Hall of Fame
Dr. Nancy Bottge – Florida Tech (Softball Coach, 1995-2005)
Nancy Bottge touched the lives of many student-athletes during the two-plus decades she spent as a softball coach. In 21 seasons as a collegiate head coach, Bottge amassed a career record of 501-314-2 (.615), including a 316-237-2 (.571) record at Florida Tech. She made an immediate impact when she came to Melbourne in 1995, as the Panthers improved from a 9-33 record the previous year to post a winning 27-22 record with seven starters from the previous year in the lineup. In her next two years, the Panthers chalked up consecutive 30-win seasons and also produced the program’s first-ever All-American, SSC Hall of Famer Elisa Bartolo, the winner of back-to-back NCAA batting championships. Under Bottge, the Panthers compiled 11 consecutive winning seasons, never finishing below .500. While no one knew it at the time, the 2005 season would be Bottge’s last at Florida Tech, as her valiant 16-year battle with cancer came to an end. Without question, she would tell you she won that battle. Her 2005 team battled just like their coach, posting the best record in Florida Tech history, 33-15, and also earning a spot in the NCAA south region poll for the first time in school history. As the 2005 season drew to a close, the Panthers presented their coach with her 500th and 501st career wins in what would be her final two games at Florida Tech. As one of her players stated, ” She battled this debilitating disease with her usual obstinate determination. She did whatever it took to conquer life regardless of her physical condition. She believed that last year it was essential to the team’s success that, even though her health was rapidly deteriorating, it should not get in the way of her coaching. While she continued to be an iron-clad support system for her players, we in turn became hers too and together we pushed through the season. At the conclusion of the season, she could barely stand on her own because the cancer had progressed to her brain, but she obstinately wanted to remain our third base coach so she would stand nonchalantly leaning against the dugout fence coaching as if nothing was wrong.” During her 11 seasons at Florida Tech, Bottge continued to do “Whatever It Takes” as a teacher, coach, role model and mentor to dozen of softball players and young women who have succeeded in every walk of life imaginable.