University of Wisconsin, Eau Claire

Michelle Burns, a 5-11 forward, was the WIAC Player of the Year in 2007-08 as the Blugolds tied for the conference title and advanced to the NCAA tournament. Burns stands in elite company as a Blugold women’s basketball player who scored over 1,000 points and pulled over 500 rebounds in her career. She poured in 1,230 points in 100 career games. She became a starter in the third game of her freshman season and started every one thereafter except for two as a sophomore when she was coming off a broken thumb that sidelined her for 11 games. Her senior season, Burns led the Blugolds to a 14-2 record in league play and a 23-7 overall mark which included two games in the NCAA tournament. A two-time All-Conference First Team selection, Burns was also named to the conference’s five-player All-Defense team as a junior. Burns pulled 664 rebounds during her career, a 6.6 average, and ranked third in conference rebounding as a junior.  She hit 47 percent of her field goals and 76 percent of her free throws for her career. An outstanding student in the classroom, Burns received the WIAC’s Judy Kruckman Scholar-Athlete Award as a senior when she was also a Blugold Super Six winner. A prep standout in volleyball and basketball at Eau Claire North, Burns was the Huskies’ Outstanding Athlete in 2004 after making the All-Conference team in volleyball and the All-State Third Team in basketball. She was also the Big Rivers’ Player of the Year in basketball as a senior.

Burns graduated in 2008 with a degree in elementary education. She also has a master’s degree in Curriculum and Instruction. At the time of her induction, she had been a 7^th and 8^th grade math teacher in the Spooner school district since 2009. Burns has served as a track, basketball and volleyball coach at the middle school, JV and varsity levels in Spooner. She was a finalist for the Herb Kohl Educator Fellowship Scholarship Program. In 2018, Burn was the recipient of UWEC’s Sandy Schumacher Courage Award after battling and overcoming breast cancer. At the time of her induction, she and her husband Ryan were the parents of two children.