Kite, Davinroy, Libby, Castle to be inducted into Hall of Fame

Release Date: October 17, 2005

MONMOUTH, Ill. — Four former Fighting Scot standouts will be inducted into Monmouth College’s M Club Hall of Fame on Oct. 22 at 8:30 a.m. in the college’s Huff Athletic Center. The 22nd annual induction ceremony will be the first event of many on a busy Saturday of Homecoming activities at the college.

This year’s class includes standout distance runner Ken Kite ’69, three-sport star Conny Davinroy Beatty ’81, dominant pitcher Jake Libby ’93 and men’s basketball all-time leading scorer Lance Castle ’95.

• Few Monmouth student-athletes have had a resume as full as Conny Davinroy Beatty’s. Called a “great athlete, student and leader” by her softball coach Kathy Wagoner, Davinroy was a vital cog on the Lady Scots’ 1979 championship team, batting .397 and posting a pitching record of 5-2. Her name is all over the softball record book after a career that saw her hit .383, including a blistering .421 in 1980. She drove in 68 runs, scored 81 and had a pitching record of 17-12. Davinroy accumulated 12 varsity letters – four apiece in softball, basketball and tennis. As a senior against Knox, she scored 28 points in a basketball game, and she led the tennis team to a third-place MWC finish in 1979. The three-sport star was named Outstanding Athlete of her class as a freshman, junior and senior. A Young Alumnus Award winner in 1995, Davinroy is currently an attorney with the U.S. Postal Service.
   
• Whether or not Lance Castle is the greatest basketball player in Monmouth College history may be open to debate, but the facts are clear-cut when it comes to scoring – Castle, at the time of his induction, was without peer. The Chillicothe, Ill., product averaged a whopping 27.5 and 28.6 points his junior and senior seasons to finish with 1,827 points. An outstanding shooter with three-point range, Castle provided his share of the college’s all-time individual basketball highlights, especially in showdowns with Grinnell. He scored 46 points in a 134-120 victory and, the year before, made three free throws with no time on the clock to lift the Scots to a 108-107 triumph. He finished that game with 41 points and would add a record 52 points vs. Grinnell his senior season. Monmouth reached the MWC playoffs in all four of Castle’s seasons, and he was named an All-MWC performer three times.
   
• Perfection eluded Jake Libby in his outstanding pitching career for the Fighting Scots – but not by much. In 1992, Libby was one walk away from a perfect game against Coe. One week later, he hurled his other MC no-hitter, blanking Knox to help the Scots secure the South Division title. Libby was just about perfect in 1991, taking the mound 10 times and going 9-0 with an ERA of 1.58, arguably the greatest season for any MC pitcher. In all, Libby toed the rubber 33 times for Monmouth and posted a sterling 27-3 record with one save. He was a first-team All-MWC selection in all three of his seasons, had a career ERA of 2.48 and struck out 263 batters in 221 innings. Libby, a football standout at ROWVA High School, went 8-1 on Galesburg High School’s state champion and nationally-ranked team his senior year before pitching for Bradley University for one year.
   
• Long before the Fighting Scots built a dynasty in Midwest Conference men’s track and field, Ken Kite was a shining star on the cinders, running faster than any MC performer ever had in the mile (4:10.8) and the 880-yard run (1:54.2). Kite could also cover longer distances in style. He was the first MC runner to accomplish the rare feat of posting a trio of top-three finishes at the Midwest Conference Cross Country Championships, placing third in 1966 and runner-up in 1967 and 1968. In his senior year, he finally captured an elusive MWC outdoor title, winning the three-mile run. He had won the indoor two-mile run in 1967. Following graduation, Kite has enjoyed a successful career as a dentist in Hoffman Estates, Ill. Additionally, he is a fixture at the IHSA state boys track meet, having attended every meet since 1964, first as an athlete and, since 1972, as a volunteer finish line recorder.