Howard Sharpe

Wabash Valley profiles : a series of tributes to hometown people and events that have shaped our history

Description:	One typed page including photograph; biography of Howard Sharpe, Indianas all-time winningest high school basketball coach. ABASH VALLEY WP R O F I L E SA series of tributes to hometown people and events that have shaped our history.Howard SharpeOn the evening of April 21, during ceremonies at the Chauncey Rose Middle School gymnasium, a man who gave 47 years to a career in coaching will be giving again. Howard Lee Sharpe will place memorabilia he amassed during his celebrated career on permanent display at the site of some of his greatest successes: the former home court of the Gerstmeyer Tech Black Cats. The public is invited to attend. In a state long recognized for its passion for basketball, Sharpe is a living legend. Now 85 years old, Sharpe dedicated his life to education and athletics, continuing to coach until he became Indianas all-time winningest high school basketball coach. He made several stops along the way: Clinton Township in La Porte County, Monon, Honey Creek, Gerstmeyer, North Vigo and North Knox. For 40 years (19431982), he coached in Vigo County, his permanent home for the last 58 years. Four times in five years (1953, 1954, 1956 and 1957), Sharpe-coached Gerstmeyer teams reached the elite Final Four in the one-class Indiana high school basketball tournament. The 1953 Black Cats lost a controversial final game to South Bend Central, 42-41. Few coaches have earned more honors. In 1971 Howard was inducted into the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame and, for many years thereafter, served on its board of directors. In 1975 he was selected National High School Coach of the Year by the National High School Basketball Coaches Association. A past president of the Indiana High School Basketball Coaches Association, Sharpie has lectured at more than 1300 clinics and has invented and marketed several devices to perfect basketball skills. The list of notable players, coaches and other successful students impacted by his teachings is extensive. Several of his pupils are expected to attend the April 21 festivities to honor their revered mentor and his dedicated wife Frances. Sharpe also coached baseball at Gerstmeyer, securing 14 Western Indiana Conference titles and earning induction into the Indiana Baseball Hall of Fame in 1989. For more than three decades, he devoted summers to Terre Haute youth baseball and established the first tee-ball program. Born in Vincennes on Jan. 5, 1916, the son of Stanley and Pearl Sharpe resided in Terre Haute until he was eight years old. After the family moved to Gary, Howard earned 10 athletic letters at Lew Wallace High School, graduating in 1934. Classmates correctly predicted that he was the most likely to succeed in physical education and athletics. On March 13, 1936, Sharpe hitchhiked to Terre Haute to enroll at Indiana State Teachers College. Though barely 5-foot-9, Howard was a mainstay on the hardwood for coaches Wally Marks and Glenn Curtis and on the baseball diamond for Coach Paul Wolf before earning a degree in 1940. On July 19, 1940, he took time out to wed his college sweetheart, Frances Sampson. He earned a masters degree from Indiana State in 1951. Soon to celebrate their 60th wedding anniversary, the Sharpes are parents of children Judith Ann and Thomas Lee and now proudly boast three grandchildren and one step-grandchild. In recognition of his remarkable achievements, Sharpe was enshrined by the ISU Athletics Hall of Fame in 1998. The following year, he was feted as a distinguished alumnus by his college alma mater.TERRE HAUTE(812) 238-6000NATIONAL BANKAlways Close to HomeDate published: April 12, 2001Filename: Sharpe, Howard profile
Origin:	2001-04-11
Created By:	McCormick, Mike
Publisher:	Terre Haute Tribune-Star
Source:	http://indianamemory.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/vchs/id/584
Collection:	Vigo County Historical Society
Rights:	http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/UND/1.0/
Copyright:	Copyright Undetermined
Subjects:	Sharpe, Howard Lee, 1916-2005 Coaches (Athletics) Basketball Sports People

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