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Grant County Hall of Fame Inducts Don Odle

12.16.2008

Legendary Taylor University basketball coach Don Odle has been selected for the inaugural class of inductees Don Odleto the Grant County Sports Hall of Fame. Induction ceremonies will take place next spring.

Odle, a Taylor alumnus, coached the Trojans from 1948 to 1979; during his tenure, Odle's teams won 468 games. He also coached the Chinese National Team in the 1960 Rome Olympiad and became one of the founders of modern sports evangelism.

He was instrumental in the implementation of intercollegiate football at Taylor, serving as the team's first coach in 1948, and also coached baseball and golf. In 1952, Odle formed Venture for Victory, a sports evangelism effort in which American all-star college basketball players toured the Far East. His 12 Venture for Victory teams compiled a 600-12 record and visited countries including Japan, Korea and Viet Nam.

In 1957, Odle held the first summer basketball camp at Taylor University; an estimated 70,000 campers have attended since then. He is a member of the NAIA Hall of Fame, Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame, the Taylor University Athletic Hall of Fame, and is a Sagamore of the Wabash.

He died in 2002.

"I thought (the Grant County honor) was really neat," said his wife, Bonnie. "Don knew a lot of people in Marion; he was close to a lot of people and spoke in service clubs and churches and was well known in Grant County."

Odle said her late husband loved basketball and used it as a tool to reach people. "It was an unorthodox means to spread the gospel. I think a lot of people thought he was a minister," she added laughing.

In total, 15 individuals as well as one team and one special recognition honoree will be placed in the new Grant County Sports Hall of Fame.

"This is a culmination of a lot of hard work in announcing this class," said Jim Brunner, chairman of the induction committee. "We had nearly 150 nominations, and to have the support and participation we had from the community was just tremendous."

The 12-person committee finalized the induction group Dec. 8 after several hours of deliberation.
"It was really a tough choice for all of us," Brunner said. "I could sit and name 15 more individuals and teams who aren't too far off from this first group."

The honored group is a mixture of city and county athletes from various sports, spanning many decades in Grant County athletic history. From Charles "Stretch" Murphy, who led Marion to a state championship in 1926, to Ken Hill, who has been publishing The Sports Hotline since 1971, the list is a mixture of the best in several fields over the years.

All nominations received this year will be eligible for induction for the next 10 years. Organizers said that while the first class was large, future classes will be limited to four inductees at most. The hall's rules dictate that a person must be at least 30 years old or 10 years out of their sport to be considered.

The committee will honor all inductees at a dinner at 2 p.m. April 19, at the Star Financial YMCA. Brunner said all the nominees who have been reached have made plans to attend the event.

"There will never again be a gathering that we will have that day," Brunner said. "It is an unbelievable collection of some of the greatest people in Grant County sports history."

The inductees will be honored with a plaque placed on display at the Star Financial YMCA, which was built around the Memorial Coliseum, a building with a special place in Grant County sports history, too. The plan is to house the Sports Hall of Fame in the hallway at the YMCA.

"It is a sort of enlightening thing - you can live so close to a person and not be aware of all of the things he did, but I'm constantly reminded of him," Bonnie Odle reflected. "It is absolutely amazing how God used him. That is the story of being in God's family; He picks us up wherever we are and uses us for His purposes.

"I'm sometimes just amazed at the things people say about Don. He had an outgoing personality and identified well with people," she added. "I was happy he was inducted into the Grant County Hall of Fame because that was our home base."

Justin Kenny, The Marion Chronicle-Tribune

 

About Taylor University: Founded in 1846, Taylor University is an interdenominational liberal arts university of evangelical faith located in Upland, Ind. The 2010 U.S. News and World Report survey America's Best Colleges ranked Taylor the number one Baccalaureate College in the Midwest. It marked Taylor's third straight top ranking following ten straight years of being ranked in the region's Top Three.
 
Taylor University is a member of the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities (CCCU).