Marshall University Athletics
Marshall Athletics Hall of Fame
- Induction:
- 2016
- Class:
- 1995
When Jeanne Noble completed her playing career at Milton High School, where she led the Greyhounds softball team to two state championships and was named first-team All State in softball, volleyball and basketball, she didn’t have the option to play college softball at Marshall. After playing two years at Morehead State, when Marshall announced that it would start a softball program for the 1994 season, Noble transferred to her “home” school.
A fixture in the middle of the Marshall lineup from the onset, Noble led the Thundering Herd in batting average and home runs in the team’s first year of competition, and then in average, home runs and runs batted in as a senior. She was named All-Southern Conference and to the all-conference tournament team in each of her two seasons at Marshall, leading the 1995 team to the league tournament championship. As a senior she won Marshall’s Cam Henderson Award and was named the university’s Female Student Athlete of the Year.
Lunsford’s hitting marks were atop many of the Marshall record book categories after her two seasons with the team – her 43 runs batted in as a senior would remain the school record until 2003. After her playing career ended, she served as an assistant coach at Marshall and then has been the softball coach at Cabell Midland High School since that program’s inception. She was the only member of the original Marshall softball team to be named to the school’s 20th anniversary all-time team. Lunsford was inducted into the Marshall Athletic Hall of Fame in 2016.
