6 years later: Madi Hecox finishes one of Rockford's longest college sports careers

Madi Hecox never planned to play college basketball. Then, after a great basketball start in junior college, she planned to give up softball.

Instead, she has never stopped playing either.

Even six years after graduating from Rockford East.

Now, two years after even most of the longest-tenured college players are done, the former East and Rock Valley College standout is getting ready to finally finish her college career.

Only former Harlem and UW-Milwaukee basketball and soccer standout McKaela Schmelzer, who is now playing pro soccer in Greece, has played two sports spread over six college seasons the way Hecox has in recent Rockford history.

More: PODCAST: Madi Hecox goes from heart-surgery patient back to college basketball court

“It feels like it’s been forever, but it’s finally coming to an end,” said Hecox, who is batting over .400 at Crown College in St. Bonifacius, Minnesota.

At East, Hecox helped the E-Rabs reach the sectional finals in girls basketball for the only time in school history. She became a two-time first-team NJCAA Division III All-American in basketball at RVC. Yet her original plan was never to play basketball after leaving East.

“I played travel softball growing up, going to tournaments with my dad,” Hecox said. “It was a different kind of love for me. I had to compete more at softball. I was more naturally gifted in basketball, but with all the time commitment and money that went into softball, I wanted to apply it to my college experience.

“But when it came down to it, I loved basketball so much I couldn’t quite give it up. I thought I wanted to give up a sport, but I had so much passion for competing.”

The same thing happened to her with softball when she graduated from RVC and signed to play basketball for Southeastern University in Lakeland, Florida.

“It’s funny, when I first went to Rock Valley, I only wanted to play softball, but after two extremely good seasons for basketball, when I was transferring out of Rock Valley I only wanted to play basketball. I didn’t get any accolades for softball.”

But she did get to play for a pair of NJCAA national championship softball teams at RVC. That kept her interest in the sport alive enough to keep playing both, at both Southeastern and now at Crown College.

COVID gave her an extra year for both sports. The sixth year came with a health scare asterisk.

A pre-season EKG when she joined Southeastern in Florida revealed Hecox had Wolff-Parkinson-White Syndrome, an often undetected life-threatening heart condition caused by an extra electrical pathway between the heart's upper and lower chambers.

Hecox returned midway through her junior season of basketball after having surgery. She then red-shirted last year for additional recovery time mentally. Now she hopes to turn her life scare into a life’s work — especially after learning EKG screenings are not mandatory for college athletics and many schools don’t use them.

“I was asymptomatic,” Hecox said. “If it weren’t for the EKG, I never would have realized it and it could have killed me. Healthy athletes sometimes just drop dead from it.”

Hecox has a degree in sports management and is working on her masters in organizational leadership. Her experiences with mortality — including her mom dying from complications after surgery when Madi was a sophomore in high school — have shaped her career aspirations.

“I want to start my own nonprofit heart foundation or coach collegiate sports, either softball or basketball,” Hecox said. “I want to apply the skills I’ve learned.”

She applies them just by continuing to play sports. Especially on a softball team that includes nine freshmen.

“We’re trying to develop a program and bringing in experience helps us do that,” first-year Crown softball coach Ashlyn Englehorn said. “Madi came right in and took the reins. She does whatever she is asked. She is making things happen for us, both on offense and defense.

Hecox likes being a mentor to her young teammates. She likes it so much she has even gotten used to their nickname for her. Grandma.

“I always get called Grandma on my teams,” Hecox said. “I laught it off and I deny it, but they are not wrong. they make jokes about my body. They are kind of right; I am six years into college basketball and college softball. It has taken a toll on my body.

“When I reflect on it, it seems it was just yesterday when we won a basketball regional at East, beating Hononegah. When I hang up my shoes, I will just be grateful I had six years to play.”

Contact: mtrowbridge@rrstar.com, @matttrowbridge or 815-987-1383. Matt Trowbridge has covered sports for the Rockford Register Star for over 30 years, after previous stints in North Dakota, Delaware, Vermont and Iowa City.

This article originally appeared on Rockford Register Star: Former Rockford East star Madi Hecox has 6-year college career