WACO, Texas – When building a house, you need a good contractor to help get the plans in order, lay the foundation, build the framework. For the National Collegiate Equestrian Association, that person was Leman Wall.
 
Though he now works for the Working Ranch Cowboys Association (WRCA), his fingerprints all are over the NCEA structure from his days with the American Quarter Horse Association (AQHA).
 
“I’m absolutely thrilled they would’ve thought of me for something like this,” said Wall. “It’s really a testament to the AQHA when I worked there. My boss at the time, Don Treadway, he walked in my office and asked, “When you were at [Texas] A&M, did you have any dealings with the horse show team?””
 
Little did Wall know that simple question would launch him into a whole new world. 
 
“[Treadway] told me “There’s something going on with collegiate equestrian and we need to be supporting it, I’d like you to be our person to be involved with it.” So there was a meeting at the USEF offices in Kentucky and I went.”
 
That meeting was the first of many down the road. Under the AQHA banner, Wall played a key liaison role; coordinating between coaches, sports information directors, senior women administrators and national governing bodies to help get collegiate equestrian, then known as Varsity Equestrian, going.
 
He was immersed in helping shape what would eventually become the NCEA. It was an idea in motion, with passion and a vision holding it together and Wall tying the strings.
 
“We didn’t even know what we were building at the time, but we believed in it. We believed in the student-athletes and the opportunities they deserved.”
 
With Wall, the metaphorical concrete started to be poured, the framing started taking shape. Wall’s constant presence helped solidify the structure as it was gaining momentum, credibility and traction.
 
He was more than a contractor, he was getting his hands dirty and getting things done. The first logos for both Varsity Equestrian and the NCEA were commissioned by Wall through the AQHA’s graphic designer. In the trenches with Nancy Post and Andrea Ice, the group was hammering out championship formats and supporting early events.
 
Though the work is never done, Wall’s work gave the NCEA something to add on to, to continue to remodel and update. But what is he most proud of from his years?
 
“That it sustained itself. It prospered. That’s rare. And it happened because of a true team. Coaches, SIDs, SWAs, volunteers – everyone believed in it, fought for it. That’s what I’m most proud of.”
 
But after all that hard work and time, there are memories of triumph, but also of trial and error. One sticks out in particular, during the opening ceremony at the first national championship in Waco.
 
“We were so excited. We had this big idea for lights and smoke and music. We just wanted it to be cool. Only problem? We couldn’t see the girls walking out of the curtain because I kept yelling for more smoke.”
 
Wall was tapping every resource possible to up the legitimacy of the then-fledgling sport.
 
“We were using PowerPoint to display scores. Projectors, extension cords, late nights, early mornings…whatever it took. Everyone did it because they believed in what we were building.”
 
He and his counterparts were creating competitive pathways which gave way to coaching careers and giving purpose to horses that might have otherwise been overworked or sat idle.
 
When the stands started to fill up at the NCEA Championship, he heard teams huddling and doing cheers, chanting together like we’ve all heard at other sports, and it impacted him.
 
“It gave me chills. That was a moment when I thought, ‘This is something special.’”
 
His name may not be tacked on to everything the NCEA accomplishes today, but credit is due to Wall for what he helped build in the beginning. 
 
“I just want student-athletes to know there are people – coaches, staff, volunteers – who they may never meet, who worked their ever-living tails off to give them this experience. That’s who this is about, we did it for them.”