Martinsville Sports Highlights: Basketball, High Schools, Gyms, and Sports Hall-of-Famers from Martinsville, Indiana

By Curtis H Tomak

This book focuses on selected Martinsville High School (Indiana) basketball teams, former Martinsville high schools, former high school gymnasiums, and Martinsville-associated people who have been inducted into an Indiana sports hall of fame at least at the state level. A great effort was made to provide accurate information based upon interviews and a multitude of official and other appropriate records and sources .

• Language: English
• Publisher: Fideli Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Jul 31, 2020
• ISBN: 9780463770566

Curtis H Tomak

My graduate degrees are in anthropology (majoring in American Indian archaeology) from Indiana University. I have been a professional archaeologist in Indiana for over 50 years, have taught at Indiana University, was the Curator of Collections at the Glenn A. Black Laboratory of Archaeology at Indiana University, and was the principal archaeologist for the Indiana Department of Transportation for more than 30 years. My academic interests are archaeology and history, and I am a published author of research papers.I moved to Martinsville, Indiana over 40 years ago and became interested in local history. One result of my research was the writing of a major article about John Wooden which was published by the Indiana Historical Society in 2012. That article includes a great amount of new information pertaining to Wooden that had not been published before (Tomak, Stuttgen, and Tomak 2012). Subsequently, another article of mine about Wooden was published by the Indiana High School Basketball Historical Society (Tomak 2015). In addition, I coauthored a book about Morgan County history as illustrated by postcards (Stuttgen and Tomak 2007) and coauthored another such book devoted to Martinsville (Stuttgen and Tomak 2008).

Book preview

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements

Introduction

Martinsville Basketball Teams, High Schools, and Gymnasiums

1901 High School

1910-1911 Boys Team

1913-1914 High School

1913-1914 Gymnasium

1914-1915 Boys Team

1918-1919 Girls Team

1919-1920 Boys Team

1923 Addition to the 1913-1914 High School Building

1924 Gymnasium (Glenn M. Curtis Memorial Gymnasium)

1924 Newspaper Article about the Dedication of the 1924 Gymnasium

1924 Gymnasium Dedication Game

1924 Boys State Championship Team

1927 Boys State Championship Team

1927 Boys State Championship Team Starting Five

1920s Cheerleaders

1929-1930 Boys Team

1933 Boys State Championship Team

1937-1938 Boys Team

1970s Interior of the Glenn M. Curtis Memorial Gymnasium

1974 Boys Sectional Championship Celebration

1974-1975 Boys Team

1997 Girls State Championship Team

1998 Girls State Championship Team

Sports Hall of Fame Members

Sam Alford

Bryan Bailey

Thomas Tom Bowman

Vincent Vince Burpo

Julie Carmichael

Samuel Sam Carmichael

Janet Jan Conner

Claude Curtis

Glenn Curtis

David Dave Errett and Family

Devere Fair

Marshall Goss

Jennifer Jenny Gray

Leigh Anne Hardin

John Koontz

Dale Morey

Myron Mo Moriarity

Sharon Most

Richard Dick L. Neal, Sr., and Family

Melvin Mel Payton

Lester Reynolds

Jerry Sichting

William Bill Siderewicz

Arnold Sally Suddith

William Bill Tutterow

Mark Wildman

John Wooden

Cecil Zeke Young

Mark James (elected but not yet inducted)

Acknowledgements

I did not do this book alone. I am indebted to the many people who provided pictures, information, leads, ideas, discussion, and/or opportunities, and I extend my appreciation and gratitude to them. In that regard, I sincerely thank Sam Alford, Bryan Bailey, Phil Bass, Eric Bowlen (John R. Wooden Middle School, Martinsville), Tom Bowman, Jim Brunnemer, Vince Burpo, Julie Carmichael, Sam Carmichael, Jan Conner, Dave Errett, Zach Errett, Devere Fair, Ron Gill, Marshall Goss (Indiana Track & Field and Cross Country Hall of Fame Museum), Jenny Gray, Joyce Hamilton, Richard Hamilton, Leigh Anne Hardin, Tim Horning (University of Pennsylvania), Mark James, Andy Kocher (University of Indianapolis), Fred Kutruff (John R. Wooden Middle School, Martinsville), Stan Labertew, Krista Ledbetter (Morgan County Public Library), Amanda Linthicum (John R. Wooden Middle School, Martinsville), Don Lipps (Martinsville High School), Barry Maxwell, Jennifer McKinley (Morgan County Public Library), Jayne Mertz (John R. Wooden Middle School, Martinsville), Michele Moore (Metropolitan School District of Martinsville), Doug Morey, Mo Moriarity, Sharon Most, Richard Dick L. Neal, Sr., Lisa O’Neal (John R. Wooden Middle School, Martinsville), Doug Pearcy, Barbara Poe, Rich Reasoner, Julie Reed (DePauw University), Elmer Reynolds, Jay Sadler, Steve Sadler, Scott Schwarz (Indiana High School Wrestling Coaches Association), Harley Sheets, John Sherman (Indiana State University), Cindy Sherwood, Jerry Sichting, Bill Siderewicz, Nancy (Suddith) Sloan, Sam Sloan, Kip Staggs (Martinsville High School), Joanne Stuttgen, Jim Thomas, Phyllis Tubbs (Indiana Coaches of Girls Sports Association), Sharon Tutterow, Natalie (Rhoden) Urban, Carl Wagner (Martinsville High School), Kim (Neal) Weaver, Mark Wildman, Taylor Zartman (DePauw University), and Brenda Zody.

I am also very appreciative and grateful to Robin Surface of Fideli Publishing, Inc./API Print Productions for her expertise, advice, and guidance during the publication of this book.

My wife, Norma, deserves much recognition for the many contributions she made to this book. Among them are discussing various aspects of the undertaking, providing ideas, and assisting with editing and proofreading.

Introduction

My graduate degrees are in anthropology (majoring in American Indian archaeology) from Indiana University. I have been a professional archaeologist in Indiana for over 50 years, have taught at Indiana University, was the Curator of Collections at the Glenn A. Black Laboratory of Archaeology at Indiana University, and was the principal archaeologist for the Indiana Department of Transportation for more than 30 years. My academic interests are archaeology and history, and I am a published author of research papers.

I moved to Martinsville over 40 years ago and became interested in local history. One result of my research was the writing of a major article about John Wooden which was published by the Indiana Historical Society in 2012. That article includes a great amount of new information pertaining to Wooden that had not been published before (Tomak, Stuttgen, and Tomak 2012). Subsequently, another article of mine about Wooden was published by the Indiana High School Basketball Historical Society (Tomak 2015). In addition, I coauthored a book about Morgan County history as illustrated by postcards (Stuttgen and Tomak 2007) and coauthored another such book devoted to Martinsville (Stuttgen and Tomak 2008).

This book results from my long-term research interests and from more recent events and circumstances. It focuses on selected Martinsville High School basketball teams, former Martinsville high schools, former high school gymnasiums, and people who meet particular criteria. It is written as a series of narratives accompanied by pictures. In pursuing research for this book, decisions had to be made regarding what and who to include in it, and various considerations were involved in the selection, limitation, and treatment of the contents. There were practical considerations, and choices needed to be made.

In order to have a featured narrative in this book, a person must have been inducted into an Indiana sports hall of fame at least at the state level (for example, the Indiana Football Hall of Fame) and also must have had sufficiently close ties to Martinsville. Although it is usually easy enough to determine whether or not a person is closely enough associated with Martinsville, sometimes it can be a difficult decision.

This book