…as a basketball Axette she was twice the Conference’s scoring champion.
Laverne (Veinotte) Slauenwhite, a graduate of New Germany Rural High School, was a multi-talented athlete who, as an Axette, starred in basketball and field hockey.
During her high school years from grades seven to twelve she participated in soccer, volleyball, field hockey and basketball, being captain of a number of teams. She won the junior high’s Most Promising Female Athlete award and twice was named the senior high’s Most Outstanding Girl Athlete: Among her many other awards was a first-place medal in the discus throw at the Acadia Relays.
From 1964 to 1966, Laverne attended the Nova Scotia Teachers’ College, where, naturally enough, she starred in field hockey, volleyball and basketball.
Moving on to Acadia for her junior and senior years, Laverne enjoyed immensely the organized and structured setting of league and playoff competition, the cooperative and competitive spirit of her Axette teammates and, in particular, the tremendous contributions made by Coach Elizabeth Vermeulen whose focus and dedication to both players and the game made even practices and conditioning exercises both worthwhile and enjoyable. She is quick to note that performing in such a wonderful facility as the “lovely new Acadia gymnasium” made her time as an Axette even more enjoyable.
A few highlights of her Acadia experience included being a member of the ’67-’68 varsity basketball squad that captured second place in Conference play. On that occasion her 128-point total in an eight-game schedule enabled her to win the league’s scoring title. She, and other such offensive stars as Debbie Upton and Cindy Mann, led the Axettes to a championship at the NSTC tournament and a three-game sweep of an exhibition series against the host Memorial University.
In a ’68-’69 hoop encounter against Mt. Allison, she and Debbie Upton scored nineteen and twenty-one points respectively as the Axettes won 57-53. In a loss to Mount St. Bernard, Laverne accounted for nineteen points. As co-captain of the ’68 field hockey squad, she scored her team’s lone goal in a 1-all tie with Mount Allison.
Overall, as an Axette, Laverne (Veinotte) Slauenwhite, was twice captain of the basketball team, won two league basketball scoring titles, won a team M.V.P. in the hoop game, was a co-captain and centre forward of the varsity field hockey team and, in her senior year, was named the university’s Top Female Athlete.
Since graduation this talented athlete has continued to excel in such sports as softball, golfing, curling and cross-country skiing. In 1981, she and her Liverpool Jets softball teammates were inducted to the Nova Scotia Sport Heritage Centre’s Hall of Fame. In golf, she has won the Paragon Golf and Country Club’s championship trophy and has recorded a hole-in-one:
What a pleasure it is to welcome for induction to Acadia’s Sports Hall of Fame, Laverne (Veinotte) Slauenwhite, a graduate of 1969, who exemplified the best of leadership qualities as a varsity basketball and field hockey performer.
