M-S Schools Foundation 2025 Hall of Fame Class
Kyle Kimme 1997
Doug Parrett 1969
Joe Sapp 2003
Wendy Wagner Pierce 2001
Induction date: Friday, Sept.19, 2025
By FRED KRONER
There’s a place for Kyle Kimme at the table now.
His grandfather (Darrell Alleman) is a Hall-of-Famer at Putnam County, two uncles (Scott Alleman and Kim Alleman) are also Hall-of-Famers at Putnam County and his father (Dennis Kimme) is a Hall-of-Famer (USA Softball).
Kyle Kimme will join the ranks in September when he is one of four inductees into the Mahomet Schools Foundation Hall of Fame.
He will be a third generation Hall-of-Famer in his family.
A multi-sport athlete who played soccer (before it was a varsity sport at M-S), Kimme was a letterman in basketball and baseball for the Bulldogs before graduating in 1997.
He took his talents to Northern Illinois University, where he was installed as a starter at second base as a freshman. By the time he graduated, he had played in 190 of the Huskies’ 218 baseball games while he was on campus.
That total currently ranks 10th in school history.
He was a four-year starter for the Huskies, playing second base as a freshman, shortstop as a sophomore and third base his final two seasons.
“I had never played second base or third base before college,” he says. “A good lesson that I learned, and that I try to teach my kids and kids that I coach is that hard work, being versatile, and being able to adapt quickly can lead to more opportunities in the future.”
When he graduated from NIU, Kimme was among the top 10 all-time in 12 season or career categories, including season fielding percentage.
Kimme’s high school baseball coach said there was pretty much nothing he couldn’t do on the field.
“He had a sweet stroke, his fielding was smooth, his first step to the ball was good and his mechanics were flawless,” John Weimer recalls. “His bat speed was quick. His eye coordination and picking up the ball was phenomenal.
“He was a fun young man to coach.”
Kimme homered in his first high school varsity game and – as a senior — set a school record (since tied) with three home runs in a May game at Arcola.
“We didn’t have travel ball then, but his parents (Deb and Dennis Kimme) worked with him at a young age,” Weimer says. “He was solid.”
The M-S coach was convinced that Kimme could play beyond high school and contacted collegiate coaches on his behalf.
“I called Eastern Illinois and Middle Tennessee State,” Weimer says. “You don’t call college coaches unless you think you have something special there.
“In those days, they were few and far between.”
Ironically, Kimme settled on a different college than where Weimer had connections, selecting NIU.
“I wanted to go into business, so a lot of the focus was also finding a strong academic fit in addition to a great baseball fit,” Kimme says. “NIU had a great business school and was only two hours away from Mahomet.
“From a baseball standpoint, NIU has a great program with experienced coaches. NIU seemed to be a great fit from a proximity, academics, and athletics perspective. Looking back, it was an excellent choice.”
Kimme, the oldest of three children, credits his parents for his development.
“I owe almost everything I have accomplished to my parents,” he says. “Their love, motivation, support, and teaching shaped me as an individual and as a student-athlete.
“They taught me to treat others how I want to be treated, and to always do the right thing; that whatever I choose to do, to give 100 percent effort and never give up.”
They also emphasized that success in baseball cannot always be measured by the outcome of one pitch or play.
“They taught me that failure is a part of life and that everything is a learning opportunity and a chance for growth,” Kyle Kimme says. “All of the life lessons that my parents taught me, carried over into athletics.
“They are a significant reason that I was able to be successful. We grew up with a team first mentality; that hard work, coachability, teamwork, and overall effort will win out over time.”
The principles are ones which have stayed with him.
“All are extremely valuable lessons that I try to apply every day, and am trying to instill in my children and the kids that I coach,” Kyle Kimme says. “From an athletics standpoint, my dad coached me in several sports growing up.
“He taught me the physical and mental part of the game. He always made time to do extra, whether it was shooting baskets in the driveway or going to the park for extra batting and fielding practice.
“From a community standpoint, my parents were always very active. My mom ran Mahomet Recreation for years and my dad volunteered coaching. They both always wanted to help others and are still very active in the community. I have tried to do the same in my adulthood.”
Though he also participated in basketball, football and soccer, Kyle Kimme’s devotion was to one sport.
“Baseball was the primary sport,” he says. “I felt natural and confident on the field. I love the strategy, the details, the challenge of the game.
“The fact that you can ‘fail’ yet still ‘succeed’ on the same play is pretty cool.”
His example illustrates his team-first mentality.
“Let’s say there is a runner on second base with no outs,” Kimme says. “A ground out to the right side of the infield can be a positive play, even though you made an out.
“By moving the runner over to third base with less than two outs, our team has a better chance of scoring. You made an out, yet something good happened for the team that could now lead to a run. The game itself has a lot of valuable life lessons.”
He derived motivation more from performance than from outcome.
“I actually think my fear of losing or failing was a greater motivator than the feeling of winning or succeeding,” Kimme adds.
Kimme lettered three years in baseball at M-S, as a shortstop who also pitched, and two years in basketball.
He was a double-figure scorer in basketball as a senior (10.4 average) for a team that was ranked as high as sixth in the state in Class 2A.
He led the team in assists (68) as a senior and was the only squad member to start every game for an 18-8 team.
“Kyle was a very important part of that team (in 1996-97),” his coach, Randy Sallade, says. “He was a good player who did a nice job shooting the ball.
“That was a team that was all about team. They liked each other and played well together.”
Kimme had some of the same teammates in his two main sports.
“I was very fortunate to have played with so many great athletes, competitors and supportive teammates,” Kimme said. “Our basketball and baseball teams were very close and had excellent chemistry, which gave us an advantage on Game Day.
“Two of my closest teammates were Ryan Martin and Cory Richmond. We grew up together and pretty much played baseball and basketball together since we were 9 years old. We were also best friends outside of sports.
“Ryan was a beast in basketball and an excellent baseball player. Ryan had an awesome work ethic and was a great leader. Cory was one of the most athletic and gifted players I knew, making everything look easy. He could score from anywhere on the court and was a great outfielder in baseball.”
Kimme, Martin and Richmond served as team captains.
“The three of us had awesome chemistry and teamwork,” Kimme recalls. “We pretty much knew exactly what each other was going to do.
“Playing together was like second nature. Our movements and communication just naturally flowed together, almost like we were one athlete.
“Derric Eisenmann was another great teammate and one that I looked up to. Derric was a year older than me. He was a natural leader. He took me under his wing in baseball and basketball, showed me the ropes and pushed me to succeed. He was a good friend, fierce competitor, and an excellent athlete.”
As Kimme reflects on his career more than a quarter of a century after high school, it’s not the records or the championship plaques that he dwells on.
“The most important and favorite memories were being with my friends and teammates during practices, after the games at Bulldog Pizza, summer camps, going to the gym to workout, hanging out at our houses, etc,” he says. “I love sports.
“It has sort of defined me as a person, but the best sports memories I have are the people that I was able to participate with.”
His M-S coaches played a key role, too, in his development.
“I was blessed with awesome coaches in high school,” Kimme says. “Coach Randy Sallade was one of the best fundamental and X’s and O’s coach I know.
“A lot of the concepts Coach Sallade taught us, I still use today when coaching basketball. Coach Sallade pushed us every day, trying to get the best out of us.
“He genuinely cared about his players, and was an instrumental figure in my growth as a player and person.”
When Kimme switched seasons, he was under the tutelage of another impactful coach.
“Coach Wiemer was a great leader and motivator,” Kimme adds. “His practices always consisted of hard work, high volume of reps, intensity and also with some fun.
“He was a competitor and wouldn’t allow us to slack off. He wanted the best for all of his players. Coach Weimer was always there for his players, on and off the field. He is a main reason that I was so successful in baseball. He had confidence in me, which in turn, made me feel confident and enhanced my performance.”
In baseball at M-S, Kimme was a two-time all-Corn Belt Conference selection and a two-time All-Area first-team pick.
After graduating from NIU, where he majored in finance and minored in accounting, Kimme played competitive slow-pitch softball for nine years. His main team was Full Tilt, but he also played for Rounding Third and Creative Design.
“We played tournaments across the country, against a lot of former college and some professional baseball players,” Kimme says. “Over the nine seasons, we won seven Illinois state championships and three national championships.”
Kimme received 26 all-tournament awards and six tournament MVP awards.
“It was a great way to keep the competitive drive going,” he says. “Now the competitive need is met through my kids’ activities.”
Kimme is married to his high school sweetheart, the former Stephanie Clapper. They have three children: Connor Kimme (17-year-old son, junior at Kaneland High School), Logan Kimme (15-year-old son, freshman at Kaneland High School) and Blake Kimme (9-year-old, daughter, fourth grader at John Shields Kaneland Elementary School).
The Kimmes live in Sugar Grove. Kyle works for JP Morgan Chase Bank.
In addition to his job, Kimme has enjoyed coaching.
“I have coached basketball at the youth/middle school level for 11 years,” he says. “I coached baseball at the youth/middle school level for nine years and the high school level for three years.
“I love coaching and working with kids through sports. A lot of the successes and experiences I have had in my life are due to sports, and I enjoy being able to give those experiences back to the kids. I love the competition and helping the kids have fun, improve, and learn valuable lessons. It is very rewarding.”
In reflecting on his Hall of Fame selection, Kimme says it’s not a solo venture.
“The M-S HS Hall of Fame selection is a tremendous honor,” he says. “I am so proud to be a part of an amazing list of people, who have achieved great accomplishments and have positively impacted so many lives.
“I am also very grateful to all of my teammates and coaches, to my parents and family, and to my wife, Stephanie. This selection is just as much theirs, as it is mine. Their support, teamwork, leadership, guidance and motivation was a difference-maker.”
Kimme said he had a wide range of emotions and reactions when he learned of his selection.
“Surprise, excitement, pride, appreciation,” Kimme says. “M-S HS has had a lot of great athletes, musicians, artists, teachers, coaches and community leaders.
“It felt a little surreal to be included with some of the names already inducted into the HOF. I also thought of my family, friends, teammates, and coaches, and how this is a tribute to them, and all that they did for me and for our school.”
