Before Darla Moldenhauer’s mother, Vicky, settled down with her husband and Darla’s father, Bill, and began a 40-plus year endeavor farming the rural areas of Pekin — in addition to teaching — she was a renowned fastpitch softball pitcher in the Amateur Softball Association, where a young Darla served as the mascot for Mom’s team as an infant.

It was on those ASA softball fields where Moldenhauer was first exposed to sports — more specifically girls and women’s sports — and the central Illinois farm fields where she learned the old-fashioned American values of hard work and respect from her parents.

Pairing her passion for sports and the values instilled upon her on the farm, Moldenhauer’s career as a teacher and coach began just as Title IX paved the way for gender equality in sports in 1972, passing while she was a senior at Illinois State University.

After her graduation from ISU, Moldenhauer came to Bradley-Bourbonnais as a PE teacher, helping create girls sports at the school in 1973. And although she retired in 2005 — after amassing almost 1,000 wins between volleyball and softball — Moldenhauer remains unwaveringly dedicated to growing girls sports.

That commitment was exemplified earlier this school year, when Moldenhauer spearheaded a 50-year celebration of girls sports at Bradley-Bourbonnais last September, and that continued commitment makes Moldenhauer the 2023 Daily Journal Female Sports Citizen of the Year.

“Her support and her love for everything female sports, I don’t think will ever be matched at BBCHS,” said Leigh Reiniche, the current Bradley-Bourbonnais volleyball coach and former player for Moldenhauer. “Her work for the celebration of 50 years of girls sports at BBCHS, all the work she did to bring back original athletes, coaches, all she did shows how much she loves this community and shows how deserving she is to be the Women’s Sports Citizen of the Year.”

<strong>Making a home at BBCHS</strong>

Liker her mother, Moldenhauer attended ISU and became a teacher, finding an open position at Bradley-Bourbonnais upon her graduation. After learning under Dr. Laurie Mabry, one of the catalysts for Title IX’s recent passing, Moldenhauer began her career eager to do whatever she could to get girls sports on as equal of footing as she could compared to the boys.

She began the school’s first-ever girls volleyball coach in 1973 and became the softball coach a couple years later. By 1978, Moldenhauer led the Boilers to the IHSA Class AA Volleyball State Finals, and by the time she retired following the 2004-05 school year, she compiled a 632-300-19 record that includes 14 regional championships and five more district championships, three sectional titles and the trip to state <em>(Editor’s note: districts were replaced with regionals in 1981)</em>. On the softball diamond, she went 355-221 with another handful of regional crowns, giving her a total of 987 wins between volleyball and softball.

And while the wins and trophies that came during her time were fun, in Moldenhauer’s eyes, they weren’t from her doing.

“One of the things I always told [the student-athletes] was that you make me look good; they did the work, they won the championships,” Moldenhauer said. “I think for most all of my athletes, we have a mutual respect.”

For Moldenhauer, teaching a softball player to respect their opponents and the officials took precedence over perfecting a drag bunt. In volleyball, learning how to accept losing just as much as winning was more important than any dig, block or spike could ever be.

That’s why Moldenhauer felt she was able to foster relationships with student-athletes of all talent levels and aspirations, and why she’s been able to build those relationships in the decades since she coached them.

“It didn’t matter if you went off to play Division I or to work in a factory, we all believe that sports are a microcosm of life. … I think that’s what drew us all so close together, were those memories,” Moldenhauer said. “I’m not sure how many of the athletes can remember if we won this game or that game — we always remembered when we beat Mac — but they remember the little things, and that’s what I remember.”

<strong>Inspiring younger coaches, teachers</strong>

Moldenhauer’s molded several young minds that have gone on to play pivotal community roles, in athletics and elsewhere, as well as some individuals that have extended her inspirations around the country.

Reiniche and her assistant, Missy Daugherty, played for Moldenhauer at Bradley-Bourbonnais. So did Kankakee assistant Shawn Wells, and her sister, Kim, who has spent several years coaching in Alaska. Kim’s fellow Illinois Central College 1984 national runner-up teammates Carla Hale and Darby Matthews got into coaching as well, as did Gina Zinanni, who eventually became an assistant for Moldenhauer.

Moldenhauer remembers former players as far back as longtime Bradley Central Middle School volleyball coach and PE teacher Jenny Guimond, a member of the first softball team she coached in 1976, coming back to join her as an assistant. Other former Moldenhauer student-athletes that found themselves back in local coaching include Kathy Colclasure, the current badminton and girls golf coach at Bradley-Bourbonnais, and athletic performance training teacher and assistant strength and conditioning coach Amanda Hammond.

Even Kankakee head girls coach Dennis Pommier and Bradley Elementary School District 61 superintendent Dr. Scott Goselin played for Moldenhauer once upon a time for a local youth boys team.

“Each of them have their own individual personality,” Moldenhauer said. “Their personalities are so different, so I always told them to keep the values you learned at Bradley-Bourbonnais, but your personality is your own style.”

Between softball and volleyball, Moldenhauer served as the head coach for several hundred BBCHS girls student-athletes and other local youth. And the opportunity to maintain contact with many of them, whether through social media or in person, is one of the brightest joys in her life.

“One of the things I always say as I get older, so many great athletes played for me, but even more great personalities,” Moldenhauer said. “They didn’t have to be all-conference; they didn’t have to play in college; we just formed good relationships, and I’ve been so happy to see so many of those people later in my life.”

Reiniche estimates the number of young athletes her former coach has impacted directly or indirectly is somewhere in the thousands, once the coaches that played for her, youth camps, family members of players and other factors are considered.

“Obviously, the number is insurmountable,” Reiniche said. “… Building that, having kids come back and teach and coach in the area to give back just in this community, I can’t begin to imagine the thousands of people she’s impacted along the way.”

<strong>Continued dedication and legacy</strong>

Although she’s been retired for about two decades now, Moldenhauer continues to be a steady presence for Boiler athletics. The longtime tournament the volleyball team has hosted since the 1980s was renamed after her once she retired, with Moldenhauer on hand to award medals and take photos.

But the biggest sign of her commitment came when she was the mastermind for last fall’s 50-year celebration. After taking part of a 50-year Title IX celebration at ISU in 2022, Moldenhauer wanted to recreate something similar for the half-century of girls sports Bradley-Bourbonnais is celebrating this school year.

So, Moldenhauer turned to social media, word of mouth, and even matching names and birthdates from an old eligibility sheet she found for the 1974 volleyball team in the White Pages to let the first-ever BBCHS girls student-athletes know they were going to be honored over the school’s homecoming weekend.

The school began its journey into girls sports with volleyball, tennis, basketball, badminton, softball and track and field 50 years ago, with invites extended to the living members of those teams. Several made it back for a weekend that included a ceremony prior to a volleyball game, another one before the homecoming football game, a school assembly and more.

“Most of my original team in 1973 came back, and most hadn’t seen each other since they played together 50 years ago,” Moldenhauer said. “We all look a little different, but we looked into each other’s eyes and just laughed and knew that coach or athlete from 50 years ago.

“It was full-circle seeing all of them and quite a satisfying, great memory for me.”

Moldenhauer’s favorite part of the celebration was the assembly held for current BBCHS girls student-athletes. Displayed were old uniforms — generic sports uniforms that all six sports shared — other sports-related documents and photos, including montages of several coaches like Hammond, Reiniche, Daugherty and former softball coach and current teacher Laurie Januski and their daughters, all of whom are current, future or former Boiler student-athletes.

“I wanted to bring them that tradition and pass on the tradition,” Moldenhauer said. “… The legacy, we pass it on. We start here and pass it on.”

It was during that weekend of celebration Moldenhauer announced the Darla Moldenhauer Scholarship, which will provide two students with a $1,000 scholarship each year.

Whether it’s the scholarship, the 50-year celebration or any other of the myriad of ways Moldenhauer continues to have her impact, she chalks it all up to giving back to a community that gave her so much.

“It’s humbling but I do try my very best to give back, and I will always credit those athletes with whatever it is that’s called my success.”