Kansas State University Athletics
SE: LeAnn Wilcox — First K-State WBB Scholarship Player — Takes Journalism Career to New York Times
Nov 06, 2017 | Women's Basketball, Sports Extra
By Corbin McGuire
Life has taken LeAnn Wilcox on many turns she never expected.
From becoming the first women's basketball player at K-State to receive a full-ride scholarship to chasing a journalism career that landed her at the New York Times, Wilcox's path through life has been filled with "great turns," as she put it.
"I've had a lucky life and a happy life," Wilcox said over the phone in her midtown Manhattan, New York City office.
Life started for Wilcox on April 12, 1958 in Kansas City, Missouri. She grew up there, eventually developing into a star athlete at St. Mary's High School in Independence, Missouri.
Several schools recruited Wilcox to play basketball, and she received offers for what would be the first full-ride scholarship for women's basketball at K-State and Kansas. The kicker? Both teams had a fallback option: her friend Cheryl Burnett out of Centralia, Missouri.
"Cheryl was my friend because we had met the previous summer at a basketball camp, and we ended up being rivals but friends," Wilcox said. "Both Kansas and K-State said, 'If you don't take it, we're giving it to Cheryl.' It was just awful, and I remember saying to the K-State coaches, 'Why can't you just give both of us scholarships?'"
Ultimately, Wilcox chose K-State, where she played from 1976-80 in the Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW). (Burnett landed at Kansas, and went on to lead Southwest Missouri State to two Final Fours and 319 wins as a head coach.)
"That was amazing for my parents, who in no way could have afforded to send me to college," Wilcox said, admittedly unaware at the time of the significance that her scholarship represented in women's college athletics. "I had no idea. I think it says a lot for the people that came before."
Now, as a mother of three — Alexandria, Trey and Emma — Wilcox has seen the improved equity and overall evolution of college athletics firsthand. Emma, her youngest, is a highly touted volleyball recruit and Wilcox has been amazed at some of the facilities she has seen on visits.
"The facilities and what they offer for the student-athletes, especially the Power Five conferences, it's just remarkable. These kids, I hope they know how lucky they are. It is truly remarkable," Wilcox said. "When I see what the K-State women have now, I am very happy for them. I am really, really happy for them."
When Wilcox visited the Little Apple more than 40 years ago, she became sold on K-State by the friendliness she encountered.
"Every single person I passed said hello," she said. "It was just a great place to be."
Other selling points: K-State's women's basketball program was riding five-straight winning seasons capped by the program's first Big Eight Championship the year before she arrived. Plus, she thought she wanted to be a veterinarian.
Obviously, the last part did not pan out.
"Someone informed my 17-year-old self that you have to take a lot of math and science for that," said Wilcox, who opted to pursue something completely different: journalism. "Cathie Burnes, who used to be a reporter at the St. Louis Post Dispatch and also at the Kansas City Star, she interviewed me when I was in high school, and I was so intrigued by her job and she explained a lot of it when she was sitting on my living room couch. That's probably when I thought, 'I think that would be a lot of fun. That would just be a really interesting job to have.'"
After finishing up at K-State in 1980, Wilcox was drafted in the ninth-round by the Milwaukee Express of the Women's Professional Basketball League. Because of a history of knee injuries, however, Wilcox decided to move on from basketball and start her career as a journalist.
First, Wilcox sold advertisements at a radio station. Then, she worked at two different weekly papers in Illinois, before accepting a position in the Kansas City Star's sports department. She spent a few years at The Miami Herald, where she met her husband, Ken Plutnicki, in a pick-up basketball game — "literally and figuratively," Wilcox said, laughing — before taking a position with the New York Times in 1991.
"It's just an amazing place to work," Wilcox said. "What goes on in this building is incredible."
While she started in the sports department, Wilcox now serves as a senior staff editor for the Weddings section, which includes everything from stories on wedding styles to profiles on couples from around the world.
"There truly is never a dull moment, talking with so many different people, every day, every week," she said. "The stories are about everything. There's no one topic. It's newsy; it's not newsy. It's just amazing stories and most of them have to do with someone getting married or relationships. And who doesn't want to read about that?"
Growing up, Wilcox never read the New York Times, nor did it ever register to her as a dream job early on in her career. But, as she had learned from her basketball career, determination and hard work can pave an unexpected, yet great road.
"I just think you have to understand that you really have to work at it," she said. "There's the 10,000 hours theory of being good at something, and I think a lot of that is true. You have to put in the time."
Following a freshman season of averaging 9.9 points and 4.6 rebounds per game en route to another Big Eight title, Wilcox earned a spot on the U.S. Junior National Women's Team for the 1977 Junior Pan American Games. The team, coached by the legendary Pat Summitt, went 5-0 to win gold in what Wilcox described was a "transformational" experience.
"I still connect that very much to K-State," said Wilcox, who ranks 37th in school history with 1,049 points. "I was prepared for it because of (K-State head coach) Judy Akers and her coaching staff. They got me prepared. Those were amazing times."
As a sophomore, Wilcox tore her ACL and MCL to end her season five games in. She returned in strong form as a junior, leading the team as a junior with 15.5 points per game that included a 38-point outing, which stood as the school record until Kendra Wecker broke it in 2004.
Playing under Lynn Hickey as a senior, Wilcox reinjured her left knee in the first game of the season but returned after missing seven games. From her physical setbacks came mental gains, as Wilcox said she learned "just how mentally strong a person can be."
"You can get through anything," added Wilcox, who averaged 8.2 points a game as a senior to help K-State finish with a 26-9 record that ended in the AIAW Elite Eight.
"But you don't learn that until you have to do it or you're put in that situation."
While it's been decades since Wilcox has been back to K-State, she has not lost touch with her alma mater. A year or two ago at an AAU tournament, she ran into assistant women's basketball coach Brian Ostermann, who caught her up with the program.
"K-State's a good place," Wilcox said. "I wish the program all the best because it's great to be an athlete at K-State, and I'm happy for all of the current kids and the future ones, too."
K-State was the place where the traits Wilcox possessed to have success in basketball carried over to a career that took her to one of the most prestigious newspapers in the world.
She said the two are "very much related."
"I remember, even in college, someone saying, 'It's just not fair. You're just natural at this.' I said, 'No, I'm not. I work harder than you,'" Wilcox recalled. "I think when you do that and when you feel the strength in your body and in your mind, you have a greater confidence about what you do and making decisions about what you do. That's the beauty of sports for women, the teamwork and confidence that you gain from going through what you go through, alone and together."
Life has taken LeAnn Wilcox on many turns she never expected.
From becoming the first women's basketball player at K-State to receive a full-ride scholarship to chasing a journalism career that landed her at the New York Times, Wilcox's path through life has been filled with "great turns," as she put it.
"I've had a lucky life and a happy life," Wilcox said over the phone in her midtown Manhattan, New York City office.
Life started for Wilcox on April 12, 1958 in Kansas City, Missouri. She grew up there, eventually developing into a star athlete at St. Mary's High School in Independence, Missouri.
Several schools recruited Wilcox to play basketball, and she received offers for what would be the first full-ride scholarship for women's basketball at K-State and Kansas. The kicker? Both teams had a fallback option: her friend Cheryl Burnett out of Centralia, Missouri.
"Cheryl was my friend because we had met the previous summer at a basketball camp, and we ended up being rivals but friends," Wilcox said. "Both Kansas and K-State said, 'If you don't take it, we're giving it to Cheryl.' It was just awful, and I remember saying to the K-State coaches, 'Why can't you just give both of us scholarships?'"
Ultimately, Wilcox chose K-State, where she played from 1976-80 in the Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW). (Burnett landed at Kansas, and went on to lead Southwest Missouri State to two Final Fours and 319 wins as a head coach.)
"That was amazing for my parents, who in no way could have afforded to send me to college," Wilcox said, admittedly unaware at the time of the significance that her scholarship represented in women's college athletics. "I had no idea. I think it says a lot for the people that came before."
Now, as a mother of three — Alexandria, Trey and Emma — Wilcox has seen the improved equity and overall evolution of college athletics firsthand. Emma, her youngest, is a highly touted volleyball recruit and Wilcox has been amazed at some of the facilities she has seen on visits.
"The facilities and what they offer for the student-athletes, especially the Power Five conferences, it's just remarkable. These kids, I hope they know how lucky they are. It is truly remarkable," Wilcox said. "When I see what the K-State women have now, I am very happy for them. I am really, really happy for them."
When Wilcox visited the Little Apple more than 40 years ago, she became sold on K-State by the friendliness she encountered.
"Every single person I passed said hello," she said. "It was just a great place to be."
Other selling points: K-State's women's basketball program was riding five-straight winning seasons capped by the program's first Big Eight Championship the year before she arrived. Plus, she thought she wanted to be a veterinarian.
Obviously, the last part did not pan out.
"Someone informed my 17-year-old self that you have to take a lot of math and science for that," said Wilcox, who opted to pursue something completely different: journalism. "Cathie Burnes, who used to be a reporter at the St. Louis Post Dispatch and also at the Kansas City Star, she interviewed me when I was in high school, and I was so intrigued by her job and she explained a lot of it when she was sitting on my living room couch. That's probably when I thought, 'I think that would be a lot of fun. That would just be a really interesting job to have.'"
After finishing up at K-State in 1980, Wilcox was drafted in the ninth-round by the Milwaukee Express of the Women's Professional Basketball League. Because of a history of knee injuries, however, Wilcox decided to move on from basketball and start her career as a journalist.
First, Wilcox sold advertisements at a radio station. Then, she worked at two different weekly papers in Illinois, before accepting a position in the Kansas City Star's sports department. She spent a few years at The Miami Herald, where she met her husband, Ken Plutnicki, in a pick-up basketball game — "literally and figuratively," Wilcox said, laughing — before taking a position with the New York Times in 1991.
"It's just an amazing place to work," Wilcox said. "What goes on in this building is incredible."
While she started in the sports department, Wilcox now serves as a senior staff editor for the Weddings section, which includes everything from stories on wedding styles to profiles on couples from around the world.
"There truly is never a dull moment, talking with so many different people, every day, every week," she said. "The stories are about everything. There's no one topic. It's newsy; it's not newsy. It's just amazing stories and most of them have to do with someone getting married or relationships. And who doesn't want to read about that?"
Growing up, Wilcox never read the New York Times, nor did it ever register to her as a dream job early on in her career. But, as she had learned from her basketball career, determination and hard work can pave an unexpected, yet great road.
"I just think you have to understand that you really have to work at it," she said. "There's the 10,000 hours theory of being good at something, and I think a lot of that is true. You have to put in the time."
Following a freshman season of averaging 9.9 points and 4.6 rebounds per game en route to another Big Eight title, Wilcox earned a spot on the U.S. Junior National Women's Team for the 1977 Junior Pan American Games. The team, coached by the legendary Pat Summitt, went 5-0 to win gold in what Wilcox described was a "transformational" experience.
"I still connect that very much to K-State," said Wilcox, who ranks 37th in school history with 1,049 points. "I was prepared for it because of (K-State head coach) Judy Akers and her coaching staff. They got me prepared. Those were amazing times."
As a sophomore, Wilcox tore her ACL and MCL to end her season five games in. She returned in strong form as a junior, leading the team as a junior with 15.5 points per game that included a 38-point outing, which stood as the school record until Kendra Wecker broke it in 2004.
Playing under Lynn Hickey as a senior, Wilcox reinjured her left knee in the first game of the season but returned after missing seven games. From her physical setbacks came mental gains, as Wilcox said she learned "just how mentally strong a person can be."
"You can get through anything," added Wilcox, who averaged 8.2 points a game as a senior to help K-State finish with a 26-9 record that ended in the AIAW Elite Eight.
"But you don't learn that until you have to do it or you're put in that situation."
While it's been decades since Wilcox has been back to K-State, she has not lost touch with her alma mater. A year or two ago at an AAU tournament, she ran into assistant women's basketball coach Brian Ostermann, who caught her up with the program.
"K-State's a good place," Wilcox said. "I wish the program all the best because it's great to be an athlete at K-State, and I'm happy for all of the current kids and the future ones, too."
K-State was the place where the traits Wilcox possessed to have success in basketball carried over to a career that took her to one of the most prestigious newspapers in the world.
She said the two are "very much related."
"I remember, even in college, someone saying, 'It's just not fair. You're just natural at this.' I said, 'No, I'm not. I work harder than you,'" Wilcox recalled. "I think when you do that and when you feel the strength in your body and in your mind, you have a greater confidence about what you do and making decisions about what you do. That's the beauty of sports for women, the teamwork and confidence that you gain from going through what you go through, alone and together."
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