BURLINGTON - The Connecticut Scholastic and Collegiate Hall of Fame inducted Lewis Mills coaching legend Eileen Crompton into its ranks on Feb. 25, at the Aqua Turf Restaurant in Plantsville.

Crompton, a Harwinton resident who coached the Spartans softball team for 24 years (1980-2003) joined six others in the 2007 Class. Jennifer Fischer-Mueller, Hand-Madison; Heather Dorsey, Lyman Hall-Wallingford; and Christine Woodman, UConn, were honored for playing accomplishments.

Annette Fortune, University of Hartford, joined Crompton in the coaches' section. Doug Donaldson went in as a high school and college umpire. Hal Levy became an honorary member as sports editor for Shore Line Newspapers.

At a school that's made boys and girls soccer its own special province, Crompton did that for softball, even though, as a Lewis Mills third baseman in her own playing days, she never entertained the first thought of becoming a coach, much less a legend.

"My husband (Dave) was stationed in Hawaii in the Navy," Crompton said. "I was asked to coach little kids - third graders - and I discovered that I loved it. Then, after the service, Dave got a job at Har-Bur (Middle School), and it turned out they needed a coach the same year (at Har-Bur).

"I did it for three years, and that was enough," she said. "But, in 1980, the high school coach resigned. By then, some of my junior high kids were in high school. They approached (then-Athletic Director) Ken Hoagland and said, 'Why don't you call Mrs. Crompton?' I thought I'd just do it a few years."

Though Crompton was establishing her own Harwinton real estate business (The Home Team), softball team success and personal satisfactions made quitting unthinkable.

The Spartans were 405-89 under Crompton, who led them to 11 league championships, four Class M state championships (1985, '89, '91, '97) and one runner-up spot (1983).

Team and personal success combined early, when the Cromptons' oldest daughter, Karin, got to play, as a freshman, on Lewis Mills' first-ever state champion team in 1985. Then younger daughter Kelly played on two more, in 1989 and '91.

"This is going to sound stupid," Crompton laughs, "but one of my favorite things, really, was the bus rides. It was a time just with the team. I wouldn't allow headphones, so the kids interacted. That's where you get to really know the kids, when you're just talking."

Hall of Fame induction is the latest in a series of honors that followed in the wake of such performance, between her players and on the field. Crompton was Coach of the Year for the New Haven Register in 1989; Softball Coach of the Year for the Connecticut High School Coaches Association (CHSCA) in 1994.

The National High School Athletic Coaches Association picked her as its Softball Coach of the Year in 1995; and she was the Northwest Connecticut Umpires Association Coach of the Year in 2003.

Throughout, though not involved in academics, Crompton stayed active in high school softball administration as well. She served on the CIAC's Softball Committee from 1987 to 2006. For her first two years, she was the Class M representative, then served a three-year term as chairman from 1990-1993.

Her history within the CHSCA is similar. She served as the Softball Representative from 1990-1993, and as a member of the Senior All-Star Selection Committee from 1983-2005.

"The highlights were all the nice and good people I never would have met otherwise," Crompton said. "The coaches, the parents, the players, from Mills and from the other schools as well."

The Connecticut Softball Hall of Fame says much the same thing about Crompton - a nice and good person softball never would have met without an "accidental" career as a Connecticut softball legend.

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