The Winamac Athletic Department welcomed the community to attend the game to honor and congratulate the Winamac Athletic Hall of Fame Class of 2024.

Inductees for the Class of 2024 are:

Jordan Burton

Mr. Jordan Burton (Posthumous): Jordan participated in soccer for three years in high school, and was instrumental to the Winamac High School Soccer Team. He worked hard to promote the team and played his heart out each time he stepped on the pitch. Sadly, Jordan lost his life his junior year in high school in a tragic car accident. Jordan’s goal was to remain in Winamac as a mathematics teacher and to coach high school soccer as an adult.

The Jordan Burton Captain’s Award was established in his honor and is given to a player who demonstrates a love and passion for the game and who shows commitment and tenacity for soccer, and who shows leadership to other players on the pitch and off.

Accepting his Hall of Fame plaque to be placed in the Hall of Fame case will be Jordan’s sisters, Erin Rawls and Dawn Taylor.

Michelle Wegner Miller

Mrs. Michelle (Wegner) Miller: Michelle was a three-sport athlete while attending Winamac Community High School where she lettered in Cross Country (4), Basketball (4), and Softball (4). Michelle is a 1999 Winamac graduate. In cross-country Michelle was a four-time team conference champion, two-time semi-state qualifier, two-time most improved runner and three-time all-conference selection. In basketball, Michelle was a three-time conference champion, one-time sectional champion, most improved player her sophomore year, highest free throw percentage her junior year, MVP her senior year, All-Loganland her senior year, and a three-time all-conference selection. In softball, Michelle had the highest batting average and was Miss Hustle her junior year, highest batting average and MVP her senior year, All-Loganland her senior year, and was a three-time all-conference selection. In total, Michelle was a seven-time conference champion, one-time sectional champion, two-time semi-state qualifier, nine-time all-conference, and two-time All-Loganland. Michelle was also the 1999 Athlete of the Year.

Michelle’s fondest memory of playing at Winamac was being around her cross-country teammates. “We always found a way to have a good time.” Some other athletic highlights included the night she hit six out of seven 3’s at West Central and “completely packing our gym when it was a No. 1 vs. No. 3 match up against North Judson.” She added “I was really blessed to play for three pillars of the Winamac girls athletic program in Kevin Whiteman (cross-country), Jim Swaney (basketball), and Ronnie Nies (softball). All three of these coaches invested so much time and effort into building winning programs. I also played with girls who bought into the “we before me” aspect of sports competitions. My success is very much attributed to my coaches, my teammates, and my parents.”

Michelle played college basketball at Saint Joseph’s College until a knee injury her senior season. She was a three-time member of the Great Lakes Valley Conference all-academic team and a two-time GLVC player of the week. Michelle held records at one time for highest free throw percentage in a season and career. She also held the record for highest 3pt percentage in a season and career at SJC.

Michelle now resides in Winamac with her husband Paul, and she also has three children (Anna, Hunter and Addyson). She teaches chemistry at Twin Lakes High School.

1932 Winamac High School State Runner-Up Basketball Team Front l-r: Merrill Wilson, Lester Stout, Harry Pearson and Charles Miller; Back l-r: Coach Earl D. Roudebush, Lewis Hood, Charles Holmes, Howard Reder, Carl Shank, Henry Kopkey, Marvin Stout and Principal Herman Stalker.

1932 Boys Basketball Team: “One game short of being the inspiration for ‘Hoosiers’”

The 1932 Winamac Indians Boys Basketball team is the first team inducted into the Winamac Athletic Hall of Fame. The 1932 State Runner-Up team was coached by Indiana Basketball Hall of Famer Earl D. Roudebush. The Indians went on to have a 17-4 regular season and ended the season with a record of 26-5.

Winamac won the North Judson Sectional (beating North Judson for the championship 35-12), Mishawaka Regional (beating Rochester in the championship 23-12), and then beating Bluffton (48-30), Lebanon (34-31), Evansville Bosse (27-23) in the state tournament, before losing in the championship game to New Castle in the “New Butler Fieldhouse” (17-24). Winamac scored 126 points in the 1932 tournament which broke Frankfort’s record of 122 set in 1929.

In the state championship game “Winamac led 6-4 after the firstst period, and only trailed 15-11 at halftime, but the Trojans held a 20-16 advantage in the fourth quarter and with no 10-second clock, basically stalled out the remainder of the game for the win.

Box Score:
New Castle 4, 11, 5, 4 – 24
Winamac 6, 4, 4, 3 - 17

Starters for the Indians included Lester Stout, Howard Reder, Monty Stout, Lewis Hood, and Hank Kopkey. Coming off the bench for the Indians were Charles Miller, Carl Shank, Harry Pearson, Charles Holmes, and Merrill Wilson. The height of the team ranged from 6’3 to 5’9, weight ranged from 164 to 128 pounds, and the leading scorer (Lester Stout) scored 236 points on the season.