2014 – Inductees
Chris Casavant – 1990
Chris Casavant’s impressive varsity athletic career at Presque Isle High School spurred success at the collegiate level and beyond, where he has become a highly-regarded basketball coach and baseball umpire.
Casavant lettered in soccer and basketball for three seasons each at PIHS, and in the spring played baseball as a freshman, sophomore and senior and tennis as a junior. He enjoyed great success in all four sports. He was the Butch Shaw Award winner as the top Class A soccer player in Aroostook County his senior year. Casavant was a Big East Conference Al-Star and Bangor Daily News All-State honorable mention selection in basketball. In baseball he was an all-conference first team choice. The one year he opted to play tennis in the spring, he was the Aroostook County singles runner-up and qualified for the state tournament.
He went on to play basketball collegiately – one year for the Maine Central Institute Post-Grad program before settling in at the University of Maine at Presque Isle, where he played for four years. He is fourth all-time on the Owl’s scoring list with 1,541 points. As a senior, Casavant made both the All-Maine and all-conference first teams and received honorable mention as an NAIA Div. III All American in 2004.
A high school physical education and health teacher in the Caribou school system, Casavant who has coached varsity basketball for 16 years, is beginning his 12th season at the helm of the Viking boys’ team. He has been named Big East Conference coach of the year on three occasions.
Chris and his wife Angel (Saucier) reside in Mapleton with their two daughters, Meg and Mia.
Debbie Lennon – 1982
Known for her fearless style of play, Debbie Lennon excelled in fild hockey, basketball and softball for the Wildcats in the late 1970’s and early 1980’s. Lennon was a three-sport star all four years, played volleyball for three seasons and added track and field to the athletic resume her junior and senior years and finished with 13 varsity letters, but it was basketball in which she received the most notoriety.
Lennon helped lead the 1982 team to an Eastern Maine Class A title. She was an All-Aroostook and All-State first team choice her junior and senior campaigns and made the Senior East All-Star Team. In the summer of 1981, she was selected as one of the 15 female basketball players from throughout the state to pilot an exchange program with Nationalist China. She was chosen Presque Isle’s Outstanding Female Athlete her senior year.
Lennon’s talents earned her a scholarship to play basketball at Div. I Boston College, but she instead chose to attend the University of Maine at Farmington, where she made a huge impact during her only season. She was second on the team in both scoring (11.l points per game) and rebounding (5.4 per game). Lennon also shot 70 percent from the foul line as the Beavers finished as the District V runner-up and ranked No. 1 in the State.
Debbie remained active in sports following her playing days, participating in competitive softball and basketball leagues, while also enjoying racquetball, bowling, tennis, volleyball, and golf. She currently owns a cleaning company in Belgrade Lakes, where she enjoys quilting, gardening and woodworking.