Year.