Penwell Seymour, Kim

Kim Penwell Seymour was a three-sport All-Stater at Platt High School in Meriden. She was a four-year starter and senior captain of the soccer, softball, and basketball teams. She scored 1,419 points during her basketball career which included averaging 15.8 points and 8.4 rebounds per game, dishing out 201 assists and recording 224 steals. As a senior, Kim was named to the All-USA Team and nominated for Converse’s All-American Team. She was selected the National Student-Athlete in America in 1989 by ESPN’s Scholastic Sports America and graduated 2nd in her class. Kim was an All-Conference player for four years and won the 1989 Class L Virginia Moessmang MVP Award on her State Championship Team. She was also named the 1989 New Haven Register Youth of the Year. Upon graduation, Kim took her talents to Bentley College in Waltham, MA.

Kim’s combination of skills, intelligence, versatility and competitiveness rate her at the top of an elite list of Bentley College players coached by Barbara Stevens. As a 5’9” -ish forward, Kim was a tremendous scorer -- it was incredible to watch her score over players much bigger inside. She had a knack of getting to the free throw line as well. She still holds the Bentley College record for most free throws made and attempted in a season and career. Kim’s 1,548 points currently rank sixth on Bentley’s all-time scoring list; she is 11th on the all-time rebounding list. Kim finished her basketball career averaging 13 points and 5.8 rebounds per game; recorded 343 assists and 277 steals on Bentley teams that won the Northeast-10 Conference Championship all four years. The Falcons compiled an overall record of 125-13 during Kim’s career, including a 71-game consecutive regular season win streak.

According to Bentley Coach Stevens, “Kim was so smart and creative - she knew how to get her shot off against any defender trying to guard her. The other thing that separates her from the rest is her basketball IQ -- she was so aware of what we were trying to do, she understood our system so well, that she could have played all five positions -- and be totally comfortable doing so. There actually was a time during Kim’s junior season when we lost our starting point guard to injury at mid-year and we asked Kim to play a number of positions -- including point guard -- until we could work out a rotation with which we were comfortable. She was unfazed with the change in position and her confidence helped her teammates get through a difficult transition.”

Kim was a two-time Division II Kodak/ WBCA All-American (her sophomore and junior years) and most probably would have had a third honor bestowed during her senior year if she had not missed 16 games with a back injury. Despite that injury, the senior co-captain returned to the court to finish out her career and helped Bentley reach the Division II NCAA Final Four for the fourth time in her career. The 1993 Final Four was held at Bentley College, the last time a Final Four was held on a campus site in Division II. It was a fitting way for a tremendous player to end her career -- on her home floor in front of a standing room only crowd, in the Final Four.

In addition to her All-American honors, Kim won NE-10 Player of the Year, ECAC Div. II North Player of the Year, and New England Div. II Female Athlete of the Year accolades. She was named to the GTE Academic All-American Team (3 yrs.); won the Falcon Club Scholar-Athlete Award (4 yrs.); received Bentley’s prestigious Edward J. Powers Scholar Athlete Award as a senior; and graduated summa cum laude with a 3.8 GPA and a Finance degree. She was a finalist for a Disney Postgraduate Scholarship and was awarded an NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship.

Kim has already been enshrined in the Bentley College Hall of Fame in 1998; the Platt High School Hall of Fame Inaugural class of 1999; the New England Basketball Hall of Fame in 2003; and the Northeast 10 Conference Hall of Fame Inaugural class of 2006. She was also honored in April as the first woman inductee into the Meriden Boys’ Club Hall of Fame.