Farmington coach leaves behind legacy

Jean+Hunt

Bonnie Lynch

Jean Hunt

Stefan Izydorczak, Arts & Entertainment Editor

On Friday May 17, former high school coach and teacher Jean Hunt passed away in her hometown of Lexington, Massachusetts. Hunt coached multiple sports at the high school and Litchfield High School.

Hunt was a graduate of the Sargent School from Boston University, where she obtained a Bachelor of Science in Physical Education in 1952. Hunt’s coaching resume includes multiple championships for multiple sports, a total of 500 wins and multiple teams with undefeated seasons.

Her coaching career started out in 1952 when she coached for Litchfield High. She coached their soccer team, basketball team, field hockey team, cheerleading team, and their softball team.

In 1957 Hunt started coaching for Farmington’s sports teams. She coached basketball, field hockey and softball. Hunt had two undefeated seasons during her time as the basketball coach, and she had five undefeated seasons as the field hockey coach including a 47 game win streak. She also won four Northwest Conference Championships with the field hockey team. Hunt´s success also spread through the softball team as she also had three had three undefeated seasons, and four more Northwest Conference Championships.

Years later she started coaching for volleyball, badminton, and track and field. She won six championships and only lost three games during her career as the volleyball coach, and also had success as the track and field coach, and helped four doubles teams won four state championships in badminton.

Hunt unfortunately started coaching when girls sports teams did not have the opportunity to play as much. Hunt helped make girls sports popular by making sure that they were able to compete in state championships. Once Hunt was able to get her girls badminton team into a state championship, the opportunities grew and sports teams were able to practice more and compete more.

Hunt was also a high school teacher and she coached and taught current high school health and wellness teacher Bonnie Lynch.

“Jean Hunt was a pioneer for girls and women in sports. She was a trailblazer in the movement to accept and enjoy females as athletes in a male dominated sports arena. Jean Hunt was not just a role model for females in the Farmington community but also for the state of Connecticut and beyond,” Lynch said.