EDITOR’S NOTE:
Four selections have been made for the Mahomet-Seymour Education Foundation Hall of Fame. This article is the first of the four who will be profiled in upcoming days.
The inductees, who will be recognized on Friday, Sept. 23 before the M-S homecoming football game are:
Paul Blue (Class of 1937)
Kendra Donley Free (Class of 2005)
Larry Gnagey (Class of 1948)
Cully Welter (Class of 1987)
By FRED KRONER
Fourteen years after she played her last collegiate basketball game, Mahomet-Seymour graduate Kendra Donley Free has registered one more double-double.
It is the most significant one yet for the 2005 M-S graduate.
Within a five-month span in 2022, Donley Free will be enshrined in both the Illinois Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Fame (April 30 at Illinois State University) as well as the Mahomet Education Foundation Hall of Fame (Sept. 23 at the M-S homecoming football game).
This year’s new members in the IBCA Hall of Fame will be part of the 50th year for inductions.
“It is weird to even consider that I am being selected for the Hall of Fame for doing something that I loved,” Donley Free said. “I did the best I could every time I stepped out on the court and played like it was my last time.
“When I first received the letter, I had to read it again to be sure I was understanding what I was reading. Never in a million years did I expect this honor, and two in one year is crazy.”
In both cases, it is recognition that is not only fitting, but also overdue.
Donley Free rewrote the M-S record book, amassing a school record 1,577 career points and setting records for career steals (272), career free throw accuracy (74.0 percent), career free throws made (404) and season free throws made (123).
She was The News-Gazette All-Area Player of the Year as a senior, playing for the winningest girls’ basketball team in school history (25-4), a mark that held until the 2021-22 team raised the standard higher.
She didn’t target the school record for points (previously held by Cindy Grammer) because she was unaware of the total.
“After I broke the record, I learned quite a bit,” Donley Free said. “Coach (Nathan) Seal had spoken to the refs before the game and gave them one of our balls so if I did break the record, I could keep the ball.
“We were playing at Argenta-Oreana, and I only needed 10 points to break the record. I had 10 points in the first quarter and Coach Seal called a time out and presented me the ball. I had no clue, but the team did.”
A fun fact is that both Donley Free and Grammer wore the same uniform number (53) as Bulldogs.
Donley Free played multiple sports and was also a three-year soccer letter winner at M-S. She was a four-year letter winner in basketball.
“Basketball was by far my favorite sport,” she said. “I am not sure what about it drew me to it, but I just remember always playing at recess.
“I always played in the backyard with my brother (Quentin) and his older friends. My parents tore down our old shed and there was a concrete slab under it and they put a hoop up and that became my favorite place to be.
“I remember waiting up until my dad (Chub) would get home from work, on second shift, and we could go up to the junior high and shoot 100 free throws a few nights a week.”
Donley Free lettered in basketball all four years at M-S. Her promotion to the varsity as a freshman led to a nickname (Kid) that stuck throughout the remainder of her prep career.
“I was the youngest on the team and that was my nickname all through high school,” Donley Free recalled.
Her high school coach, Seal, said the reason Donley Free had so much success is due to the effort she put in.
“What made Kendra so special is her drive, work ethic, competitiveness and passion for basketball,” said Seal, who is now the assistant principal and athletic director at Arthur-Lovington/Atwood-Hammond. “She truly wanted to be the best player she could be.
“She consistently stayed after practice to individually work on her game. She did this from her first practice her freshman year until the last practice her senior year. She always wanted to improve and was willing to put in the extra time.”
Donley Free had interests beyond sports and showed horses as a youngster. She was also a member of the junior high band.
“I played the saxophone, but gave that up when I had to walk to school and carry my basketball bag and the saxophone up the hill on Division Street,” Donley Free said. “The basketball bag was lighter, so the saxophone had to go.”
The decision turned out to be a good one. As a high school senior, she was recognized as one of the state’s top 15 players by The Associated Press on its annual All-State team and received a full-ride scholarship to St. Louis University.
Though she played on AAU travel teams – many under the direction of Mike Lindemann, who eventually became the Parkland College head coach – she was always seeking ways to challenge herself.
“I always played with my brother, so I am sure that helped develop my skills,” Donley Free said. “Quentin and his friends were always bigger, stronger and faster than I was, but it made me push myself even harder.
“Quentin and I would play in Elk Shoot Outs, the Pepsi Hot Shot Contest, Gus Macker Tournaments and NBA 2-Ball contests. Quentin is three years older, so we always had to go up in the age bracket.”
The age difference helped test Donley Free.
“Playing against older kids, they had better skills so that always made me work harder,” she said. “However, I was pretty determined that I was going to be a good ball player.
“I remember mapping out a 2-mile route in Mahomet that I would run with my basketball. I wanted to dribble well and I wanted to shoot well. I wanted to do well at the sport that I loved.”
Seal said she was always attentive and heeded the advice of coaches.
“She was an absolute privilege to coach,” Seal said. “She was very coachable. She listened and was always willing to make needed adjustments.
“Her growth as a player and as a person during her career was very fun to witness. My expectations of her coming out of junior high were high, but she completely exceeded those expectations.”
Unlike many high school superstars, Donley Free wasn’t a me-first kind of player.
“Although Kendra achieved many accomplishments during her career and is very deserving of the Hall of Fames, she always put team accomplishments above her own,” Seal added. “Winning and being a good teammate was what was most important to her.”
Her mantra, she said, was single-minded. “I set out every game to do what needed to be done to win,” Donley Free said.
Playing beyond high school was a long-time goal.
“The idea of playing in college was always a dream,” she said. “I never really knew everything that I needed to do to play in college.
“I was the first one in my family to be going straight from high school to college and it was new for all of us. However, I got my first letter from Eastern Illinois University (and coach Linda Wunder) my sophomore year. That is when I was like, ‘Wow, college ball is a real possibility.’”
Donley Free wound up playing two years at Danville Area Community College.
“DACC was not my first choice, and to be quite honest, I felt like I worked so hard at my basketball skills that playing at a community college level was not doing my skills justice,” Donley Free said. “I did go away to college and that was a major failure. I was the only freshman recruited to the team and I took the starting senior’s guard spot in the lineup. That did not go over well with the rest of the team.
“I was young, away from home, and felt very isolated. Furthermore, I had never been on a team that didn’t work together and support each other. That was one thing that Coach Seal worked so hard developing. It was a huge transition from high school ball to college ball.
“People were more about themselves than they were for team and that is why, still to this day, I will say that high school ball has many of my best memories.”
Before playing in a game at St. Louis, Donley Free dropped out and returned home.
“I packed up and headed home without any warning,” she said. “I remember it was homecoming weekend and I raced the four hours home to be there before the parade started.”
She didn’t have to wait long for another shot at college ball.
“I was home just a few weeks before I got a phone call from Coach Lyle Hicks at DACC,” Donley Free said. “He stated he knew I was back in town and that I would not be able to play this year, but he wanted to offer a spot for me on the team to practice and then play the following year.
“He didn’t have any scholarships left, but he found some money for me and essentially gave me a scholarship to practice with them.”
A year later, after the 2006-07 season ended, she earned Academic All-American accolades following her freshman season.
As a sophomore at DACC, she averaged 15.2 points, 3.1 steals, 3.0 rebounds and 2.0 assists for a 22-7 team. She was a repeat Academic All-American and was also chosen as one of the top 15 players in NJCAA Division II, which earned her additional All-American laurels for her performance on the court.
She was the first DACC student to earn both academic and athletic All-American honors in the same year.
Those two years at DACC were special for reasons beyond basketball.
“Going to DACC changed my life,” Donley Free said. “I met Eric Free (from Bismarck-Henning), who played on the men’s team and worked at the VA Hospital with me, and we eventually started dating.”
They each moved on from DACC to Illinois State University, from where they both graduated. After undergoing leg surgery, Donley Free was unable to continue her basketball career at ISU.
Kendra and Eric were married in 2010 and have two children, Karley (8) and Lucas (5).
One reason she was able to flourish at DACC was attributed to the Jaguars’ coach.
“Coach Hicks was exactly what I needed at the time,” Donley Free said. “He was encouraging and understanding of the circumstances, but he still expected me to show and pushed me to do my best.
“Furthermore, I had some great teammates, the support of Eric and his family, and the support of my family. Not to mention I lived close to home so that made things better. Coach Seal and Coach Patty (Hoagland) were always a phone call away and never ran short of encouraging words during that rough time.”
When she graduated from M-S, Donley Free had one career path in mind.
“I really wanted to be a police officer,” she said. “I believe in protecting the community and I also believe that creating relationships with others is key to developing a desire to want to do better.”
Thanks to the influence of some educators, however, Donley Free decided to follow in their footsteps. She has taught in Danville District 118 for the past 12 years.
She teaches PE, health and has a high school home room.
“In the past, I have worked with our social worker running a young ladies group, to work on Social and Emotional Learning,” Donley Free said. “One of my favorite things about teaching is I can be silly in gym with the students.
“I participate in as many activities as I can with them. I always play music and play a variety of it. Some days it’s the oldies and pop while other days it’s R&B or Rap. However, my favorite day is country, when I can sing at the top of my lungs for the students. Sometimes I get lucky and have a student join in, but not often.
During the first semester, she had lunch supervision.
“The high school students ate so quickly I would let the boys play basketball and often the girls and I would sit in a circle and talk about life’s challenges, or I would read a book to them,” Donley Free said. “I love being there for them. I love encouraging them. I love to see their success and I love to see their joy when they reach a goal.
“There are definitely challenging days – especially over the last few years – but overall, their success makes up for it all.”
Among the role models who sparked her interest in teaching were Jane Fisk, her sixth-grade history teacher, Marcia Carlier, her middle school P.E. teacher, and Seal.
“I remember one day in Mrs. Fisk’s class we were discussing the history of Mahomet and she was showing us pictures of what it used to look like and I was fascinated with it,” Donley Free said. “Then in high school, Coach Seal taught world geography, psychology and sociology, and these all interested me. He made it fun and relatable.”
Donley Free recently had the chance to talk to Hicks about her upcoming Hall of Fame inductions.
“He told me I was the only one on the team who didn’t listen when he said, ‘you will not meet the love of your life at DACC,’” she said, “and then he said he was glad that I didn’t listen.”
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