A teenaged college girl launches herself toward the hardwood, arms outstretched, body horizontal. Not for a championship. Not for glory. For a loose ball that doesn’t matter in a game already decided. Her teammates are sure she’s lost her mind; and she has, temporarily, intentionally. Because sometimes the best way to lead is to show you’ll do anything, sacrifice everything, even your dignity on a random Saturday practice.
That was Linda LeMura then. It’s still Linda LeMura now.
Today, as the president of Le Moyne College, she doesn’t literally dive into score tables anymore. But that instinct remains present, now transformed into something more profound: a philosophy of leadership built on the fundamentals she learned as an overeager teenager, that creativity without fundamentals is just chaos in motion.
“I liked to improvise before I was really ready to improvise,” LeMura admitted in an interview with a self-aware laugh. At Bishop Grimes High School, she was a three-sport athlete who was bursting with raw talent and ideas. However she was a latecomer to basketball and, as many teenagers are, she was impatient and wanted to skip the fundamentals and get straight to the highlight reel.
Enter Barbara Pfefferle.
Pfefferle coached all three of LeMura’s sports, basketball, tennis, and track, a testament to the all-hands-on-deck reality of small Catholic school athletics where “everybody pitches in to get things done,” LeMura said. But it was in basketball where Pfefferle’s impact cut deepest, LeMura noted, where she taught Le Moyne’s president something more important than any highlight-worthy move:
The value of patience.
Pfefferle had “remarkable patience” with her impulsive guard, teaching her to slow down and master the basics. “She taught me the value of not just practice, but good practice,” LeMura explained. “Skill development that then allowed me to become a more creative player later on.”
That patience, that willingness to wait, to develop properly, became what shaped LeMura most.
When she arrived at Niagara University and found herself on the bench as a freshman, she channeled that same patience. Instead of complaining, she said she outworked everyone, determined to make it “difficult for the coach not to play me.” Pfefferle’s lesson stuck with her: patience isn’t passive waiting; it’s active preparation. That mindset eventually translated into a love of competition, even in job interviews.
“That came from sports,” she insisted.
Today, LeMura still leads like a point guard. “Make sure before anyone takes a shot that everybody touches the ball,” she recalled telling teammates. That philosophy guides how she leads: evaluate the challenge, assess the talent and then put people in position to succeed.
Ask her about her college win-loss record and she’ll admit she can’t remember. What she does remember are the people, the friendships, the lessons that transcended any final score.
Barbara Pfefferle taught her to recognize what truly matters. And Linda LeMura carries those lessons forward; not with passive reflection, but by being the kind of leader who still dives for loose balls when no one’s watching.
