The Mirror Newspapers Reflecting Life Along The Maumee River
BY ANDY ROWER | MIRROR SPORTS — One of the most successful Panthers of all time joined the Maumee High School Athletic Hall of Fame when 2007 graduate Lindsay (Diegel) Turner was inducted on February 8.
A three-sport standout, Turner earned 12 varsity letters in tennis, basketball and softball and took home All-Northern Lakes League honors in 11 of those seasons.
The daughter of Keith and Kathy Diegel and sister to 28-year-old Stacey Webb, Lindsay also received various district honors in all three sports.
“I actually take a lot of pride in those accomplishments, especially as the world has changed and you see fewer multiple-sport athletes,” Turner said. “I loved that I played a different sport every season and that I was good enough in each to be successful in the league and beyond.”
She did all of this in a frame that stood just 5-feet-4 and weighed barely 100 pounds.
“I was always one of the smallest kids around, so I always took great pride in showing that size didn’t matter – heart and desire did,” Turner said.
She kicked off her high school athletic career by earning honorable mention from the NLL after starting the whole tennis season at second singles.
Turner began that winter on the Panthers junior varsity team but was eventually moved up to the varsity team, where she started at point guard while helping Maumee to an 8-6 league mark.
That spring, she started at second base for the Panthers softball team, where she earned honorable mention from the conference while helping Maumee to a 13-win season.
As a sophomore, Turner went 12-3 in her first of three seasons at first singles in tennis, placed fourth at the NLL tournament and bumped up to first team honors from the league.
She advanced on to earn honorable mention from the district after averaging about eight points per game in basketball.
Turner then matched her first-team NLL accolades in softball after helping the Panthers to a 10-win season by batting .321, recording 27 hits and scoring 19 runs in the first of her three seasons at shortstop.
Her junior tennis season saw her go 15-6 and earn first-team league honors for a second time before closing things out as a district qualifier.
Taylor went on to double her points per game with 16.4. She also averaged 3.7 rebounds, 3.4 steals and 2.3 assists and earned first-team NLL honors while leading Maumee to an 11-11 record.
She ultimately capped her incredible prep career with first-team league honors in all three sports.
Turner went 12-7 on the tennis court, averaged 18.9 points, 4.1 steals, 2.6 assists and 1.4 rebounds on the basketball court and batted .326 while posting 28 hits, 13 runs and 18 stolen bases on the softball field.
She tacked on all-district basketball accolades in the process and the Panthers softball team won another 11 games.
“It’s hard to describe what sports has done for me, especially highs school sports – without sounding cliché and such,” Turner said. “Yet, I don’t think I am who I am without those experiences.
“They taught me patience and perseverance. They taught me to be a better and more caring person, not just to teammates, but to everyone I met. Sports always made me feel like I belonged somewhere. I could find meaning in sports. It’s why playing them now is such a big part of my life still.”
Despite college interest from several Division II and III colleges in all three sports, Turner ultimately settled on attending Bowling Green State University.
“Honestly, I felt like the decision wasn’t mine to make anymore,” Turner said. “Everyone else wanted me to go here or play this and it just burned me out and overwhelmed me. I wanted to play sports because they were fun, and that experience took the fun out of them.”
After two years at BGSU, Turner transferred to The University of Toledo, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in recreation and leisure studies.
“It was a very unique degree that firmed up a lot of my life beliefs,” Turner said. “It’s essentially like a sports management degree, but it has a higher focus on community and tourism. I believe there is no more important way to live a healthy life, mentally and physically, than getting outside, being active and immersing yourself into other places and cultures.”
Shortly after graduating from college, Lindsay married Jonas Turner in 2012, calling him “the man of my dreams.”
“We spend our time trying to see every national park and the rest of the world, and that’s what we will continue to do,” she added.
When not traveling, the Turners reside in Maumee.
“I’ve lived in Maumee my whole life and there is no place I’d rather be,” she said. “We play a ton of sports through Toledo Sport and Social Club: basketball, softball, football, volleyball – even dodge ball and kickball. Sports still heavily dominate my life.”
Turner has spent the last six years working for the Berman Building Com-pany. Her ultimate dream is to start her own travel business, which she is currently working toward, called Turner Adventure Plann-ing.
Turner was inducted alongside 1993 graduate Karyn (Heaney) Thompson and 2004 graduate Drew Parry.
“When I would walk to basketball practice or early spring softball practice in the gym, I would walk by the hallway that had all of the Hall of Fame inductees hanging on it,” she said.
“I would walk past all those amazing athletes and I would hope to be up there next to them someday. It was the ultimate goal for me. If I could reach the Hall of Fame, it would define who I was and who I still am – an athlete, and a good one.
“Therefore, I was very honored. It’s one thing to think you are good at something. It’s another thing when other people see it.
“I’m very grateful to (former Maumee girls basketball coach) Marty Kalmbach and all the others who felt I was worthy of nomination, and to those who voted me in. There are so many names on that wall that I’m touched to join.”
