Rhodes Athletic Hall of Fame
Today, the Rhodes Field Hockey team is a perennial favorite for the Southern Athletic Association Championship and a nationally recognized program with NCAA playoff appearances to boast. Good teams are comprised of talented athletes, but great teams always have a special player to take the program to the next level.
That special player arrived to Rhodes in August, 2000 when Lee Thomas set foot on campus as a freshman. Recruited by Coach Matt Dean out Sacred Heart Academy in Louisville, KY, Lee quickly made an impact on the Lynx program and in the Kentucky, Indiana and Tennessee (KIT) Conference. As Coach David Norton said.
“We knew Lee was really good. It didn’t take long to recognize Lee was not only good, she was special.” In only the fourth year since the program’s inception and playing against teams who had field hockey teams for years, Lee led Rhodes to the 2001 KIT Tournament title.
Lee was an offensive machine. She is Rhodes all-time leading scorer with forty-two career goals and she ranks first in goals made in a season with seventeen. Lee ranks second in career points with ninety-eight and points in a season with thirty-eight. In each of her four years on the team she was selected All-Conference and voted by the coaches to the National Field Hockey Coaches Association (NFHCA) All Region Team. Lee was also voted to participate in the NFHCA Senior All-Star Game, the first Rhodes field hockey player to be selected to play in the game.
Lee Thomas’ outstanding play and leadership set the standard for future Rhodes field hockey players. For the thrills her great play brought to her coaches, teammates and fans, and her dedication and commitment to excellence, Rhodes is honored to induct LEE THOMAS HARRING into the Rhodes Athletic Hall of Fame this 10th day of October, 2014.
