IBCA E-Newsletter

2016 Virgil Sweet Distinguished Service Awards

Each year the IBCA Board of Directors selects individuals from each of the three IBCA Districts to receive the Virgil Sweet Distinguished Service Award. The award, named in honor of the longtime former Executive Director of the IBCA, is given to individuals who have provided meritorious service in the promotion of basketball in the state of Indiana.

John Dillman

District 1

John Dillman long has had a great passion for basketball, although he never got the opportunity to play while a student at Peru High School as he started working in the family furniture business at the age of 13.

But his passion for the game prompted him to co-found Super Hoops Basketball in 1997.

Super Hoops was formed as an outlet for school teams to play other all-schools teams, starting out as weekend tournaments for fifth-, sixth-, seventh- and eighth-grade boys’ teams. The tournaments played at four Indiana regional sites, and the top three from each regional played at Hinkle Fieldhouse for a state championship. These teams had to be all-school teams; all players had to feed in to the same school system.

Team camps soon followed for seventh grade, eighth grade, ninth grade, junior varsity and varsity teams. Today, Super Hoops Basketball Team Camps are three days on the campus of Indiana Wesleyan University in Marion.

Dillman and his wife, Colette, have owned and operated Dillman’s Furniture & Mattress in Muncie for the past 15 years. They have two children – Sarah and Ryan.

Jerry Hoover

District 1

Jerry Hoover is the founding director of D-One Basketball Camps, one of the longest-running team camps in the state. Annual enrollment has grown from 80 campers to more 3,500 over the years, making D-One Basketball one of the largest independent basketball organizations in the Midwest. Sessions are now regularly held at multiple sites across Indiana and surrounding states.

Hoover is well known in basketball circles throughout Indiana. He walked on and played for the Purdue Boilermakers during the 1950s, playing on the freshman team for Ward “Piggy” Lambert and on the varsity for Ray Eddy.

After a stint in farming (he completed his bachelor’s degree in agricultural economics), he returned to Purdue to earn his teaching certificate, setting his eye on a career as a teacher and basketball coach. Hoover coached on the high school and college levels for more than 45 years, and his final team – the 2013-14 Logansport girls – finished in the final four of the IHSAA Class 4A state tournament.

Hoover is best known for taking over struggling basketball programs, where he has a very strong track record of establishing feeder programs in the elementary and middle schools, emphasizing the teaching of basketball fundamentals that lead to sustained program success. Hoover is the only coach in Indiana high school history to turn eight losing programs into winning programs. These include both boys’ and girls’ programs, and the schools include Ben Davis, Lake Central, North Judson, Salem and Logansport.

Hoover also coached many outstanding high school players in his career with his players earning more than $6 million in college scholarships. He is one of few coaches to guide players who have been selected for both boys’ and girls’ Indiana All-Star teams, including standouts such as Randy Wittman at Ben Davis and 2014 Miss Basketball Whitney Jennings of Logansport.

In 11 seasons with the Logansport girls, the Lady Berries went 155-102, his final team going 24-3. He was an IBCA District 1 girls Coach of the Year in 2010.

Hoover spent an additional 14 years as an assistant coach at Indiana State University and Saint Joseph’s College, helping to build basketball programs in the always competitive Missouri Valley and Great Lakes Valley conferences. The seeds were planted for D-One Basketball in these settings, as Hoover was instrumental in developing basketball camps in these college environments.

Hoover also is a retired colonel (Infantry) with 32 years of combined military service. These experiences in organizational leadership are additional keystones of D-One Basketball, which strives to teach fundamental skills with a strong dose of structure so young players have fun learning the game of basketball.

Dan Repass

District 2

Dan Repass has dedicated the last 40-plus years of his life in the sporting goods industry, selling and servicing Indiana and surrounding states with their athletic needs.

Repass graduated from Franklin Central High School in 1975, lettering in basketball, football and track. After high school, he attended Indiana Central (University of Indianapolis), where he graduated in 1979.

Repass started a part-time job in 1973 between sports and school with Em-Roe Sporting Goods. He became an assistant store manager in 1977 while in college. He became a store manager in 1979 and was offered the retail sales manager position in 1982.

He managed the 10 retail stores in the Indianapolis metro area until Em-Roe decided to change its presence in the athletic supply business and devote its attention to team sales. Starting in 1986, he began calling on schools and became a familiar face to ADs and basketball coaches across central Indiana.

Repass accepted a job as a manufacturer's rep with the Mickelson Group in 1995. He represented 12 lines and sold to sporting goods stores across Indiana, Kentucky and Ohio.

In 2000, Repass became the team sales manager for Kessler’s Team Sports. He managed 13 offices in Indiana, Illinois and Iowa for Kessler’s before the firm merged with BSN Sports. In 2013, he got back into sales and calling on local schools again.

Repass and his wife, Becky, have been married for 34 years and reside on the south side of Indianapolis, where they raised their two sons – Brad and Matt. Repass and his family are active members of Acton United Methodist Church. In his spare time, he enjoys hunting, fishing and the shooting sports.

Throughout his career, Repass has had the opportunity to meet many coaches and players at all levels. From the grassroots all the way up to the collegiate level, the basketball community in Indiana has welcomed him and made him a member of their family.

Bill Uhrig

District 2

Bill Uhrig is a 1956 graduate of Ben Davis High School who has served the Indiana Basketball Coaches Association at numerous events over the years.

While a high school freshman, he was on the basketball squad. He was cut as a sophomore but went on to become a manager during that year and his junior year. He did, however, letter in baseball.

Upon graduation from Ben Davis, he was hired as a meter reader at the Indianapolis Power & Light Co. He enlisted in the United States Coast Guard in March 1958 and retired from the service in July 1981 as a Chief Warrant Officer (W-4). While serving in the Coast Guard, he earned an associate’s degree from Columbia (Mo.) College and bachelor’s degree from the University of San Francisco.

Upon returning to Indianapolis and residing in the Ben Davis area, he rekindled his love for basketball – especially Ben Davis basketball – as he remembers attending BD games as a child with his father, a former Giant player (’28), and mother (’32). He was president of the Ben Davis Athletic Booster Club during the 1984-’85 school year and has been a member of the Ben Davis varsity football “chain gang” since the 1982 season.

He is a member of the IBCA and has served as an Associate Director of the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame since the summer of 2014.

Uhrig is very active in the Lions Club, having served as District 25F Governor for the 2014-15 Lion Year. He also works part time at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum as a tour guide.

Uhrig and his wife, Patsy, a Ben Davis grad, have been married for 56 years. They have three children – Denise Wilson, Dawn Collier and Dan Uhrig – and four grandchildren.

Kevin Smith

District 3

Kevin Smith has devoted much of his adult life to high school students and high school athletics, the past two school years in the role of principal at White River Valley Junior-Senior High School. He previously was athletic director and assistant principal at Clay City Junior-Senior High School.

Smith also is in his 22nd year as secretary-treasurer of the Hoosier Basketball Coaches Association, a southern Indiana group that serves boys’ basketball and girls’ basketball coaches for about half the state. In addition to organizing membership, finances and meeting minutes for the HBCA, he also assisted the organization with the launch of its Hall of Excellence, planning for the annual HBCA East-West All-Star Classic, planning for the HBCA’s annual fall coaches clinic and helping oversee the selection of winners in the annual HBCA Scholarship program.

Smith has served as a basketball, baseball and volleyball coach over the years. He was a junior high and varsity assistant basketball coach for 20 years. He was a varsity baseball coach for eight years at Springs Valley, winning three sectionals and one regional, and two years at North Posey. He also has coached American Legion baseball teams.

Smith has been a licensed official for 39 years and worked as a radio broadcaster for 27 years. In officiating, Smith has worked boys’ basketball, girls’ basketball, baseball, volleyball, softball and football contests. His football crew worked the 1988 Class 4A state championship game. As a broadcaster, he has covered basketball, football, volleyball and baseball events.

Smith, who completed a 24-year work career with Kimball Electronics Group in 2008 before transitioning into education, has a bachelor’s degree in business administration and earned a master’s degree in education from Oakland City University in 2012. He currently is pursuing his Educational Specialist and doctorate degrees.

He was inducted into the HBCA’s Hall of Excellence in the 2013 inaugural class.

Smith and his wife, Debbie, have two sons – Adam and Derek – and two grandsons.