Mahomet-Seymour Alumni Association

11/17/2025

Bulldog Alumni — We need your help! 🐾

We’re updating our Mahomet-Seymour alumni records so we can stay connected, share important updates related to your class, and keep you in the loop on future alumni events.

If you’re an alum, please take a minute to fill out this quick district form. It helps us make sure we have the right contact information.

Feel free to share this form in any class Facebook groups you’re part of. Your help keeps our Bulldog community strong! 💙🧡

Thank you!

Form here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1cvyP0JO0s2B-L0ZuG8mcSxtWvsLmiMmuauaVS0qmpvU/edit

09/17/2021

09/13/2021

Join us before the Homecoming football game on Friday at 6:30pm to celebrate the 2020 (in 2021) inductees to the Mahomet-Seymour Hall of Fame!

Our first inductee is Fred Kroner for Lifetime Achievement. Fred Kroner has been a resident of Mahomet for nearly all his life and graduated from Mahomet-Seymour High School in 1973. Fred went on to have a highly respected, award winning career in sports journalism, covering more than five decades. His work ethic, attention to detail and interest in people is what has set him apart from the rest of the crowd.

Fred’s career in sports journalism started in 1968 when he was a student attending MSJH. Fred wrote sports articles for the weekly Mahomet Sucker State and continued until his high school graduation. Fred continued to develop his journalistic talents from 1974-1978 when he wrote for the C-U Morning Courier while attending the University of Illinois in communications. After graduation, Fred was hired by The Bloomington Daily Pantagraph newspaper, where he wrote from 1978-81. Then from 1981-2015, Fred relocated back to Mahomet and wrote for the Champaign-Urbana News-Gazette. His area of coverage included 50 high schools including Mahomet-Seymour. From 1994 to 2014, Fred was one of eight media members selected by the Chicago Bears to pick a weekly High School Coach of the Week in football. For 20 years, he was a member of The Associated Press panel that voted for the weekly state rankings for football and boys’ and girls’ basketball.

During this period of time, Fred’s excellence in sports journalism garnered him numerous awards and recognitions:
--In 1984, Fred was nominated for the prestigious Pulitzer Prize.
--In 1984, 1988, 2000 and 2009, Fred was chosen as the winner of the Newsman of the Year award for the entire state by the Illinois Wrestling Coaches and Officials Association, and was the first person to win this award four times.
--In 2001, Fred was chosen as the state of Illinois recipient of Sportswriter of the Year by the National Sportscasters Association.
--In 2008, Fred was chosen by the Illinois Coaches Association as Softball Writer of the Year for the entire state of Illinois.
--In 2009, Fred was inducted into the Illinois Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Fame.
--In 2015, Fred won the Distinguished Media Award, presented annually by the Illinois High School Association to a journalist from the state of Illinois.
--Fred will be inducted into this year’s 2021 IWCOA Hall of Fame.

Fred is the proud father of Mahomet-Seymour graduate Devin Kroner and the son of Mahomet-Seymour Hall of Famer James Kroner. Today, Fred spends his days helping his wife Emily, owner of Lucky Moon Pies & More in Mahomet. He also writes for the Mahomet Daily and the SJO Daily.

Let us congratulate Fred! Thank you for reading about our 2020 inductees. View previous Hall of Fame inductees and make a nomination for next years Hall of Fame class at www.msalumni.weebly.com

09/26/2018

Congratulations to Coach Frank Dutton on induction into the M-S Hall of Fame! Celebrate Coach Dutton and our other 2018 inductees on Friday before the Homecoming Football game!

2018 Homecoming spirit week has begun and we hope you will join us in the fun! Tomorrow night will be the Homecoming parade beginning at 5:30 following the typical parade route. Look for the float of 2018 Hall of Fame nominees! Friday night we will be honoring our 2018 Hall of Fame inductees on Frank Dutton Field before the Homecoming football game. You won't want to miss!

Last, but certainly not least, we highlight Frank Dutton as one of this year's Hall of Fame inductees.

Frank started his high school athletic career in Homer, Illinois. He participated in both football and basketball. After high school, Frank went on to play football at Illinois State University. He lettered as an offensive tackle and went on to be the Illinois Interscholastic Athletic Association All Conference Offensive Tackle.

Frank started his coaching career in 1966 at ISU as a Student Assistant Freshman Football Coach. From 1967-1970, he was a Varsity Assistance Football Coach at Lincolnway High School, where he was also the Assistant Track coach from 1968-1970. Frank also held the same postilions at Wheaton Central High from 1970-1971.

In 1971, Frank was hired at MSHS to coach football and boys Track. He coached football until 1992 and track until 1987. Frank's overall record in football at MSHS was 129-76. His 1977 team won the Class 2A State Championship thus becoming the school's first State Championship team. In 1982 and 1986, his teams made it to the State Semifinals in class 2A Football.

In 1987, his Boys Track Team placed 2nd and his 1980 team was 3rd in the Class A State Championships. Frank's Boys Track Team won 4 sectional titles.

Frank coached 3 athletes that went on tho play Big Ten Scholarship Football and 8 NCAA Division 1AA scholarship players.

On April 9th, 1994 Frank was inducted into the IHAFCA's Football Coaches Hall of Fame.

Frank still lives in Mahomet with his wife, Diane. They have two children, Doug and Beth.

We congratulate you, Frank!

09/24/2018

Read about the amazing story of 2018 M-S Hall of Fame inductee, James Kroner (Class of 1939)

Help us salute this year's Hall of Fame members during the Homecoming parade this Wednesday, September 26th. We hope you will come out for this fun community event.

Tonight we highlight Hall of Fame nominee James Kroner.

James Kroner grew up in the town of Mahomet and graduated from Mahomet High School in 1939. He was the class salutatorian and lettered in Basketball and Track. James went on to study at the University of Illinois and majored in Chemistry. James was the first Mahomet High School graduate to be named to the Bronze Tablet at the University of Illinois.

After graduation, James was recruited by the U.S. Government to begin working on the Manhattan Project at the University of Chicago. He researched and studied Uranium and Plutonium isotopes and developed ways to isolate them so they could be usable. This work was critical in the development of the atomic bomb. James was one of 67 scientists on the Manhattan Project that signed a petition that was sent to President Truman stating concerns about using the bomb and preventing future wars. The rest is history.

In 1946, James left his position with the U.S. Government and worked in other research positions before returning to Mahomet in 1951. The next 30 years, James worked as a grain farmer. He married Naomi Hillman in 1945 and is the father of long time News-Gazette sports writer and Mahomet Seymour graduate, Fred Kroner.

James passed away on June 20th, 2014.

We are honored to have James as one the of the 2018 Hall of Fame recipients.