Barbara Hebel is a truly gifted athlete. She starred at Clarkstown South and the University of Massachusetts in her chosen sports. While attending Clarkstown South, Barbara played soccer, basketball and softball and then participated on the track team. In the fall soccer took up much of her time. Barbara played three years on the varsity soccer team and was selected All-County all three years. She played on the Hudson Valley Region team at the Empire State Games as a junior in 1980. In the spring Barbara started out as a softball player, making the varsity team as a sophomore and a junior. She achieved All-County status in softball both of those years. In her senior year Barbara decided to go out for the track team. In only one year on the varsity track team Barbara was voted the MVP of the team, as she qualified for the state meet in the pentathlon and once again achieved All-County status.

But it was on the basketball court where Barbara was at her best. She played varsity basketball four years and was selected All-County three of those years. Barbara was selected to play on the Hudson Valley Region basketball team at the Empire State Games three times, once on the scholastic team as a high school senior, and twice on the open team following that. She was the MVP of her high school team in her junior and senior years. In her senior year, Barbara was selected as The Journal News Player of the Year and attained the elite status of a 1,000-point scorer.

After high school Barbara accepted a full scholarship and enrolled at the University of Massachusetts to participate on the basketball team. During the four years that Barbara played on the U. Mass. team she became the fourth-leading scorer in school history (1,498 points), a place she holds today despite the absence of a three-point line during her college tenure.

She still holds the all-time single-game record for field goals made (18 versus Siena in Nov.1982), and the all-time single-season record for free throw percentage (.850 in 1985-86). Barbara ranks 10th or better in nine offensive career categories (games started, scoring, scoring average, field goals made, field goals attempted, free throws made, free throws attempted, free throw percentage, assists) and one defensive category, steals. She was a 1,000-point scorer in her junior year; she was the MVP of the team in her junior and senior years; All-Atlantic 10 in her sophomore year; and the award of which Barbara is most proud,being named a CoSIDA Academic All-America in her senior year at U. Mass.

After graduating college in 1986, Barbara began a successful basketball coaching career that included stops at Ithaca College in upstate New York, Beloit College in Wisconsin, and the United States Military Academy at West Point. Thereafter Barbara turned to a career in law and is currently an Assistant District Counsel for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. She holds B.S., M.S., J.D., and LL.M degrees, and was named the 2000-01 U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Water Resources and Environmental Law Fellow. Barbara recently returned from a seven-month deployment to the green zone in Baghdad, Iraq, where she was legal counsel to the project delivery teams charged with Iraq reconstruction and relief.

Barbara lives in Wappingers Falls, N.Y., with her partner, Jeanne Miller, and Jeanne’s niece, Kimberly, age 8.