Connections tie Monroe County Sports Hall of Fame Class of 2024 together

Other than a Friday night or two, Eric Moore has hardly set foot in Monroe County in the past 40 years.

But as the long-time Center Grove football coach gave his induction speech at the Monroe County Sports Hall of Fame ceremony on July 19, he found himself fitting like a glove with the other nine inductees — and most everyone else in attendance at the Monroe Convention Center as well.

“What an honor to go in (the Hall of Fame) with two people who shared so much of my life,” the 1979 Edgewood grad said.

Those two people were the late Garry Anderson, the former Mustang wrestling and track coach who was represented by his wife, Donna, and his son, Paul, and Bill Atkinson, the longtime Edgewood girls’ basketball coach who also coached track, junior high wrestling and was a varsity football assistant.

“Coach Anderson was the toughest person I ever met in my life,” Moore said. “And he was an even better teacher. Back in the day when you were late, he would politely hit you with a two-by-four paddle. I’d say Garry Anderson hit me about 17 times with that paddle, helping me and a lot of great athletes learn to be on time.

“Bill was a sixth-grade teacher as I grew up. He had been a safety at IU, so I dreamed of being Bill. He was a role model and a hero of mine. I even got to coach one year with him when I was a volunteer assistant.”

And so it seemed to go with Moore playing that old game of six degrees of separation, minus Kevin Bacon, with everyone on hand.

Anderson and Atkinson connected Moore to fellow 2024 inductee Greg Granger, a baseball standout at Edgewood.

Moore was escorted by Hall of Fame member George Fielding, who coached Bloomington North to its first two boys’ basketball sectional championships, laying the groundwork for the outstanding teams of coach Tom McKinney. McKinney would win the last open-class Indiana state title with the help of 2024 inductee Djibril Kante.

He shouted out 1960 wrestling gold medalist Shelby Wilson, the longtime Bloomington resident in attendance, noting that he has a poster of Wilson on the wall of his office courtesy of former IU wrestler, wrestling coach and gold medalist Doug Blubaugh, who coached 2024 inductee Mike Mossbrucker.

Moore mentioned Wayne Nichols, who figured prominently in several speeches, most notably that of Sara Fields Hamidovic, the former Bloomington North thrower who now helps coach the Cougars and Hall of Fame Scholar-Athlete Hadley Lucas, who along with fellow Scholar-Athlete recipient Annalise Coyne, was in attendance.

“Lee Corso is the most entertaining person I’ve ever been around, and Bill Mallory was like a second father to me,” said Moore.

As a result, the former Hoosier had ties to Mark Deal, who recalled his first tape job as an IU player coming courtesy of 2024 class member David Grossman, who retired after a 50-year career as the athletic trainer at Bloomington South, the alma mater of 2024 inductee Jordan Hulls and board member Grier Warner.

Speaking of Warner, 2024 inductee Greg Easton helped Warner as an assistant coach at South, completing those six degrees or less for every member of the class.

The sold-out banquet of more than 270 people enthusiastically welcomed the 14th class of inductees, bringing the Monroe County Sports Hall of Fame membership to 147 members across 17 sports.

This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: Connections tie latest Monroe Co. Sports Hall of Fame class together