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On Tuesday, the NFCA (National Fastpitch Coaches Association) announced that longtime coach Jade Geuther has been chosen as the 2023 recipient of the Association’s Donna Newberry “Perseverance” Award, which recognizes an NFCA member coach who has demonstrated extraordinary strength of will and character in the fight to overcome a physical, mental, or social adversity that presented an additional challenge to the already demanding job of a coach.
Geuther, who scored her 300th career coaching victory in 2021 at Reinhardt University— where she was the head coach for five seasons—spent last year as the associate head coach at Kentucky Christian University following a horrific accident in December 2021, when she was struck by a car while traveling in a golf cart near the Reinhardt softball field.
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In that accident, Geuther was thrown over 30 feet into a tree and suffered numerous injuries after the car that hit her and two others in the cart struck them going 60-plus miles-per-hour in a 30-mph zone.
Among other injuries, Geuther had a subarachnoid hemorrhage — a life-threatening bleed between the brain and covering tissue — vertebra and chest fractures, 11 fractured ribs, renal injuries, multiple soft tissue injuries, a scalp laceration, a broken pelvis, a spleen injury and a collapsed lung.
The most severe wound, though, was a traumatic thoracic aortic injury — a ruptured aorta — causing the layers of her heart to split from the bleed out, which is fatal at the scene of the accident for 80 percent of patients. It is second only to a head injury in leading cause of death and is among the most time-sensitive of life-threatening conditions.
“Thankfully I was stubborn and fought,” Geuther wrote. “I have zero memory of the day. Doctors said I had just hours to live. The dissection was addressed and an aortic stent was inserted before they could move their attention to my (other injuries).”
“After the doctors saved my life, the recovery has been endless. Thankfully, my parents dropped everything to move to Georgia and help every step of the way.”
Geuther was in a coma from Dec. 22-31, 2021, and when she woke up, she had to re-learn things we take for granted, like swallowing, walking and talking. She had to deal with more than 30 surgeries overall.
She returned to coaching in a part-time role at Kentucky Christian this past season, which she credited as being a key factor in her recovery and she said her perspective has changed since the incident.
“Sports used to be it, my everything,” Geuther said. “Because of this event, I see that winning and losing are minimal in sport and so monumental in life. I used to think that it was important to keep everybody happy, but trauma is tough, and showed me life goes on with or without you, so prioritize your people, and love on those who love on you.”
Geuther will be recognized at the Awards Brunch on Dec. 9, the final day of the NFCA National Convention at the Kentucky International Convention Center in Louisville.
ABOUT DONNA NEWBERRY
Donna Newberry, the all-time winningest coach in the history of NCAA Division III softball when she passed away in November 2010, spent 36 seasons with Muskingum College athletics.
During that time, she transitioned the Muskies from a slowpitch team to a perennial national fastpitch contender in Division III.
Over those 36 seasons, Newberry amassed a record of 906-419-1 and helped guide Muskingum to 17 conference championships, 18 NCAA regional appearances, eight national championship appearances and the 2001 NCAA Division III national championship.
Newberry was the only Division III coach to be named national coach of the year in two sports – softball and basketball. As Muskingum’s women’s basketball coach, Newberry earned 403 victories and three OAC championships.
She was a 10-time Ohio Athletic Conference Coach of the Year, a seven-time NFCA Regional Coaching Staff of the Year honoree and in 2001, the Muskingum staff was named as the NFCA National Coaching Staff of the Year. In 2008, Newberry was inducted into the NFCA Hall of Fame.
Newberry demonstrated her perseverance as she coached what would be her final season in the spring of 2010. While undergoing chemotherapy treatments during her third bout with breast cancer, she led the Lady Muskies to the Ohio Athletic Conference tournament for the 25th consecutive time.
In the months before her death, Muskingum dedicated its softball field in her honor, renaming it the Donna J. Newberry Softball Field. In addition, Newberry finished a book about her coaching career and experiences — “You Must Play to Win: A Coach’s Journey from the Pit to the Pinnacle.”
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Previous Donna Newberry Award Winners
- 2022 – Sharon Panske
- 2021 – Mark Lumley (Posthumous)
- 2020 – Award Not Presented
- 2019 – Bari Mance
- 2018 – Jen Sewell
- 2017 – Melissa Frost
- 2016 – Michael Lotief
- 2015 – John Keyes
- 2014 – Deanna Gumpf