Amanda (Brendel) Litteken put together one of the most dominant careers by a Salem Lady Wildcats softball player and continued that excellence on to the collegiate level.

A 2007 Salem Community High School graduate, Litteken was a force both at the plate and on the mound for the Lady Wildcats. Her biggest offensive season came as a junior in 2006 when she set school records for batting average (.554), hits (56), doubles (12) (since broken), triples (12) and RBIs (44). Litteken was equally dominant on the mound. Her 25 wins during her senior season in 2007 still stands as the school mark. So, does her 0.71 earned run average. Litteken broke the school record for strikeouts in a season with 216 during her junior campaign although that mark has since fallen. Litteken was a four-time All-Apollo Conference selection.

The top three-win totals in a season by a Lady Wildcats softball team came during Litteken’s tenure with the program led by a 26-win campaign in 2007. Prior to Litteken’s arrival no Salem team had won more than 18 games in a season.

Litteken began her collegiate path at Rend Lake College where she spent one season with the Lady Warriors. During that one campaign Litteken led Rend Lake in batting average, triples, home runs and RBIs. She also won ten games on the mound.

Litteken transferred to the University of Southern Indiana for the remainder of her collegiate competition. As a sophomore Litteken was a Great Lakes Valley Conference Second Team selection as she led the Screaming Eagles with seven home runs and was runner-up in batting average and RBIs.

As a junior in 2010 Litteken had eight multi-hit games when she started 44 of her team’s 45 games at second base as she received Academic District Third Team honors in addition to being named to the All-GLVC Academic Team.

Litteken closed out her college eligibility with a stellar senior season when she was selected to the All-GLVC First Team. She led USI in batting average at .388, which ranked fourth in the league, and hit a team-high eight home runs. Litteken reached base safely in 43 consecutive games. Litteken received a GLVC Player of the Week Award and earned All-GLVC Academic honors for the second straight year. It was also during her senior season when Litteken was named to the Daktronics & NFCA All-Midwest Region Team.

Despite playing only three years at USI, she finished second all-time on the program’s all-time career home run list with 20.
At the time of her induction into the Salem High Sports Hall of Fame Litteken resided in Salem and served as a physical education instructor for first through fifth grade students at Salem District 111. During her return to the area she served as an assistant softball coach for one season at Salem Community High School, one season as softball coach at Selmaville Grade School and four years as Selmaville girls basketball coach.

A four-sport athlete during his time at Salem Community High School, 2005 graduate Scott Murfin used his baseball and basketball skills to take him to the collegiate level.

Murfin graduated as the Wildcats all-time career scoring leader in basketball with 1,202 points, a mark that has since been broken. Murfin, who had a 36-point outing as a junior, put together one of the better individual seasons in the program’s history as a senior when he was an All-Apollo Conference Team selection. Murfin scored 555 points and averaged 18.5 points per game, which earned him Honorable Mention on the Illinois Basketball Coaches Association All-State Team. Murfin was also selected for the Southern Illinois Lions Cub All-Star Game.

Murfin continued his basketball career for two more seasons at Maryville University, but it was on the baseball field where he made his biggest contributions for the Saints. Murfin made a quick splash as a freshman when he earned St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Pitcher of the Week honors. Overall Murfin put together one of the better pitching careers in school history. His 17 wins and 36 games started ranked second on the school’s all-time career list. Murfin was also fifth in career innings pitched with 187 and career strikeouts with 137.

At the time of his induction into the Salem High Sports Hall of Fame, Murfin was working as a doctor of physical therapy at the Orthopedic Center of Southern Illinois and assistant director of the physical rehabilitation center at OCSI.  He resides in Pinckneyville with his wife Jamie, daughters Nora and Noelle, and son Nolan.

Grant Reed, a 2006 Salem Community High School graduate, was a multi-state medalist for the Salem Wildcats track team as well as the owner of multiple school records. Reed put his name in the record book for the first time in 2004 when he established a new sophomore school mark in the 300-meter intermediate hurdles with a time of 40.7. It was his senior season in 2006 when Reed made his biggest impact. It began with a new school indoor record in the 55-meter high hurdles with a time of 7.6.

When the scene shifted outdoors Reed established new school marks in the 110-meter high hurdles at 14.1 and the 300-meter intermediate hurdles at 38.7. Reed was also part of two school relay record teams. He completed the foursome of Corey Hopkins, Chris Williams and Justin Helpingstine when they posted a time of 3:22.50 in the 1600-meter relay. It was Reed, Hopkins, Helpingstine and T.C. Hargis that posted a new school mark in the sprint medley relay with a time of 3:37.7.

Reed, who claimed the Apollo Conference championship in the 300 intermediate hurdles as a senior, qualified for the Class AA state meet in both hurdle races at the Marion Sectional. Reed advanced as the champion in the 300-intermediate race with a time of 38.7 and as a runner-up in the 110-meter highs at 14.2.

The highlights did not stop there as Reed advanced to the finals in both events at state and took home eighth place finishes in each of his races as he had times of 15.04 in the 110 highs and 39.4 in the 300 intermediates.

Reed, who shared the Wildcats Team Most Valuable Player Award with Hopkins, would continue his track career in college as he attended Rend Lake College and Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville.

At the time of his induction into the Salem High Sports Hall of Fame Reed resided in Salem and was a PLC Programmer.

Scott Steward put together a 34-year stay at Salem Community High School that included 23 seasons with the Wildcats football program, 15 seasons with the baseball program and 27 years as the school’s athletic director.

Steward, who had played football at Saint Joseph’s College in Indiana, arrived in Salem in 1988 after having served as a graduate assistant football coach at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale. Steward served as an assistant football coach with the Wildcats for two seasons before he was promoted to head coach in 1990. By the time Steward stepped down from that position after the 2010 campaign he had become the program’s winningest coach with a career mark of 108-92. During that run his teams won three North Egypt Conference championships with shared titles in 1991 and 1992 and an outright title in 1997 with a perfect 7-0 record. His teams qualified for the state playoffs ten times. At the time of his 2023 SCHS Hall of Fame induction Steward was one of just two coaches in the program’s history to win a playoff game, which his 1991 squad accomplished with a 20-10 first-round victory over Highland. Steward was inducted into the Illinois High School Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 2013.

Besides the three NEC championships his teams won on the gridiron, Steward was part of two more NEC winners with the Wildcats baseball team with titles won in 1989 and 1996.

Steward moved into the school’s athletic director role in 1995 and held that position until his retirement from the school in 2022. During that time Steward helped navigate the school through the difficult process of moving from the North Egypt Conference to the Apollo Conference after the NEC dissolved in 2003 and again from the Apollo Conference to its current home in the Cahokia Conference in 2017. The school hosted numerous IHSA postseason events under his direction and also served as chairman of the SCHS Sports Hall of Fame committee. Steward served on the IHSA Athletic Administrators Advisory Board, the AD HOC Committee on state football playoffs and AD HOC Committee to review policy and procedures. He has worked as a volunteer at the IHSA state bass fishing competition and has served on the Bass Fishing Advisory Committee, and received a distinguished service award from the IHSA for his work with the Bass Tournament. Steward also served on the Schutt Sports Advisory Committee twice.

Steward was awarded the Division 3-4A Illinois Athletic Director of the Year for the 2015-16 school year, the SIBOA Athletic Director of the Year five times, the Illinois Principals Association Kaskaskia Division Athletic Director of the Year twice and the SCHS Teacher of the Year in 2018. He is also a member of the Lowell High School Sports Hall of Fame.

After Steward retired from SCHS in the spring in 2022, he rejoined the work force later that year when he became athletic director at Kaskaskia College.

At the time of his SCHS Sports Hall of Fame induction in 2023, Steward and his wife, Tracie, resided in Salem where they raised daughters Megan and Mallory and son Cole Steward.

One of the most well-rounded athletes Salem Community High School has ever produced, 2007 graduate Ellen (Young) O’Rourke left the school as the all-time career scoring leader for the girls and boys basketball program with 2,500 points.

O’Rourke, who was an All-Apollo Conference and Southern Illinois Coaches Association All-South selection all four seasons, made an immediate impact as a freshman when she averaged 15.0 points per game. She also received Special Mention on the IBCA and Champaign News-Gazette All-State Teams. She increased that scoring average to 17.2 points per game as a sophomore and was selected to the IBCA All-State Third Team and Honorable Mention on the Champaign News-Gazette All-State Team. As a junior O’Rourke poured in 24.8 points a game and was an IBCA All-State Second Team choice. During her senior season O’Rourke broke Marla Sapp’s 26-year-old school scoring record of 2,347 points and averaged 25.3 points a game overall. She was an IBCA and Champaign News-Gazette All-State First Team choice as well as an Associated Press Third Team All-State pick. O’Rourke represented the school and Class AA South squad at the IBCA All-Star Game.

O’Rourke was more than just a scoring machine. She set the school record for most steals in a season with 109 in the 2006-07 campaign (since broken) and ranked tenth for most rebounds in a season when she pulled down 291 boards, which she also accomplished in the 2006-07 season. O’Rourke ranked second in season three-point percentage at 44.8 percent for the 2003-04 season and third in made free throws for a season when she hit 150 in the 2006-07 slate.

O’Rourke, who also competed on the volleyball court for two seasons and one year on the track at SCHS, also left her name in the school’s record book for softball where she set the season stolen base mark when she pilfered 37 during the 2005 campaign.

O’Rourke begun her collegiate basketball career at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale. During her one season with the Lady Salukis O’Rourke was named to the Missouri Valley Conference Freshman Team as she averaged 11.9 points per game and was third in the MVC in three-point percentage. O’Rourke played her three remaining seasons at the University of Southern Indiana at Evansville. As a sophomore she was a Great Lakes Valley Conference Third Team choice as she averaged 13.1 points per game and reached double digits 18 times. She improved that scoring average to 15.3 points per game as a junior when she was named to the All-GLVC Second Team. Twice she was named the GLVC Player of the Week. Prior to her senior season O’Rourke was named a preseason honorable Mention All-American by the Division II Bulletin. Once again, she was a GLVC Second Team selection after she posted a team-high 15.6 points per game average, which included a career high 34 points against Indianapolis. Twenty-three times she scored in double digits. Despite having played only three seasons at USI, O’Rourke finished eighth all-time on that program’s scoring list with 1249 points, third in career made three-pointers with 150 and third in free throw percentage at 78.0 percent. O’Rourke scored 1,677 points overall in college to go along with 486 rebounds.

O’Rourke was serving as the financial manager for the City of Marengo, Iowa at the time of her SCHS Sports Hall of Fame induction.

It did not matter whether it was on the volleyball or basketball court, success and Chandra (Hensley) Steers went together.

A 1999 graduate of Salem Community High School, Steers was a four-year member of the Lady Wildcats volleyball program and a three-year starter. During that three-year run from 1996-98 Steers helped Salem compile records of 26-7, 31-5 and 32-3. Those squads won the North Egypt Conference crown each season, three regional titles and the program’s first sectional championship in 1997. Steers was an NEC Second Team selection for the 1997 and 1998 teams.

While Steers had a solid volleyball career at Salem, she elevated her game even more when she moved on to Parkland Community College in Champaign. That success began in the fall of 1999 when she helped Parkland compile a 54-9 record that ended with the NJCAA Division II national championship. With Steers up front at the net, the Lady Cobras made a return trip to the national tournament in 2001 where Parkland took home a sixth-place finish and a 45-15 record. Steers, who was one of the top blockers in the country, was a big reason for that trip to the national tournament as she was a Midwest Athletic Conference First Team selection and a member of the All-Region 24 First Team. Steers was rewarded for her success at Parkland when she was inducted into that school’s Hall of Fame in 2007. Steers transferred to Eastern Illinois University for her junior and senior volleyball seasons. During her time at that school Steers received the school’s ROTC Leadership Award in 2002 and was a member of the Ohio Valley Conference All-Academic Team in 2003.

Besides her accomplishments on the volleyball court, Steers was also a key contributor to the 1998-99 Lady Wildcats basketball team that went 28-3, won the NEC championship with a perfect 14-0 record and reached the Class AA Elite Eight. Steers, who was an NEC Honorable Mention selection that season, led Salem to its first regional championship when she poured in a career high 28 points in a 78-51 victory over Chatham Glenwood. She averaged 8.7 points per game that campaign, was the team’s third-leading rebounder and was one of its best free throw shooters at 73 percent.

Steers did not stay away from athletic competition for long after her playing days ended as she entered the coaching field in 2004 as the head volleyball coach at Macon-Meridian High School. She later served as head volleyball coach at Mahomet-Seymour High School where her team won a Class 3A regional championship in 2015. Steers has had assistant volleyball coaching stints at Parkland College, Blue Ridge High School and Mahomet-Seymour Junior High School. Steers has also coached multiple seasons for PrimeTime VBC, a club volleyball team based in Champaign.

At the time of her induction into the SCHS Sports Hall of Fame Steers resided in Mahomet where she was a certified surgical technologist at Gibson Area Hospital.