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Home ›Waukon native Holly Hesse reflects on her 36-year head coaching career with Missouri State softball as she retires and is inducted into another Hall of Fame

Looking back on where she always looked forward ... Waukon High School 1978 graduate Holly Hesse looks on from the dugout location she occupied for more than three decades at the helm of the Missouri State University softball program. Hesse retired this past spring from that head coaching position at the completion of her 36th season leading the softball Bears, and she will be inducted into the Missouri State University Athletics Hall of Fame as part of a weekend event scheduled for this Friday and Saturday, January 24-25. Photo courtesy of the Missouri State University Athletics Communications Department.

Focused on success ... Recently-retired Missouri State University head softball coach Holly Hesse, a 1978 graduate of Waukon High School, peers out at the field with an outward focus indicative of the inward focus that drove her to successful careers as both a player and head coach of the game she loves. After pitching the Waukon softball team to a pair of top-five State Tournament finishes and Creighton University to several National Tournament qualifications during her playing days, Hesse took that passion and knowledge to the coaching ranks, coaching a four-decade span that included a 36-year tenure as head coach of the Missouri State University softball program she retired from this past year. Photo courtesy of the Missouri State University Athletics Communications Department.
WHS 1978 graduate to be honored at MSU induction ceremony this weekend
by David M. Johnson
A decorated high school and college athlete, a successful Division I college softball coach, an author and a mentor, Waukon native Holly Hesse has blazed a trail of achievement since her days of living within the hills and valleys of Waukon and Allamakee County, with that trail leading to a storied career of more than three decades as head coach of the Missouri State University softball program. With a laser-like focus on goals and career targets that lofted her to new heights both playing and coaching, Hesse has now retired this past year knowing she will leave at the top of her game - a game that she’s loved for so long and shared with so many others.
The daughter of LaVonne and the late Roger Hesse of rural Waukon, Holly Hesse had an inauspicious beginning, working and playing in the shadows of the family farm buildings west of Waukon. As she grew up on that family farm, her interests changed, sparking a fire as she caught fastpitch offerings from her older brother, Randy. After practicing, Randy would let his little sister toss a few, which then became a catalyst that drove the younger Hesse to go further.
And, did she go further!
Her hunger drove her to take pointers from her brother, and she also took lessons from local fastpitch legend, the late Tom Lydon, as well. She became the starting pitcher for the Waukon Indian softball team, a team that made State Tournament runs in 1976 and 1977 that ended up with fourth-place and State Runner-Up finishes, respectively - all behind teams from much larger schools (including a 1-0 loss to Urbandale in the 1977 State Championship game), in the then all-class season grand finale with Hesse in the pitching circle. She would end up with 161 wins in high school followed by induction into the Iowa Girls High School Pitcher’s Hall of Fame in 1979. With the All-Conference and All-State recognition she received, she garnered the attention of Creighton University in Omaha, NE that allowed her to take her talents to the next level.
To read the full article, pick up the Wednesday, January 22, 2025 print edition of The Standard or subscribe to our e-edition or print edition by clicking here.