Ron Conley says Jennie Finch is not like most sports heroes – for which he is grateful.

Conley, Wardlaw Academy’s softball coach, says the people she meets would agree she is not vain, or pretentious or untouchable like so many other icons of the modern age.

He knew all of this even before he met her last week for the first time.

And still, she was even more impressive in person.  

Forget softball.

Finch, whose father Conley befriended through a shared appreciation for Sandy Koufax and who called the Lady Patriots with a word of encouragement before they set off on the playoff trip that would bring the team its fifth straight state title, is just a special person.

“She’s just a wonderful Christian woman,” Conley said after returning home from Oklahoma City where Finch and the U.S. National Team won the softball World Cup event. “Her parents should be proud of her because she was raised right. She’s a leader and that’s why I stay in touch with she and her family as much as possible because of their example for these Wardlaw girls. She turned down Playboy, who offered her a quarter of a million dollars, because she said that’s not the type of example she wants to set for young girls.”

Still, it’s not every day that regular fans of any sport can genuinely interact with their heroes or heroines – and most especially with those who sit at the uppermost levels of talent.

Thankfully, for her fans, Jennie Finch is not one of those athletes.

“When I saw her on The Apprentice I could tell from her reactions that she was a fish out of water with those people,” Conley said. “When they voted her off she was like, whew, get me out of here. She’s just not that kind of person.”

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