Indiana Mr. Basketballs

Written by: Bill Murphy (@Williamindiana2)

Bloomington South 's Anthony Leal became the 2020 Indiana Mr. Basketball.  The history of the award goes back to 1939 when Franklin's George Crowe became the first Mr. Basketball.  The award is the oldest such honor of it's kind in the nation by over a decade. The next state with such an award was California in 1950.

The school that has benefited the most has been the Indiana Hoosiers who, depending how you look at it, have had either 29 or 30 Mr. Basketballs starting in 1940 with Southport’s Ed Schiebein.

5 foot 9 Ed Schiebein would play for the Hoosiers in 1944-45 - he would play both football and basketball at Indiana.  While playing basketball at IU he played for coach Harry Good who was guiding Indiana while Branch was in WWII. Ed would be inducted into the Indiana High School basketball Hall of Fame in 2011. 

The second Mr. Basketball was from Kokomo and in 1945 Tom Schwartz became a Hoosier.  Tom, like Ed before him, would play both football and basketball for Indiana.  He played in 41 games averaging 4.9 points per contest.  In his sophomore year, he would be selected as second team All-Big Ten.

In 1947, Bill Garrett from Shelbyville came to IU and became the first African American starter in basketball in Big Ten history.  Bill would become an All American and leave Indiana as both Indiana and the Big Ten’s all-time leading scorer. 

Lafayette's Bob Master won the award in 1948 and played at Indiana from 49 to 52 playing in 64 games averaging 6.4 points a game.  Hall of Fame coach Marion Crawley called him the most coachable player he ever had.

In 1953, 6 foot 2 Hallie Bryant came to IU and won a Big Ten title in 1957 averaging 11 points a game. Six years later, Kokomo's Jimmy Rayl, the states leading scorer, walked on to the Bloomington campus and walked off holding the Hoosiers’ single game scoring record of 56 points, which he accomplished not once but twice.

In 1961, Indiana got not one but two Mr. Basketballs in the fabulous twins Tom and Dick VanArsdale. They would leave Indiana as the school's sixth and seventh all-time leading scorers.

In 1969, Big George McGinnis came to Indiana and left as the single season leading scorer of all time.

1970, the Hoosiers would bring in David Shepherd and 1973 Kent Benson from New Castle.  Kent would be an All American in 1976 and 77 and become the #1 draft pick of the NBA. 

In 1977, Ray Tolbert  came to Indiana and would guide the Hoosiers to the national championship in 1981 becoming the Big Ten’s MVP. 

In 1979, brought Washington's Steve Bouchie to IU and in 1983 New Castle again sent Indiana a Mr. Basketball in Steve Alford. Steve would leave Indiana as it's all-time leading scorer and the leader of the 1987 national championship team. 

The 80s would see Indiana receive not only Alford but 4 more Indiana Mr. Basketballs - Delray Brooks, Jay Edward's, Lyndon Jones, and Pat Graham. Edwards, Jones, and Graham each would play on at least one Big Ten championship team. 

1990 brought the Hoosiers boyhood idol Damon Bailey and in 1997 Luke Recker came to Bloomington.  In 1998, Tom Coverdale came and would lead Indiana to a championship game against Maryland.  

Mr. Basketball for 2000 saw Jared Jeffries of Bloomington North and 2004 brought in AJ Ratliff of North Central.  

Another North Central grad Eric Gordon came to Bloomington in 2007 for one outstanding year. In 2009, Bloomington South sent the Hoosiers Jordan Hulls who began to turn the Hoosier’s fortune back around.  In 2011, Washington's Cody Zeller came to Indiana signaling a return to Mr. Basketballs coming back to Bloomington.  

For the last three years coach, Archie Miller has captured Mr. Basketballs in Romeo Langford, Trayce Jackson Davis, and Leal this year as the tradition continues to grow.