TINLEY PARK, Ill. — University of Michigan softball associate head coach Bonnie Tholl was inducted into the Victor J. Andrew High School Athletic Hall of Fame in a ceremony on Monday evening (Sept. 19). The three-member 2016 induction class was just the fourth in the school’s history and ups the total number of honorees to 10 athletes and six coaches. Tholl was the second female athlete to be inducted and the first softball player.
Tholl was an all-state shortstop and four-year starter at Andrew HS (1984-87), who hit no worse than .342 in each of her prep seasons, but has made her most lasting impact on the college game.
As a Wolverine student-athlete (1988-91), Tholl was the first player in Big Ten Conference history to earn All-Big Ten first team honors four times. She was selected to the All-Mideast Regional team three times — twice as a first-team honoree and once on the second team — and was named one of four Wolverines on the Big Ten All-Decade (1982-92) softball team.
Tholl, a Michigan team captain as a senior, led the Wolverines in both runs and walks in three years of her four years and shares the Big Ten record for fewest strikeouts in a conference season (zero in 1991). She also remains the U-M record holder for most steals in a game with four swiped bags against Florida A&M in 1990.
For the past 23 years, Tholl has been a fixture on the Michigan coaching staff, serving as the program’s associate head coach since 2003. Over her tenure on staff, Michigan has captured 17 Big Ten titles and reached the NCAA Women’s College World Series 12 times, winning the NCAA Championships in 2005.
Tholl primarily works with the Wolverine outfielders and has overseen the development of nine different All-Americans at the position and coached 17 U-M outfielders to a combined 33 All-Big Ten selections. As Michigan’s recruiting coordinator, Tholl has had a hand in bringing every Wolverine player to Ann Arbor since 1994.
Communications Contact: Leah Howard
