Sheilah Gulas

EDITOR'S NOTE: The following article by Cody Crandall originally appeared in The Post-Journal on February 3, 2017.

Sheilah (Lingenfelter) Gulas, a 1979 graduate of Southwestern Central School and the current softball coach at Ashland University, will be inducted into the National Fastpitch Coaches Association Hall of Fame as a member of the Class of 2017.

Gulas will go into the NFCA Hall of Fame on December 8 at the NFCA Convention in Las Vegas.

According to an official release on the NFCA website, Gulas, who is also Ashland's assistant athletic director and senior woman administrator, is heading into her 21st season as the Eagles' head coach and 31st overall as a collegiate head coach. She needs just one victory to reach 900 for her career and has won nearly 66 percent of her games (899-464-1). Gulas needs only seven wins to reach 700 at Ashland (693-342-1).

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The release also stated that she has compiled a winning record in all 20 of her seasons at Ashland, making 12 NCAA Division II tournaments and collecting five Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) titles and three conference Coach of the Year awards. In 1998, her second season, Gulas guided Ashland to a school-record 53 wins and a No. 3 national ranking. The Eagles have collected 40 wins five times during her tenure.

Ashland's athletics website mentions that her coaching career began at Division III Allegheny College in Meadville, Pennsylvania. Gulas coached the Gators from 1987-90, and was 123-38. Allegheny was the national runner-up in 1988 and fifth in the country in 1987, 1989 and 1990. Gulas was named the NCAA Division III national coach of the year in 1988 and 1989, and was the regional coach of the year from 1987-89.

Gulas left Allegheny to coach at Wittenberg, another Division III institution. She stayed there from 1991-96. Her 1994 team set a school single-season record for wins (18), and her teams were ranked among the nation's top 10 academic teams every season. Gulas also coached women's soccer at Wittenberg.

In addition to her NFCA Hall-of-Fame induction last December, Gulas was also the recipient of several other honors in 2017, including the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Co-Coach of the Year; and the ASHPY'S Lifetime Achievement Award. The speaker at the Ashland Umpires Association scholarship banquet, Gulas retired after the 2017 season with a 929-487-1 (.656 winning percentage), including a 723-365-1 (.664) mark at Ashland. Fittingly, Gulas' coached two more all-region, one academic All-American and six all-conference players in her final campaign as coach.

Gulas' impact was more beyond the numbers, though. All one has to do to confirm that is watch a video produced by former players and coaches as a tribute to her on the eve of her NFCA Hall-of Fame induction.

Said one former player: "I don't think you'll understand the infinite amount of time you've put in to each and every single one of us here in this program. And as we graduate and as we move on to our professional lives, how that helps mold us into the people we are and helps our decision making as adults."

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Memorabilia

Photographs

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Sheilah Lingenfelter circa 1978-79 at Southwestern.

Southwestern Central School girls basketball team circa 1978-79. Sheilah Lingenfelter kneeling far left.

Southwestern Central School girls basketball team circa 1978-79. Sheilah Lingenfelter kneeling second from left.

1985 Front Porch softball team. Back row: Tom D'Angelo, Varden Beauseignuer, Lisa McCall, Sonya Hanson, Connie Ricotta, Kay Richards, Dene Lacney, Eileen Sheesley, unknown, Jim Condella Front row: Bridget Rauh, Linda Hall, Judy Mowery, unknown, Sheilah Lingenfelter (Gulas), Gloria Trout, Leda Peterson.

Sheilah Gulas (left) and Leda Peterson (right) teammates on the Surf Club softball team in the late 1980s

Sheilah Gulas.

Sheilah Gulas at Ashland University trophy case.

Sheilah Gulas at her National Fastpitch Coaches Association Hall of Fame induction. December 11, 2017.

Sheilah Gulas, at her National Fastpitch Coaches Association Hall of Fame induction. December 11, 2017.

Sheilah Gulas at her National Fastpitch Coaches Association Hall of Fame induction. December 11, 2017.

National Fastpitch Coaches Association HOF Induction 2017.

CSHOF inductees Kay Gould (left) and Sheilah Gulas at Meadville, PA October 27, 2018. Sheilah joined her mentor, Kay, as an inductee of the Allegheny College Athletics Hall of Fame. Both Gulas and Gould established outstanding records as coaches of the Gators softball teams.

Allegheny College HOF Induction 2018.

Sheilah Gulas was the Region 2 Blue Assistant coach 2018 and 2019 at the 12 Under USA Softball All American Games in Oklahoma City Hall of Fame Stadium. She is on the far right with her hands on her knees in the second row in the 2018 team.

Sheilah Gulas, left, was the Region 2 Blue Assistant coach 2018 and 2019 at the 12 Under USA Softball All American Games in Oklahoma City Hall of Fame Stadium.

From the left are John Woodfield; Marcia Adamczak, wife of the late Jim Adamczak Sr.; and Sheilah Lingenfelter Gulas. The trio was enshrined into the Western New York Softball Hall of Fame at its induction ceremony October 16, 2021.at the Lake Erie Italian Club. P-J photo by Scott Kindberg.

Joining Sheila were her mother Beverly Lingenfelter and her husband George Gulas at the Western New York Softball Hall of Fame induction ceremony. October 16, 2021.

Publications

transcribed publications

Kindberg, Scott. "Adamczak Sr., Lingenfelter Gulas, Woodfield Enshrined." Post-Journal (Jamestown), October 18, 2021.

scanned publications

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Locals At State Meet. Post-Journal (Jamestown), 1975.

P-J Div. 1 Picked By Coaches. Post-Journal (Jamestown), 1979.

Videos

Websites

Sievers, Chez."2017 NFCA Hall Of Fame Inducts Gary Haning; Class Of 2018 Announced." FloSoftball. December 12, 2017. Accessed April 6, 2019. https://www.flosoftball.com/articles/6057171-2017-nfca-hall-of-fame-inducts-gary-haning-class-of-2018-announced.
"Longtime AU softball coach Sheilah Gulas retiring at end of season." Richland Source. February 5, 2017. Accessed April 6, 2019. https://www.richlandsource.com/sports/ashland_university/longtime-au-softball-coach-sheilah-gulas-retiring-at-end-of/article_192084c4-eaf5-11e6-9b6b-b78d3b8c0588.html.
"NFCA Hall of Fame." National Fastpitch Coaches Association. Accessed April 6, 2019. https://nfca.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=7547&Itemid=267.

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