PIHS Hall of Fame to grow by two
By Kevin Sjoberg
Sports Reporter
PRESQUE ISLE — Chris Casavant and Debbie Lennon will be the newest inductees into the Presque Isle Athletic Hall of Fame.
Contributed photos
| CHRIS CASAVANT |
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CHRIS CASAVANT AND DEBBIE LENNON will be the newest inductees into the Presque Isle High School Athletic Hall of Fame. Both were standout multi-sport athletes for the Wildcats, with Casavant graduating in 1990 and Lennon in 1982, and went on to enjoy success at the collegiate level. The two will be enshrined at a ceremony scheduled for Jan. 17, 2014.
| DEBBIE LENNON |
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The announcement was made recently by Mark White, co-chair of the hall of fame committee.
Casavant, a 1990 graduate, was a three-season Wildcat athlete, playing soccer in the fall, basketball in the winter and either baseball or tennis in the spring. He was named the Butch Shaw Award winner in 1989 as the top soccer player in Aroostook County. Casavant made the Big East Conference all-conference team in basketball as a senior and was a Bangor Daily News all-state honorable mention that same season. As a tennis player Casavant’s junior season, the only year he played the sport, he was runner-up in Aroostook County in the singles tournament. He was a first-team all-conference baseball player as a senior.
He went on to play basketball at the University of Maine at Presque Isle for four years and is fourth in the school’s career scoring list with 1,541 points. He was an All-State first team selection and All-Conference first-team selection his senior year, while also earning NAIA Division III All-American honorable mention. In 2004, Casavant was inducted into the UMPI Athletic Hall of Fame.
He is currently a physical education and health instructor at Caribou High School, coaching the girls’ varsity basketball team for three seasons and the boys’ varsity team the past 12. He is a three-time Big East Conference coach of the year. A veteran baseball umpire, he has worked 12 Eastern Maine championships and 10 state championships.
Lennon won 13 varsity letters as a Wildcat athlete, graduating in 1982. She excelled in field hockey and softball, but made her mark on the basketball court. She was an all-state selection her junior and senior seasons and was a Bangor Daily News all-tournament selection both years. In her junior season, the Wildcats won the Eastern Maine Class A title, falling to Westbrook in the state championship. Lennon scored 963 career points and as a senior, averaged 15 points per game along with eight assists and six steals per contest.
Lennon made the Senior East all-star team and in the summer of 1981 was selected as one of 15 girls’ players in the state to pilot an exchange program with Nationalist China. She was named Presque Isle High School’s outstanding female athlete in 1982.
Offered a scholarship to play basketball at Boston College, Lennon instead played one season at the University of Maine at Farmington, finishing second on the team in scoring at 11.1 points per game and second in rebounding at 5.4 rebounds per contest. Her team was District V runners-up and ranked first in the state.
Lennon worked for Service Master for 24 years and currently resides in Belgrade Lakes.
Casavant and Lennon are in the fourth induction class of the hall of fame, which was initiated in December 2010. The induction ceremony is planned for Jan. 17, 2014.
