Leigh Hennessy

Last updated
Leigh Hennessy
Leigh Hennessy-3 - Version 2.tif
Born
Lafayette, Louisiana
Other namesLeigh Hennessy-Robson
Alma mater University of Louisiana at Lafayette
Occupation(s)Film stunt woman, gymnast
Spouse Mark Robson
Website www.leighhennessy.com

Leigh Hennessy also known as Leigh Hennessy Robson, is a stunt woman, author, and trampoline gymnast. [1] She was a two-time double mini-trampoline world champion, (1976, 1978) and won a silver medal in synchronized trampoline at the World Trampoline Championships, (1976). [2] In the late 1990s, she translated her athletic career into one as an actress and stunt performer for film and television.

Contents

Early life and education

Leigh Hennessy was born in Lafayette, Louisiana. Her father, Jeff Hennessy, was an expert in the sport of trampolining. [3] She started jumping on trampolines at age 3, and her father serving as her first coach. [4] [1]

Hennessy attended Lafayette High School and the University of Louisiana at Lafayette (UL Lafayette), and trained under her father. [5] [3] She earned her master's degree in communication from UL Lafayette.

In 2008, Hennessy and Mark B. Robson married at the Birse Kirk church in Birse, located in the Scottish Highlands. [6]

Trampoline

In 1978, she was the first athlete, male or female, to win all three trampoline events in the US National Championships. She was honored in 1978 by the Southern Amateur Athletic Union as "Athlete of the Year.

While attended UL Lafayette, Hennessy was a five-time National Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) All-American for trampoline, from 1976 to 1980. [3] After graduation, Hennessy became a 10-time United States champion and two-time World Champion. [3]

According to Guinness World Records, she holds the record for winning the most US national championships in trampoline for women. She competed for the United States in numerous world championships in individual trampoline, synchronized trampoline, and double mini-trampoline, winning two Senior level world titles. In August 2007, Hennessy was inducted into the USA Gymnastics Hall of Fame in recognition of her trampoline achievements. [2]

Film career

Leigh's career shifted to stunt work in Hollywood. Among her list of credits includes performing stunts for Demi Moore as her stunt double in GI Jane (1997), [5] performing 90-foot high-falls for Lucy Liu in both Charlie's Angels movies (2000, 2003) and, she shared the opening scenes of The Guardian (2006) with Kevin Costner, in which she played the role of the drowning wife.

She was nominated for a Taurus World Stunt Award in 2006, 2007 for her work.

Publications

Honors

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lafayette, Louisiana</span> Consolidated city-parish in Louisiana, United States

Lafayette is the most populous city in and parish seat of Lafayette Parish in the U.S. state of Louisiana, located along the Vermilion River. It is Louisiana's fourth-most populous city with a 2020 census population of 121,374; the consolidated city-parish's population was 241,753 in 2020. The Lafayette metropolitan area was Louisiana's third largest metropolitan statistical area with a population of 478,384 at the 2020 census. The Acadiana region containing Lafayette is the largest population and economic corridor between Houston, Texas and New Orleans.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">University of Louisiana at Lafayette</span> Public university in Lafayette, Louisiana, US

The University of Louisiana at Lafayette is a public research university in Lafayette, Louisiana, United States. It has the largest enrollment within the nine-campus University of Louisiana System and the second-largest enrollment in Louisiana, behind only Louisiana State University. It is classified among "R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research activity".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lafayette High School (Louisiana)</span> Public high school in Lafayette, Louisiana, United States

Lafayette High School (LHS) is a public four-year public high school located at 3000 W Congress Street in Lafayette, Louisiana, United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns</span> University of Louisiana-Lafayette athletic teams

The Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns are the athletic teams of the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. The college has been competing athletically since 1901. The Ragin' Cajuns compete in NCAA Division I, fielding 16 varsity teams.

Jefferson Thomas Hennessy Sr. was trampoline coach and physical educator.

Mark B. Robson is a Scottish-born American writer, playwright, theatre actor, theatre director, and former professor. He lives in Lafayette, Louisiana.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sabine Shoe</span>

The Sabine Shoe is the name of the bronze shoe trophy that was awarded to the winner of the annual college football game between the Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns of the University of Louisiana at Lafayette in Lafayette, Louisiana and the Lamar Cardinals of Lamar University in Beaumont, Texas. The Sabine Shoe trophy was first awarded in 1968 by the University of Southwestern Louisiana's chapter of Alpha Phi Omega fraternity. The name of the bronze rivalry trophy was derived from the Sabine River that forms part of the Texas–Louisiana border. USL defeated Lamar in the 1978 edition of the rivalry game, but the Ragin' Cajuns were not awarded the trophy as it had vanished. The Sabine Shoe trophy now sits in at trophy case in the Ragin' Cajun Athletic Complex in Lafayette.

The Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns football program is a college football team that represents the University of Louisiana at Lafayette at the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) level as a member of the Sun Belt Conference. Since 1971, the team has played its home games at Cajun Field in Lafayette, Louisiana. Michael Desormeaux has served as Louisiana's head coach since 2021.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tony Robichaux</span> American baseball player and coach (1961–2019)

Anthony Ray Robichaux was an American college baseball coach who served as head coach of the Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns baseball team. He had previously served as head coach at McNeese State.

The 2017 Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns football team represented the University of Louisiana at Lafayette in the 2017 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The Ragin' Cajuns played their home games at Cajun Field in Lafayette, Louisiana, and competed in the Sun Belt Conference. They were led by seventh-year head coach Mark Hudspeth. They finished the season 5–7, 4–4 in Sun Belt play to finish in a three-way tie for fifth place.

Frank K. Schmitz was an American trampoline gymnast who won four individual NCAA titles and a silver medal at the 1965 Trampoline World Championships.

The 2017 Louisiana–Lafayette Ragin' Cajuns softball team represented the University of Louisiana at Lafayette in the 2017 NCAA Division I softball season. The Ragin' Cajuns play their home games at Lamson Park. This would also be the last season that a Lotief would be the head coach of the Ragin' Cajuns. This came after the university fired Lotief, both Malveauxs, Director of Operations Kelsey Vincent, and one manager, Sara Corbello on November 1, 2017 due to allegations of physically and verbal abuse to his players and for laying a finger on the university's strength coach. The Ragin' Cajuns softball players strongly disagreed with his firing. Several even transferred schools with most making a pack that "if they couldn't play with Lotief, they wouldn't play at all." However, most of the team remained and competed in 2018. Nearly a year later, Lotief filed a lawsuit against the university claiming that they fired him over retaliation from Lotief claiming that the university violated NCAA Title IX laws which state that women's sports must be treated the same as their male counterpart. In the lawsuit, Lotief called University President Joseph E. Savoie, Athletic Director Bryan Maggard, and Assistant Athletic Director Dr. Jessica Leger as the defendants.

The 2020 Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns football team represented the University of Louisiana at Lafayette in the 2020 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The Ragin' Cajuns played their home games at Cajun Field in Lafayette, Louisiana, and competed in the West Division of the Sun Belt Conference. They were led by third-year head coach Billy Napier. The Cajuns began the season with an away matchup against a preseason top-25 Iowa State and concluded their regular season at conference and in-state rival Louisiana–Monroe.

The 1973 Southwestern Louisiana Bulldogs football team was an American football team that represented the University of Southwestern Louisiana in the Southland Conference during the 1973 NCAA Division II football season. In their thirteenth year under head coach Russ Faulkinberry, the team compiled an 0–10 record.

The 1970 Southwestern Louisiana Bulldogs football team was an American football team that represented the University of Southwestern Louisiana in the Gulf States Conference during the 1970 NCAA College Division football season. In their tenth year under head coach Russ Faulkinberry, the team compiled an 9–3 record and were Gulf States Conference champions.

Garry Brodhead is the coach of the Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns women's basketball team since 2012. Before joining the University of Louisiana at Lafayette team, Brodhead worked as a farmer between 1978 and 1997. For his basketball career, Brodhead was the girls coach at Teurlings Catholic High School from 1997 to 2007. While accumulating 297 wins and 78 losses, his team won the 3A division of the Louisiana High School Athletic Association tournament in 2002. Brodhead also co-founded the Acadiana Stars girls basketball team in 1987 and the Girls World Biddy Basketball League by the mid-1990s.

Alyson Habetz is an American college softball coach who is the current head coach at Louisiana.

References

  1. 1 2 "Alum Hennessy Robson jumping for joy to enter athletics hall of fame". University of Louisiana at Lafayette. 2019-10-31. Retrieved 2021-05-13.
  2. 1 2 "HENNESSY, Leigh". United States Gymnastics Hall of Fame. 22 March 2018. Retrieved 2021-05-13.
  3. 1 2 3 4 "UL's 2019 Louisiana Athletics Hall of Fame class announced". The Daily Advertiser. 2009-09-13. Retrieved 2021-05-13.
  4. ↑ Battista, Judy (4 October 1994). "Bounce Back On A Trampoline" . Newspapers.com. The Miami Herald. p. 147. Retrieved 2021-05-13.
  5. 1 2 Pierce, Walter (30 August 1997). "All In A Day's Work; Native Daughter 'Falls' For Hollywood" . Newspapers.com. The Daily Advertiser. p. 15. Retrieved 2021-05-13.
  6. ↑ "Mr. and Mrs. Robson" . Newspapers.com. The Daily Advertiser. 14 December 2008. p. 70. Retrieved 2021-05-14.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.