By Toby Brown – CWCHS Hall of Fame historian & statistician.
Three multi-sport standouts from the Class of 2006 will be the newest additions to the Carmi-White County Sports Hall of Fame.
Under the leadership of new Chairman Cole Carter, the Hall of Fame Committee has announced that Tyler Choate, Keegan Dennis, and Chase Kittinger have been voted into the Hall.
Choate, Dennis, and Kittinger were all teammates on the Bulldog basketball and baseball teams, and Dennis and Kittinger were also teammates on the gridiron. All three helped lead coach Craig Winter’s baseball team to the Class A Elite Eight in 2006. They were also three of the fiercest competitors to ever don the maroon and white.
Tyler Choate
A four-year starter in baseball, a three-time conference MVP and an All-State pick his senior year, Choate was ranked the 42nd-best prospect in the state by Illinois Prep Baseball magazine in 2005. He earned an All-North Egypt Conference nod as a freshman and was voted MVP of the Black Diamond Conference in baseball his sophomore, junior and senior seasons. Choate finished his career on the mound with a 24-6 record with four saves, a whopping 273 strikeouts and a 2.05 earned run average. And at the plate, he was a .453 career hitter with a .741 slugging percentage, 19 homers and 138 RBIs. He was named to the Class A All-State baseball team in 2006.
As he did in baseball, Choate played in every single varsity basketball game for four years. He was 6th man his freshman year, and started every game his sophomore, junior, and senior seasons. He was All-South in hoops as a junior and senior, the All-BDC Honorary Captain in 2004-05, scored 1,095 points and is, without question, the greatest free throw shooter in the school’s history. Choate went a mind-numbing 231-for-263 from the stripe in his career. That .878 clip is a school record. He also has the top two single-season free throw records, going 61-for-63 as a sophomore and 74-for-86 as a senior. Choate sank 35 freebies in a row in a stretch from December of 2003 through February of 2004.
At the time of his graduation, he was also the school’s all-time leader in 3-pointers with 126. He is still third on that list today.
Keegan Dennis
Dennis excelled in four sports, as he also competed on the Bulldog track team, as well as playing football, basketball and baseball. A five-time state qualifier, Dennis still holds the school record in the triple jump and at the time of graduation, was one fourth of the school record holding 4 x 100 meter relay team.
In baseball, Dennis, a pitcher/infielder/outfielder, was drafted in the 41st round by the Atlanta Braves in 2006, but opted to play baseball in college. He played for two years at John A Logan before finishing his career at Division I Evansville. The flame-throwing righty had a 22-3 career pitching record for the Bulldogs with four saves, 220 strikeouts and a miniscule 1.97 ERA in 152 2/3 innings on the hill. He threw a three-hit, complete-game gem in Carmi’s 2-0 win over Du Quoin at the Carbondale Class A super-sectional in ’06, helping him garner All-South and All-BDC First Team status.
Dennis scored 1,070 points in two years as a starter in basketball. His 538 points in 2005-06 is the tenth best single-season total in Bulldog history. As a wide receiver in football, Dennis was the all-time leading receiver at the time of his graduation, and still ranks second in receptions and receiving yards. He was named All-South as a receiver in 2005, and named to the All-BDC First Team in both 2004 and 2005.
Chase Kittinger
There is a miniscule number of high school athletes who have ever been named All-State in two different sports. Chase Kittinger is one of them.
The tall, muscular and tough-as-nails ex-Bulldog quarterback and catcher was named to the Class A All-State baseball team in the spring of 2005, then named to the Class 3A All-State football team in the fall of ’05. He held virtually every passing record in Carmi history at the time of his graduation, and is still the leader in career passing yards, passing yards in a season, touchdown passes in a season, touchdown passes in a career, and consecutive games with a TD pass.
Kittinger was All-South and an All-BDC First Teamer in football in both 2004 and 2005, and the BDC’s Most Valuable Player in 2005, when he helped lead coach Kurt Simon’s team to an undefeated regular season.
The Bulldog baseball team’s starting catcher for three years, Kittinger was known as much for his defense as his offense. He hit .347 in his career with 94 RBIs. He batted .493 his junior season, which helped him garner All-South honors for Class A. Kittinger continued his baseball career for two seasons at Rend Lake College before moving on to Division II University of Indianapolis.
Kittinger was also a three-year varsity starter in basketball and led the team in rebounds during his senior campaign.
An induction ceremony and banquet is scheduled for Saturday, October 18th. The three will also be recognized at the end of the 1st Quarter of the Carmi-White County vs Hamilton County football game on September 12th. More details will be released soon.