Former Bethel coach Lightfoot among Indiana HOF honorees

A number of athletes with area ties will be inducted into the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame this spring.

Former Bethel coach and LaVille High grad Mike Lightfoot is among the men's star-studded selections. Lightfoot will receive the Silver Medal Award for contributions to Indiana basketball other than as an Indiana high school player or high school coach.

Former South Bend Washington star Charmonique Stallworth and two former Notre Dame women's stars Ruth Riley Hunter and Sheila (McMillen) Keller are among the women's inductees.

Former Penn star Drew Lutz fitting right in at Bethel

South Bend stars Lincoln Glass, Steve Reynolds part of Indiana HOF Silver Anniversary team

The complete men's list includes former Marion star James Blackmon Sr., Terre Haute South and Indiana standout Brian Evans, Lawrence North and North Carolina star Eric Montross and Zionsville standout and former Butler and Boston Celtics coach Brad Stevens, Richard Butt of Huntington, Henry Chapman of Fort Wayne North Side, Joe DeVoe of Park School, Henry Ebershoff of Lafayette Central Catholic, Oscar Evans of Shortridge, Darrin Fitzgerald of Indianapolis Washington, Dennis Goins of Rushville, Ken Gunning of Shelbyville, Jack Hogan of Broad Ripple, Kirk Manns of North Judson, Drake Morris of East Chicago Washington, Jim Oler of Economy and Phil Snodgress of Kennard.

The men's 61st induction class will be honored at a ceremony on March 22. The women's 21st induction class will be honored on April 29.

The complete women's list is Kasia (McClendon) Campbell of Gary West Side, Bruce Dockery of Evansville Bosse, Katie Douglas of Perry Meridian, Jennifer (Marlowe) Drudge of Rushville, Diane (Hoereth) Metz of Roncalli, Lisa (Shepherd) Stidham of Richmond, Denise McClanahan of Perry Meridian.

A look area inductees:

Charmonique Stallworth, South Bend Washington (1992)

Stallworth was a senior on the 1992 South Bend Washington team that was the first in school history to win a sectional as she averaged 26.3 points and 10.5 rebounds per game. She was named an Indiana All-Star. Stallworth went on to play at Northern Illinois, where she averaged 23.1 points per game as a senior, ranking second in school history. She is 10^th on the career scoring list with 1,415 points. Stallworth was inducted into the South Bend Washington hall of fame in 2001 and into the Northern Illinois athletics hall of fame in 2015. Stallworth has worked at the Warren Township school district since 2010 as a special education teacher and department chair at Creston Middle School.

Sheila (McMillen) Keller, Rochester (1995)

Keller averaged 28.2 points as a senior and was named an Indiana All-Star and a Parade All-American. She holds the all-time scoring record at Rochester with 1,696 career points. After her high school career, she went to Notre Dame and was named team captain, MVP and the winner of the Francis Patrick O’Connor Award for the best display of total embodiment and inspiration to the team. She is the varsity assistant at Carmel High School and holds a black belt in taekwondo.

Ruth (Riley) Hunter, North Miami (1997)

Hunter was named first-team all-state after leading North Miami to a 20-1 record as a senior and setting records for rebounds per game, season and career, blocks in a season and career and points per game in a season and career. She then went to Notre Dame, where she was the three-time Big East Conference defensive player of the year. Notre Dame won the national championship her senior season as Hunter averaged 18.7 points per game and was named National Player of the Year. She was the fifth pick overall of the WNBA draft and was named MVP of the 2003 WNBA Finals. She led the Detroit Shock to the WNBA championship in 2003 and 2006. She was the radio and TV analyst for Notre Dame women’s basketball and has been a TV/radio analyst for the Miami Heat and ACC Network. Hunter was inducted into the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame in 2019.

Mike Lightfoot, LaVille

Lightfoot, a 1974 LaVille graduate, is the recipient of the 2023 Silver Medal Award for contributions to Indiana basketball other than as an Indiana high school player or high school coach. He led Bethel University as coach from 1987-2017, leading the Pilots to 794 wins and three NAIA national championships and four NCCAA national championships. Lightfoot coached the Pilots to 36 all-time No. 1 rankings, the most in NAIA Division III history. He was an all-state player at LaVille and played at Bethel for Homer Drew. He coached at Mishawaka Marian from 1978-87

Kirk Manns, North Judson

Manns, a 1986 North Judson graduate, averaged 34.2 points and 9.4 rebounds as a senior on a team that finished 18-6. He was all-state in basketball and football, scoring 1,962 career points. He was an Indiana All-Star and runner-up for Mr. Basketball. Manns went on to score 1,212 career points at Michigan State, where he scored a career-high 40 points against Purdue. He is currently the athletic director at Seymour High School.

This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame inductees announced