Ira R. Herr Athletic Hall of Fame
A two-sport athlete that competed in field hockey and softball at Elizabethtown College, Heidi Balmer Dell'Oso was inducted into the Ira R. Herr Athletic Hall of Fame in 2011.
Balmer Dell'Oso, from Lititz, Lancaster County, played three years of each sport as a Blue Jay. Heidi became one of the school's field hockey greats in her less than traditional career. She compiled 108 points on 44 goals and 20 assists over her three seasons in an Elizabethtown uniform. She still ranks as the program’s ninth leading point scorer and is 10th all-time in career goals and assists. Heidi was a 1995 National Field Hockey Coaches Association (NFHCA) Third Team All-American and garnered all-region honors in both 1994 and 1995. She also picked up three all-conference selections, with first team notoriety in 1994 and 1995.
Her final season was unquestionably her greatest, as Balmer Dell’Oso led the team in goals (19), assists (9) and points (47). She started all 18 games for E-town in 1995 and the Blue Jays went 14-4, the third straight year with Balmer Dell’Oso on the team that E-town recorded a double-digit win total. Balmer Dell’Oso was the team leader in game-winning goals with five and scored four goals in back-to-back games against Haverford College and Scranton University. She also picked up at least a single goal in six straight games from Sept. 30 to Oct. 17.
While 1995 was filled with numerous postseason accolades for Balmer Dell’Oso, the 1993 and 1994 seasons were just as good to the 1992 graduate of Warwick High School. Her first year as a Blue Jay, Balmer Dell’Oso led the team in both goals and points. Starting all 16 games, Heidi found the back of the cage eight times and assisted on three other goals for 19 points. Four times she potted the game-winning goal, a statistic she’d lead the team in all three years.
Balmer Dell’Oso recorded her first 40-point season in 1994 when she compiled 17 goals and eight assists for 42 points. She had six game-winning goals and wound up with 15 at career’s end. Balmer scored a hat trick against Wooster College on Sept. 9 and concluded the season with five multi-goal games.
Heidi's drive for athletic activity and competition did not leave upon her 1996 graduation from Elizabethtown with a degree in social work. Now living in Wilmington, Del. Balmer Dell’Oso completed the 17th annual Philadelphia Marathon in 2010. Balmer Dell’Oso and her husband, Damian, also a 1996 graduate of Elizabethtown College, have a daughter, Bella, and two sons, Michael and Vincent.
