UWEC Athletics Hall of Fame
Becca Spaeth was the starting center on the 2003 Blugold women’s basketball team that finished third in the NCAA tournament and set a school record with 32 victories. A 6-1 center who was a two-time All-Conference volleyball and basketball player at Chippewa Falls High School, Spaeth started 61 consecutive games for the Blugolds and was a two-time All-Conference center. The four-year letterwinner played on two conference championship teams including the Blugolds’ unbeaten 2002-03 squad. Spaeth averaged 12.5 points and 6.5 rebounds per game as the Blugolds captured third place in the NCAA finals in 2003. As a senior, she averaged 15.6 points and 7.3 rebounds per outing and was a Josten’s Trophy finalist for D3 Player of the Year. She was also a Third Team Academic All-American, WBCA honorable mention All-American, conference Scholar-Athlete for basketball and a Blugold Super Six recipient. Spaeth finished with 983 career points (10.9 ppg) and 518 rebounds (5.7 rpg) in addition to 112 assists and 71 blocked shots. She most likely would have topped the 1,000-point mark had an injury in the season opener of her sophomore year not cost her 11 games that year. Pegged as a starter that season by Tonja Englund, Spaeth partially tore her ACL and meniscus. She had surgery to repair the meniscus and returned halfway through the season but played the rest of her career with a brace due to the partially torn ACL. The Blugolds were 95-21 during her career including 50-14 in conference play with two league titles, two conference tournament titles and two NCAA appearances.
Spaeth graduated summa cum laude from UWEC in 2005 with a degree in biology education and broadfield science with a coaching minor. She has a master’s degree in natural resources (environmental education). She spent 11 years as a science teacher at Eau Claire North High School before returning to her alma mater as a science teacher in 2016 and became the science academic chair in 2018. She also took over the girls basketball head coaching duties at Chi-Hi in 2016. As of 2022, her teams had won three Big Rivers Conference titles and she had two conference players of the year. Spaeth has been coaching since she completed her Blugold basketball eligibility, serving first as a student basketball assistant while she completed her undergraduated degree. She was a North JV basketball coach from 2005-08, but then joined Tonja Englund’s Blugold staff from 2008-12 and again from 2013-16. She returned to North as a JV2 coach in 2012-13. She also coached North JV volleyball for five years and was an assistant track coach at North for five years. Spaeth has been named a Chippewa Falls Chamber of Commerce Excellence in Education Most Influential Educator Award recipient three times. She was a presenter at the National Science Teaching Association National Conference in St. Louis in 2019. She has been a UWEC Cooperating Teacher for student teachers since 2008. She is a member of the Friends of Beaver Creek Reserve and served on its Board of Directors from 2013-18, including three years as vice-president. She was also the recipient of UWEC’s Ade & Margaret Olson Coaching Award in 2013. At the time of her induction, she and her husband Mike were the parents of two children.
