Illinois Sports Hall of Fame inducts Auburn softball's Kate Malveaux

AUBURN, Ala. –  Surprise doesn’t quite go far enough to describe Auburn softball co-head coach Kate Malveaux’s reaction to being inducted into the Illinois Sports Hall of Fame.

“I was totally shocked,” Malveaux said. “I can’t believe that’s something they’re willing to do. Usually that comes to people later in their careers. Shock at first, then complete humility.”

One of the newer state halls of fame, Illinois is inducting Malveaux in the Class of 2026, its third class. Its inaugural 2024 class included two-time Olympic gold medalist Dot Richardson, who hit the first home run in Olympic softball history, along with Michael Jordan, Walter Payton and Ernie Banks.

“Super humbling,” Malveaux said of her inclusion among such a storied group. “At first, I was thinking I don’t even know if they’ve got the right person. It was super humbling to know they thought the things Chris and I have been able to do throughout our career, along with my playing career, were noteworthy of being in the hall of fame.”

Born Kate Singler in Springfield, Illinois, Malveaux grew up in Witt, Illinois, where she was a three-sport athlete at Nokomis High School before playing softball at Heartland Community College and Bradley University.

“Getting to play high school, JUCO ball and my Division I career there were all special,” she said. “It was really fun. The world of softball we’re in now was not the world of softball I grew up in.”

Showcases and national tournaments were not part of her upbringing in rural Illinois.

“I was raising cattle and grew up on a farm and missed all of that,” she said. “Super lucky that I got the opportunities I did.”

At Heartland Community College, Malveaux made history.

“A brand new program, inaugural season,” she said. “In our second season, we won a national championship.”

Out of necessity, almost everybody played every inning of every game.

“We had only about 10 or 11 girls to do it,” she said. “Got a lot of really great experience and learned what hard work meant in a softball career. It springboarded and showed me a different love of the game and what really committing to it meant.

“That put me on track for the rest of our career, and we haven’t looked back since.”

After winning a junior college national championship, Malveaux transferred to Bradley in Peoria, Illinois.

“That created opportunities where people saw me play there to create the graduate assistant opportunities that I took,” said Malveaux, who earned a master’s degree as a GA at New Mexico State, coached at Louisiana and worked in operations at Missouri, then spent three seasons as an assistant coach at Tennessee prior to coming to the Plains in June 2024 as co-head coach with her husband, Chris Malveaux.

When the induction dinner takes play July 25 in Springfield, Kate Malveaux will be 2,000 miles west at the Premier Girls Fastpitch national championships in Southern California.

“It would be great to be able to be there for the event but we’re building a program,” she said. “We’ve got to find the recruits who are going to make Auburn great.”

Embarking on their third season at Auburn, the Malveauxs look to build on the momentum created by reaching the SEC Tournament quarterfinals this spring.

“We had a senior-heavy loaded first year,” Malveaux said. “Then we had a very young team, in terms of experience, last year. We’re super excited that a core piece of that group comes back with grittiness and a hunger to go get after it again.

“This is our first true recruiting class of freshmen coming in. Our young group is fiery as all get out. They’re having great summers. We’ve been able to go watch them and we can’t wait for what they’re going to come here and do because they play our style of ball.”

Auburn strengthened in the circle, adding freshmen and transfers.

“We definitely bulked up in the pitching staff with people who have gotten experience, specifically in the portal,” she said. “We returned Ella Harrison, who had a great season last year, and Charley Butler, who picked up innings down the stretch and made a great run for us.

“Our staff’s reputation is carrying itself. People saw what we did in the conference tournament and said, ‘That’s what Auburn softball is.’”

Honored to be a hall of famer in her home state, Kate Malveaux looks back with gratitude and looks ahead with enthusiasm, trusting that Auburn’s recruiting efforts will yield more magic at Jane B. Moore Field.

“Definitely in the living rooms of the people who we need to be in,” she said. “We’ll start recruiting the class of 2028 in September with them visiting campus. Super excited about that.”