The 1981 Volleyball team coached by Pam McCartney (Raymer) and assisted by Suzanne Henry (Brown) had an impressive team that won the North Egypt Conference championship and recorded a perfect 16-0 record against N.E.C. opponents.

In addition to the conference title, the Lady Wildcats had huge wins in their season by winning the Kaskaskia tournament and the consolation bracket in the highly competitive Carbondale Invitational tournament. Probably the biggest accomplishment of the 1981 season was winning the District Championship. Salem had to defeat Centralia in the first round of the tournament and then defeated Mt. Vernon in the Championship game. Mt. Vernon was highly favored in the Championship, especially since they had defeated the Lady Wildcats earlier in the season 2-0.

The volleyball team finished the season with an overall record of 24-7 and will go down as one of the best volleyball teams in SCHS history.

Mary Riley started her coaching career at Salem Community High School in the spring of 1983 coaching softball. She had previously taught and coached softball at Flora High School. Mary coached softball only three years but her real accomplishments would start in 1994 when she became the head girls’ golf coach at SCHS.

The 1994 Lady Wildcats golf team would prove to be one of the most dominant teams in SCHS history. The team’s record was an impressive 58-15. They won the Olney and Benton Invitational tournaments, finished second at the Edwardsville Invitational, and fourth at the Blazier Classic.
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Henry “Red” Hinkley attended Salem High School and graduated in the spring of 1940. He was an outstanding athlete that competed in football, basketball, and track. He was very fast and made a fine running back during his time for the Wildcats.

In 1941, Henry enrolled in school at Southern Illinois National University (SIND) which is now known as SIU. He was an honor student, a sophomore repre5entative to the student council and a three sport letterman in football, basketball, and track.
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The girls basketball team of 1979-80 had a very tough act to follow. The team from the prior season had an outstanding 23-0 regular season record with several seniors. Many thought the team would not be nearly as competitive or successful. They were wrong.

Coach Jim Koehler proved through hard work, determination, and hustle, this team could be successful. They started out the season strong by winning the first 17 games in a row, led in scoring by Junior Marla Sapp, who had 770 points.
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The golf teams at Salem Community High School would certainly not be as well known today if it were not for the coaching of William “Bill” Morgan.

Having coached for 33 years, 22 of which were as the golf coach at SCHS, Bill has achieved an impressive list of accomplishments. Probably the most impressive is a string of 15 North Egypt Conference championships, defining SCHS as the school to beat every year in the conference tournament. Also during his tenure, Salem won 16 invitational championships, seven Class AA regional championships, one sectional championship, three appearances in the State finals as a team and 12 individual State final appearances. He was named the Southern Illinois Coach of the Year in 1991 and 2002. Bill coached at least 15 players that have received college scholarships and 6 golfers who are now members of the PGA of America.
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