Carthage College Athletics

Once he drove around Lake Michigan in 1968 from Pontiac, Mich., to Kenosha, Wis., Craig Deaton has only left town briefly and has never left Carthage College.

Deaton lettered four times in football from 1968 to 1971. He was named an NAIA honorable mention All-America quarterback in 1971, as well as the CCIW’s Art Keller “Most Outstanding Offensive Player. He was also a four-year baseball letterwinner and a first-team All-CCIW infielder in 1971.

After graduating from Carthage in 1972, Deaton earned his master's from Western Illinois University and went on to found the Gateway Mortgage Company in Kenosha in 1983. He remains the president of that firm while serving on a variety of local boards and committees, including the Carthage Board of Trustees and Carthage's Redman/Lady Reds Golf Outing committee.