Glory Days: Catching up with the Legends of Indiana High School Basketball

This review of the greatest basketball players the Hoosier State has ever produced includes profiles of Rick Mount, the first high school athlete in a team sport to make the cover of "Sports Illustrated," and other notable players and coaches. Photo insert.

Dick Denny, a graduate from Richmond High School (Indiana), was a catcher on Duke University’s 1952 Blue Devils’ baseball team that went to the College World Series and earned all-intramural basketball recognition. He earned a degree in journalism, and, after serving in the military, continued his studies in Northwestern’s graduate school. He left after his first semester to pursue his career. His first job in journalism was reporting for the Muncie Star (Indiana) during the 1956 state high school basketball tournament. Following stints at the Star, the Fort Wayne Journal-Gazette (Indiana), and the Chicago Tribune; Denny joined the Indianapolis News and wrote about high school sports—particularly basketball—in his Sports Den column. Denny also covered college and professional basketball, as well as hockey, tennis, and bowling in his 33 years with the News. When the News folded, he went to work for the Indianapolis Star. He retired in 1997.

Denny has won four first-place awards in national bowling competitions, and has written a book with Indianapolis’ Mike Aulby, a former professional bowler who won 27 PBA titles. A widower, Denny now spends time with his four children—Chris, Sean, Tim, and Shannon—and eight grandchildren.