• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

When Dani Heathington was a student at Muleshoe ISD, she remembers conditioning with her team by running by the compress barn. 

The building shielded the elements, Heathington said. 

Looking around at the bright-lit activity center named after herself, Heathington said Muleshoe ISD is lucky. 

“What a great opportunity for our kids,” she said. 

With a turf floor, batting cages, pitching machines, a track, a meeting room and other special amenities, the Dani Heathington Activity Center is meant to be a place where district athletes can train regardless of the weather. It’s a place with ample space where the district can host meetings and trainings. 

It will eliminate downtime as Muleshoe Athletics prepares for each sport, noted Coach Jason Richards. As unpredictable as local weather patterns can be, the center is almost a necessity. 

“We have about two or three weeks of practices lost through the school year,” Richards estimated. 

Now, Richards said, there’s a place to practice without those concerns. 

That was the motivation behind the plans to create the Dani Heathington Activity Center. It was a quick turnaround between the time the idea was floated to the board to the time the center was complete and ready for use. 

Richards said – and Chad Beall, facilities director, confirmed – it took just less than two years to be completed. 

“This will better accommodate our students,” he said. 

Heathington shed a tear when asked how she felt about the facility being named after her. It was a big and humbling surprise. 

Asked why she was chosen as the namesake, Coach Richards, Superintendent R.L. Richards and Beall all but said the words “how could it not be.” 

Heathington is a Muleshoe woman through and through. She bleeds black and white, she joked. 

She grew up in Muleshoe and went through the school system until she was ready to return with the purpose of guiding young minds. 

Heathington served the district for 28 years before her retirement in July 2021. She began as a teacher’s aid before working her way up to teaching then administration. She was a student service coordinator for the junior high before moving to assistant principal then principal then assistant superintendent, a title she held until she retired. She worked on almost every campus. 

Beall described Heathington as a district staple. 

It was also noted by Beall, Coach Richards and Superintendent Richards that Heathington is a faithful Muleshoe Athletics supporter. 

“She is Miss Muleshoe,” Coach Richards said. “I don’t know that she’s missed a sporting event.” 

She had a big hand in the vision for the facility, he said. 

Now there’s excitement about the possibilities for the facility’s use. For Heathington, it’s a special feeling knowing her grandkids will get to grow up using it.