ACOSTA, Lynda "Michelle" ~ Graceland's Hall of Fame

ACOSTA, HANTON, FONSECA

Posted By: Sharon R Becker (email)
Date: 8/26/2013 at 07:15:46

HALL of FAME

Michelle Acosta
Graceland University, Lamoni, Iowa

A Midland, Texas native, Lynda "Michelle" ACOSTA was one of the most prolific all-around guards to ever grace the court for the basketball Lady Yellowjackets. As a four-year starter, the 5'5" point guard racked up impressive numbers in multiple categories and, by the time of her graduation, held 17 Graceland records in women's basketball.

A well-rounded player, Michelle left with the all-time and single season records for points scored (1986 points and 692 points respectively), assists (568 and 159) and steals (486 and 145). She also held the records for career free throws (605) and most points in one game (38).

A three-time captain, she helped to lead the Jackets to 53 victories over the course of her career, including a school-record 18 wins and a conference quarterfinals appearance during her senior year. That year, Michelle led the HAAC in scoring and steals and was second in assists; her 1986 points in 2002-2003 were enough to be fourth in the country. ACOSTA was selected as the runner up for conference MVP as a senior and that year also was selected to the All-American Second Team (after an Honorable Mention in 2001-2002), Graceland's first ever women's basketball All-American.

After graduating, Michelle coached Graceland's Junior Varsity team to a winning season in 2003-2004 and was subsequently offered a contract to play professional basketball in Sweden. Her professional career was cut short by a knee injury shortly thereafter.

After basketball, ACOSTA became a pediatric nurse. She now lives in Harlingen, Texas with her husband, Abel FONSECA II, a fellow Graceland alum with whom she has twin daughters, Alexis and Aliyah.

Michelle ACOSTA was inducted into Graceland University's Hall of Fame in 2009.

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Horizons
Graceland College, Lamoni, Iowa

Celebrating Athletics: Michelle Acosta Is A Real Pro
. . . Five-foot-three-inch Michelle ACOSTA '04, who holds 18 Graceland hoops records and is our sole All-American in women, is playing on a Swedish professional team and she is doing well.

. . . Michelle ACOSTA told us Thanksgiving Day during a phone conversation from Vaxjo, Sweden, what it meant for her to attend Graceland. "Being on Graceland's team, relying on teammates who became such good friends, working with each other, building respect, it gave me character I didn't even know I had. It made me learn who I am."

Now she is living in a thousand-year-old town, immerced in history and culture, making great new friends on a pro team where she is the only American player, traveling around Sweden and, let's face it, showing them a thing or two about her style of basketball agressive. "I bumped someone and got a technical foul in my first game. I thought, oh boy, I'd better tone it down." She said she really cares for her teammates - they take her home for meals, translate for her (many speak English), kind of watch out for her. Her Thanksgiving plans included a meal with a friend and a long-distance call home to Midland, Texas.

Michelle's advice for freshman at Graceland: "Get on a team, any team. I made friends I'll never lose. I learned a lot more skills than just playing basketball."

More advice: "Find a coach who is always there for you, with fundamentals and friendship. A coach like Dan HANTON. He was like a second father to every girl on our team."

Some quick stats: Michelle ACOSTA was an All-American in 2003 when she was fourth in the nation in scoring - 21 points per game average; during four years at Graceland she scored 1,986 points, grabbed 597 rebounds, made 568 assists and 486 steals. When you mention her name HANTON'S face lights up like the Rockerfeller Center Christmas tree. "What can I say," HANTON said, "She was a coach's dream."

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Valley Morning Star
Harlingen, Texas
Friday, May 21, 2010
by Fernando De Valle

Basketball legacy: Michelle Acosta-Fonseca
From a YMCA gym in Midland to arenas in Sweden, Michelle ACOSTA-FONSECA left a legacy on the basketball court.

"It's what I woke up for," she said.

As a little girl in her hometown of Midland, her father got her on the basketball court years after he turned down college scholarships to play the sport to raise his daughters.

"Because of us he didn't go," she said of her father, Sonny ACOSTA. "My dad's a big basketball player."

At Midland High School, the point guard turned into a star for the Lady Bulldogs.

"I loved it,” she said. "I loved the competition. It was physical."

In 1999, ACOSTA-FONSECA won a scholarship to play basketball at Graceland University in Lamoni, Iowa.

As the university's first All-American on a women’s basketball team, she set 18 school records, scoring more points than any player — 1,986, a feat that ranked her fourth in the country.

"I was the leading scorer in almost every game," she said.

As a captain, she led the squad to 53 victories, taking the team to conference quarterfinals in her senior year, when she led the Heart of America Athletic Conference in scoring and steals.

Named runner up for the conference's Most Valuable Player award, she was picked for the All-American Second Team.

After graduating with a bachelor's degree in Health and Wellness, she coached the university's junior varsity team to a winning season before moving to San Benito, where she getting ready to study nursing at the University of Texas at Brownsville.

Then a scout led her to play professional basketball in Sweden.

“I loved the experience," she said. "I ran the team."

But a knee injury cut her career short.

By 2007, she was back in the Rio Grande Valley, where she works as a pediatric nurse for a Harlingen home health agency.

But basketball still runs in her blood.

"My husband's got five brothers so I still play,” she said. "I can still compete, even after having my two twin girls."

SOURCE: gujackets.com/f/Hall_of_Fame.php

Submission by Sharon R. Becker, August of 2013

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