Remembering Indiana’s Lost Basketball Legacies
Indiana once boasted 337 teams that competed for the Indiana High School Athletic Association’s basketball crown. Of those, 19 titles were captured by schools that have since shut their doors, merging into other districts or disappearing entirely. Though the institutions are gone, the memories of those triumphs remain vivid in the towns where they were born.
The list reads like a roll call of Indiana’s basketball heritage: Wingate, which claimed back‑to‑back titles in 1913 and 1914; Thorntown in 1915; Hammond Technical in 1940; Fort Wayne Central in 1943; South Bend Central in 1953 and 1957; East Chicago Washington in 1960 and 1971; Michigan City Elston in 1966; Gary Roosevelt in 1968 and 1991; East Chicago Roosevelt in 1970 and 1977, 1979; South Bend Clay in 1994; Muncie Southside in 2001; Harding in 2001; East Chicago Roosevelt again in 1977 and 1979; and Fort Wayne Elmhurst in 2009. Each of these schools produced star players whose names still surface in local lore.
Voices from the Past
Tom DeBaets, who led the South Bend Clay boys program before it closed in 2024, spoke of the bittersweet removal of memorabilia that had hung in the gym for decades. “It’s sad to see the trophies packed away,” he said, “but the pride of those players lives on in the stories we tell.” Rick Baumgartner, former Muncie Southside coach, added that the 2001 championship brought the community together in a way few events can, a feeling that still resonates among alumni.
The consolidation of these schools into larger districts has not erased their influence. Former players, many of whose names appear in the extensive roster of alumni — Forest Crane, Homer Stonebraker, Alf Smith, Stanley Shimala, Murray Mendenhall Jr., Robert VanRyn Sr., Jack Quiggle, Jack Wiltrout, John Coalman, Lee McKnight, Sylvester Coalman, Herb Lee, Phillip D. Dawkins Sr., Jim Bakos, Bob Cantrell, Jim Cadwell, O’Neil Simmons, Terry Morse, Aaron Smith, James Nelson, Jim Bradley, John Davis, Jim Rossi, Cavanaugh Gary, Pete Trgovich Jr., Tim Stoddard, Glenn Robinson, Carlos Floyd, Bryce Drew, Jaraan Cornell, Charles Bonds, Lee Nailon, Chad Hudnall, Brice Jones, Dustin Furney, Brian Bell, Ryan Baumgartner, Trai Essex, David Tubbs, J.T. Langston, LaTauyna Pollard, Kimberly Jackson, Rosie Lewis and Liza Clemons — continue to reference their state‑championship experiences in interviews, school reunions and local media. Their stories illustrate how a single title can shape a generation’s identity.
The project is part of a broader initiative by USA Today Co. to preserve the history of Indiana high school basketball, enlisting journalists, archivists and community members to piece together a narrative that bridges past and present. As the state’s basketball landscape evolves, the legacies of these defunct schools remind us that championships are more than trophies; they are the heartbeat of the towns that cheered them.