The second of five children (four daughters and a son) born to Kyle and Pam Heitmiller, Blair has spent most of her life surrounded by two things - peers and sports.
But as the lone senior on Mary Hardin-Baylor’s women’s basketball roster, Blair doesn’t have peers as much as simply teammates. And following this season, her last of many in competitive athletics, her playing days will be behind her as well. Maybe that’s why she has talked and smiled more than ever this year.
“Coming into this season, I wanted to try to be more of a vocal leader and talk more on the court,” said Heitmiller, a sharp-shooting 5-8 guard and former high school standout at Belton. “And I’ve made more of a conscious effort to have fun while I’m playing, because this is my last year to do all of this.”
That means next year should be at least somewhat less hectic for her parents, who have spent much of their married life traveling to, coaching and attending their children’s games.
It started with Brett, a 2002 Belton graduate who also played guard for the Lady Crusaders. It has continued with sisters Blair, Brooke (a 2006 Belton graduate) and Bailey (a Belton senior) and brother Beau (an eighth-grader).
“They’ve played everything - soccer, softball, basketball, volleyball, baseball, you name it,” Kyle said. “Our house has been the place to go play in our neighborhood. We live in a cul-de-sac, and we’ve played basketball, street hockey, soccer, a little of everything.”
And if Kyle and Pam miss one game, it’s usually to attend one somewhere else.
“Sometimes we’ll leave one game early to go to another, or he’ll go to one game and I’ll go to another one,” Pam said. “But I’ll never forget, on Dec. 1, 2005, all five kids were playing somewhere at 6 o’clock.
“They know that we try to go to all of them that we can, and they’re brothers and sisters are their biggest supporters.”
Added Kyle: “There was one weekend during a basketball season when our family had 22 games. That’s just how it is. We don’t know any other way.”
Blair, who also starred in volleyball at Belton, certainly has done her part to help build the Heitmiller athletic legacy.
Known for her shooting prowess, she stepped into a starting role at UMHB her freshman year, when she connected on 43 percent of her attempts from 3-point range.
She has made 145 3-pointers during her college career, including 11 this season for the Lady Crusaders (4-4 overall, 2-2 American Southwest Conference).
“I think one thing that has helped all of my sisters and I is our commitment to whatever program we’re a part of,” said Blair, who is also sixth and climbing on UMHB’s career steals list with 127. “I think I might have been more of a gym rat, though. I was in there all the time.”
Belton girls basketball coach Randy Bell agrees, and he should know. After all, he’s had a Heitmiller on his varsity squad for 10 consecutive seasons.
“All of the Heitmiller girls put in the effort and they’re the type of players you want to coach, because they grow up around it and are students of the game,” Bell said. “Blair probably spent a little more time working on her shooting, though. She’s as good a shooter as any of them.”
This season, however, Blair’s teammates have relied on her for more than just long-range buckets. As the only senior, she serves as a leader, spokeswoman and role model.
“It’s really different this year, and in a way it always is when you’re a senior,” she said. “But when I was in high school, there were other seniors also.
“Now I feel like everybody looks to me to do things, like go ask the coach something. If it’s a place we don’t want to eat at, it’s like, ‘You go tell her we don’t want to eat there.’”
Third-year Lady Crusaders coach Kim Kirkpatrick said her most experienced player has handled the multiple roles well.
“It was an adjustment for Blair at first because we had a strong group of seniors last year, and she was really a part of their group,” Kirkpatrick said. “But she has been amazing. She’s a good leader, not only vocally, but by example and with her work ethic.
“A lot of it is how she handles me and responds to instruction, because how she handles those things sets the tone for everybody.”
Those are assets that should come in handy for Blair, an exercise and sports science major who hopes to become a coach.
But before she makes the change to wearing a whistle and drawing up strategy, she has one final season between the lines.
“I love playing, but I tell myself right now that I won’t miss it because I’ve played for so long and your body hurts all the time,” she said. “But not everybody gets to do what I’m doing right now, so I think more than likely that I’ll miss it.”
And that’s the one thing that might never change. After all, she is a Heitmiller.
edrennan@temple-telegram.com
