When it came to Marianne Larimer’s athletic career at Salem Community High School, she was a part of many firsts.

She was a member of the school’s first volleyball team. She was a member of the first girls basketball team. Now she has become the first female to be selected to the SCHS Hall of Fame.

Larimer, whose father Bill was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1989, was a four-sport athlete at SCHS from 1972-1976. While she also played softball and tennis, her strongest sports were volleyball and basketball.

As a member of the Lady Wildcats volleyball team, Salem went 28-5 from 1975-76. Larimer was a key part of that success, as she was the team’s most valuable player both years.

Larimer’s athletic ability carried over to the basketball court. During Salem’s first season of competition in 1975-76, Larimer averaged 13.5 points a game. An even more impressive figure was her sizzling free throw percentage of 89 percent, a school record. As was the case in volleyball, Larimer was also named the Lady Wildcats most valuable player in basketball.

After high school Larimer continued her athletic career at Millikin University in Decatur. She earned 10 varsity letters for the Big Blue with her biggest success coming in basketball. She set a school record for points in a game with 45 and finished with more than 1000 points in her college career. She also set school marks for games played, career field goals, career assists and career free throw percentage. At one time at Millikin she had 90 points in three games and was named National Player of the Week.

Larimer, who was Millikin’s Most Valuable Player in both basketball and volleyball in her senior year, was the first female to ever get the”M” Award for outstanding athletes at Millikin.

Off the court Larimer was successful as well, as she was named to the AIAIW Academic All-American team.

Larimer stayed in athletics once she graduated from college, as she entered the high school coaching ranks in volleyball, tennis, basketball and track.

Her biggest coaching success has come in volleyball where she has posted a record of 346-99 in stints at Bement, Arcola and Casey-Westfield. Larimer has been at Casey-Westfield for the last 10 years and has a 265-57 mark at the school. She also served as Athletic Director at Casey-Westfield for six years. In 1988 she was the Decatur Herald Coach of the Year in volleyball.