HARDWICK – Every year the Hardwick Academy/Hazen Union Alumni Association honors former alumni and staff who have made great contributions to the school. Past recipients include Dan Hudson, Jack Strong and Rick Norcross.
photo from The Hardwickian
This year, the Association will be honoring possibly the most accomplished athlete to graduate from Hazen Union, the Class of 1976’s Penny Libercent. She will be celebrating her 50th class reunion along with her classmates at the alumni reunion on June 20.
Libercent was also lucky enough to be surrounded with many outstanding teammates during her run at Hazen in the 1970s. She was probably responsible for more wins and state titles in both softball and basketball than any athlete before or after her.
She was the first athlete at Hazen Union to surpass the 1,000-point career mark in basketball, finishing with 1,218 points. Her coach, Jan Howard, said she could have scored plenty more, but Howard pulled her from many games when Hazen was way ahead.
She was the winning pitcher when the Vermont Principals Association hosted its very first state softball tournament in 1974. Hazen went 12-1 in winning the Division II softball crown. They beat Windsor as Libercent, then a sophomore, tossed a one-hitter.
The following year, Hazen repeated as Vermont Division II State Softball champions, going undefeated at 17-0. Libercent won all 17 games in her junior year, making her two-year mark as a starting pitcher 29-1 with her senior year still laying ahead.
Hazen basketball teams were 55-10 in her four years at the school with back-to-back Vermont State Division II titles in 1974-75 and 1975-76.
In the spring of 1975 and winter of 1976, Hazen never lost a game in basketball or softball. Libercent was 17-0 as a pitcher in softball and in that title season and she was the team’s leading scorer in basketball as they captured the crown, going 19-0, posting a 36-game consecutive win streak.
In her final game against Randolph in the 1976 state basketball finals, Libercent, plagued with foul trouble in the first half, came off the bench and scored Hazen’s last nine points in the fourth quarter in a 49-47 win, ending with 29 points in the game. In the 1975 basketball title game, Libercent, playing on two sprained ankles, scored 17 points as Hazen beat Oxbow, 45-41. Libercent’s number 40 basketball jersey was retired and hangs in the school’s gymnasium.
Libercent was presented with the 1975-78 High School Division Athlete-at-Large award by the Vermont Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association, becoming the first female athlete to receive the award. She was also given a tryout to join the 1976 USA Olympics women’s basketball team.
Libercent’s two high school coaches, Jan Howard and Jean Hackett, had the Lady Wildcats dominating in softball and basketball in those early Hazen years. The two will be on hand to present Libercent with her award at the June 20 alumni banquet.
