Gallimore Renews Strong Cal Ties

SEATTLE – UW women’s soccer will continue Pac-12 play Sunday in Berkeley against California, a familiar conference foe. Not only have the Huskies played the Golden Bears every year since 1991 like all other original Pac-10 schools, but head coach Lesle Gallimore spent eight years at Cal – four as an All-American center back and four more as an assistant coach.

After enjoying a successful club career, Gallimore didn’t think it was a possibility for her to play soccer after high school. The sport was still establishing itself in college programs throughout the country. The coaching staff at Cal recruited Gallimore while she was attending UC Irvine and playing club soccer in 1982. She transferred and played from 1982 to 1986 and was a four-time All-American, leading the Bears to a Final Four appearance in 1984.

“I had no dreams of ever extending beyond being a youth player and when I was able to play in college I never took a day of it for granted,” Gallimore said. “It was fun to be on the front edge of a tight group of young female athletes trying to make a name for their sport. With my playing career at Cal, I have nothing but great memories about how fun it was.”

Gallimore had so much success with the Bears that she received multiple honors. In 1985, she was recognized as one of the top-10 female players in the U.S. At the end of her collegiate playing career, Gallimore was honored as Cal’s Women’s Intercollegiate Athlete of the Decade.

“Our sport was really just emerging, and to have that kind of accomplishment or stature surrounding my name in conjunction with some of the other women athletes that had been at Cal during that 10-year span when women’s sports were just starting to emerge, it was a huge honor,” Gallimore said. “And to this day, one that I am still super humbled by.”

Gallimore transitioned into her coaching career in 1986 after she graduated with a degree in psychology. In her four years as an assistant, she worked under three different head coaches and was the staple of continuity on the staff.

She started under Peter Reynaud in 1986, who took Cal to the NCAA quarterfinals in his only season at the helm. Gallimore helped lead the Bears to Final Four appearances in 1987 and 1988 under head coach Jean-Paul Verhees before Bill Merrell took over in 1989, Gallimore’s last season with Cal before leaving for a head coaching job at San Diego State.

“I was thrown into a situation where I had to do so much,” Gallimore said. “I had a knack for it. I enjoyed it. I was the one that was there and connected to the kids. I knew as much as anyone else did about Cal soccer and I thought we had put a lot of blood, sweat and tears to see it succeed so I stuck around.”

Gallimore’s influence as a player and coach was felt even after she left, evidenced by her induction into the Cal Athletic Hall of Fame in 1995. She was inducted with the 1939 Cal men’s crew team, a team with strong ties to the New York Times Bestseller “The Boys in the Boat” by Daniel James Brown, which also features the UW crew team from the same era. Gallimore connected with the book, so much so that she and her team read the book this past offseason and apply many of its concepts and metaphors on a daily basis.

“It just reminds me of the how fortunate I’ve been to be a part of two really excellent programs that have great tradition in their athletics and their history and their heritage,” Gallimore said. “For me to be a part of that and to be recognized for any of it has been really special to me.”

As the Gallimore and the Huskies return to Cal yet again, the UW head coach attributes her career full of numerous accolades, honors and a myriad of experiences to the time she spent as a player and coach in Berkeley for the Golden Bears.

“Cal gave me everything,” Gallimore said. “Everything that I’ve accomplished in my career, everything that I’ve been able to do, all that I’m passionate about came from my four years as a player and my four years as an assistant coach. Cal is always at the core of what I’ve done and what I’ve become.”