Lennon, Casavant gain hall induction
By Kevin Sjoberg
Sports Reporter
PRESQUE ISLE — The latest class of the Presque Isle High School Athletic Hall of Fame was a small one, with only two individuals being inducted, but both Debbie Lennon and Chris Casavant made indelible marks during their athletic careers as Wildcats and were honored for that Friday evening during a ceremony held at the Northeastland Hotel.
Staff photo/Kevin Sjoberg
THE 2014 CLASS for the Presque Isle High School Athletic Hall of Fame included Debbie Lennon, Class of 1982, and Chris Casavant, Class of 1990. The two were recognized during Friday’s ceremony held at the Northeastland Hotel. 
Ralph Michaud and Tim Prescott were the co-presenters for Casavant, a multi-sport standout who graduated in 1990.
Michaud recalled coaching Casavant in four different sports. He said in his 30 years of watching soccer games in Presque Isle, nobody was a better header of the ball than Casavant, who finished his career as the top goal scorer in Wildcat soccer history — a mark that has since been broken. As a basketball player, according to Michaud, Casavant had the quickest hands on defense he had ever seen and was among the top three defenders ever to play at Presque Isle.
“He was always looking to get better,” Michaud said in recalling Casavant as a high school athlete.
Now Casavant is the varsity basketball coach at Caribou High School and Michaud said he enjoys watching the Vikings play man-to-man defense and “is proud of the way [Casavant] coaches.”
Prescott was Casavant’s varsity basketball head coach and said he was “one of the most outstanding players I had the pleasure of coaching during my 26 seasons.”
“The thing I admired most was his competitiveness,” Prescott said. “He was one of the most competitive athletes I have ever known.
“He was also always very unselfish and one of the most versatile players in the state at that time,” he added.
Casavant lettered in varsity soccer, basketball and baseball for three seasons and in tennis for one. He was named the Butch Shaw Award winner as the top Class A soccer player in Aroostook County as a senior, was a Big East Conference all-star and earned all-state honorable mention in basketball and was an all-conference baseball player as well. In the only season he played tennis, he was the County singles tourney runner-up and qualified for the state tournament.
Casavant went on to play basketball collegiately at the University of Maine at Presque Isle, where he scored over 1,500 points and was later named to the Owls’ Athletic Hall of Fame.
“This honor is a special one,” said Casavant during his acceptance speech. “I played because I loved competition and loved to share success with my teammates.”
He thanked the teammates and coaches he had along the way and was thankful for the friendships he developed with his coaches, specifically Michaud, Prescott and Dick Gardiner, who was also in attendance.
“Without their leadership, this wouldn’t be possible,” Casavant said.
He got emotional when thanking his family members for all their support and the sacrifices they made over the years, including his parents, Bill and Daryl, his brothers Matt and Nick, his wife Angel and their daughters Meg and Mia.
In honoring Lennon, co-chairman of the PIHS Athletic Hall of Fame committee Jim Carter read several emails he received from various individuals, including Lennon’s high school basketball coach, Diane Folsom, longtime basketball official Lyn McHatten, two of Lennon’s high school teachers, Eric Hendrickson and Fran Barter, schoolmate Carmen Lauritsen and former Cony High School standout and current Husson University basketball coach Kissy Walker, who squared off against Lennon in the Eastern Maine tournament Lennon’s junior year.
All praised the intensity that Lennon, a 1982 graduate, brought to the playing field and basketball court, as did Lennon’s presenter, Bill Casavant.
“Tenacious is the best word to describe how she played,” Casavant said. “She made life miserable for everybody she played against.
“In basketball, she was a great defender who could also put the ball in the basket.”
Lennon admitted being nervous and therefore reluctant to give an acceptance speech, but said she was encouraged by many that she could do it and did speak from the podium for several minutes.
“My dad (Reuben) would be so proud of this achievement,” Lennon said, noting he had passed away in April of 2012.
Similar to her fellow inductee, Lennon thanked family members for all their support over the years, as well as Folsom for being a positive influence and role model as a coach.
“She kept me on track. She was there for me through everything and I loved playing for her,” said Lennon, adding that she enjoyed her athletic career with the Wildcats and at the time “didn’t want high school to ever end.”
Lennon played field hockey, basketball and softball for four years at PIHS and also competed in volleyball and two years of track and field. As a basketball player, Lennon was a two-time All-State selection while being named All-Aroostook her junior and senior campaigns and to the Senior East All-Star team to close out her career.
She was selected as one of 15 female basketball players from throughout the state to pilot an exchange program with Nationalist China the summer between her junior and senior years.
Lennon earned a Div. I scholarship to play basketball at Boston College, but opted to play at UM-Farmington instead and was second in both scoring and rebounding for the team during her freshman season, which was the only year she suited up collegiately.
She wrapped up her speech by calling the hall of fame induction “the greatest honor ever.”
State Rep. Robert Saucier presented both Casavant and Lennon with legislative sentiment to conclude the ceremony.
