By Amy Arnett
If you watched the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, you may know that America’s own Noelle Pikus-Pace took home the silver medal for women’s skeleton. What you may not know is that her former teammate, Lea Ann Parsley, with whom Pikus-Pace was in a devastating skeleton accident in 2005, has deep, West Virginia roots.
Parsley was born in Logan, WV to two native West Virginians, and she is a descendant of the McCoy family of the famed Hatfields and McCoys. When she was 2, her father received a job opportunity that moved the family to the small town of Granville, Ohio. Parsley returned to West Virginia for college; she graduated from Marshall University with a degree in adult health education.
“I chose Marshall because it was and still is a great university, and it gave me the opportunity to return to my home state,” she says. “I worked with a great coach there, Judy Southard, and I was close to family.”
After her time at Marshall, she continued her education at several institutions, completing a doctoral degree in community nursing. She has also spent several years working as a public speaker, sharing her experiences about her faith and every facet of her diverse career.
Ready to Race
Her academic and post-graduate career is remarkable on its own, but Parsley is also a born athlete. “It’s hard to put into words,” she says. “I have always felt the most like myself when I am running, jumping, swimming, hiking or doing any other physical activity. I want to be in motion.”
Her passion for sports led to achievements in basketball and track and field in high school and college, and her involvement and passion for athletics put her in position for a life-changing experience in skeleton racing. She tried out for the Pan American team for Women’s Handball, but she didn’t make it after her thumb was injured. “I was invited to serve as the team manager instead, which turned out to be a huge blessing,” says Parsley. “While browsing the Internet for potential team sponsors, I came across a winter sports page about skeleton. I called the number on the screen for more information, and the rest is history.”
Parsley went on to train in skeleton, and in 1998, she became a part of the U.S. women’s skeleton Olympic team. She competed for six years on the World Cup circuit. In 1999, she earned a silver medal, making her the first to ever receive a women’s World Cup medal for the U.S. bobsled and skeleton teams. In 2002, Parsley competed in the Salt Lake City Winter Olympics, where she added another silver medal to her collection.
Throughout her competition years, she was a successful contender, but to her, the experience meant more than the accolades. “I may have been the first woman to win a World Cup medal, but I was not the trailblazer in the sport. There were women ahead of me, like Julie Walker and Fallon Vaughn, who cleared the way for my success long before I even started,” she says. “The most enjoyable part has been traveling and meeting so many fantastic people. It has expanded my view of the world in ways that would have never been possible otherwise.”
Olympic Medalist, Community Hero
“Leading up to the Olympics, I had been training with the same group of coaches and athletes for three years, so it was a fantastic time for all of us and the opportunity to see all of our hard work pay off, together on the biggest stage in sport,” she says. The games were held in Salt Lake City, Utah in 2002, which meant that Parsley’s family and friends were able to attend her events. “The best moment of the Olympics was seeing my family after my race. I remember seeing my brothers and sister running toward the finish line, and it was then that it all started to sink in.”
That dedication to her family and the sense of community she values has led Parsley throughout her career as an athlete, a nurse and a firefighter for the town of Granville. In 1985, she followed in the footsteps of her two older brothers by becoming a firefighter. “We lived just three blocks from the station, and it became a great way for us to be involved in our community as we got older,” she says. “It was also a lot of fun hanging off of the back of a speeding fire truck.”
Though she began as a volunteer firefighter, she eventually graduated from the Ohio Fire Academy. In 1999, she was named the State of Ohio Firefighter of the Year for her work saving lives, particularly a mother and daughter in a residential fire. Her service with the department played a role in her being chosen to carry the World Trade Center flag during the 2002 Olympic opening ceremonies.
“Representing my fellow firefighters and athletes was an incredible privilege,” she says. “It was an honor to meet the men and women from the New York honor guard who brought the flag to Salt Lake City and to walk with them as we entered the stadium that night. It will always be one of the best experiences I’ve ever had in sport.”
A New Course
In 2005, while training for the 2006 Winter Olympics, Parsley and several of her teammates were struck by a runaway sled in Calgary during a training session. The sled hit Parsley in the leg, causing severe bruising and swelling; it also hit Pikus-Pace in the leg, causing a compound fracture. The injuries both women sustained were enough to keep them from qualifying for the Olympic team. “The accident was on a Wednesday afternoon, and I had to race for my team position on Saturday morning, which just wasn’t enough time to heal,” says Parsley. “I did the best I could, but it was just too soon.”
Parsley went to the 2006 games as a coach instead of an athlete. “I’m so grateful for that opportunity,” she says. “I learned a lot by taking on a different role, and it allowed me to share my experiences with the other athletes.”
While the accident was career-ending for Parsley, Pikus-Pace came back to the sport with a vengeance, taking home the silver this year in Sochi. “I remember lying on the ground with her just seconds after we were hit by the bobsled, and we both knew how devastating her injury was the instant it happened,” says Parsley. “Watching her fight her way back to the team and then back to the top of the world standings was truly inspirational.”
In addition to coaching at the 2006 games, Parsley worked as a TV broadcaster for the 2010 games. Today, Parsley continues her supportive role with the U.S. skeleton team as a jury member for the International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation.
Parsley never envisioned the paths that she’s taken over the years. “What did I want to be when I grew up? I honestly never gave that question any thought. I guess I was just too busy enjoying my time as a kid,” she says. “Now, I have never thought of skeleton as a career choice because I never made any money. When I made my first trip to the Olympic training center, I was 30 years old. Most of the people told me I was too old and slow to compete. It was simply something that I loved to do in between my other jobs, and the doors kept opening up to other possibilities.”
