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Cheaney leads area HOF inductees

Gordon Engelhardt
Evansville Courier & Press

Harrison High School boys' basketball coach Jerrill Vandeventer couldn't believe it when one of his assistants told him Calbert Cheaney was close to breaking the school's single-game school record. That's a testament to how smooth Cheaney was and how effortlessly he seemed to play.

"I had no clue he had 42 or 43," Vandeventer said.

Cheaney went on to score 47 that night in 1989 against visiting Henderson County. He broke the record of 45, set by Reece Newman against Mount Vernon in 1969.

"I remember bits and pieces of that game," said Cheaney, among four players with area ties who will be inducted into the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame on Wednesday at Primo Banquet Hall in Indianapolis. "I've played in thousands of games, so you tend to forget."

Cheaney said it's a tremendous honor to be inducted.

"Never in a million years did I think that a mama's boy from Evansville would have an opportunity to get an award like this," he said.

Like Vandeventer, current Harrison coach and athletic director Bryan Speer remembers how smooth Cheaney was on the court.

"Somebody would always say 'so and so is not a very good player' until they would look at his stat line after the game," said Speer, who was a freshman at Harrison when Cheaney was a senior. "He would have a quiet 23 points and 12 rebounds and four steals. If you are so talented and go about your business and lead right into everybody else and dominate, that to me is really a sign of what a truly great player is."

Cheaney made a habit of sneaking up on people. As a freshman, he stayed on the Warriors' freshman team. He grew a few inches and moved up to the varsity as a sophomore. He led Harrison to a 15-0 record as a senior, but broke his foot in the next game against fellow unbeaten Terre Haute South.

"Carl Heldt missed a third of the season with mono, but he was coming back and I think we could've won a state title," Cheaney said. "But that's part of life."

Seventh on Harrison's career scoring list (1,064), Cheaney remains the Big Ten's all-time leading scorer (2,613). He played 13 seasons in the NBA.

Cheaney was considered an afterthought in Indiana University's 1990 recruiting class, but became the best player, by far.

"I knew he was an outstanding high school player who would make a major contribution at IU," said Vandeventer, who has been invited by Cheaney to be at Wednesday's induction. "For anyone to believe that we would have known at the time being he would be the all-time leading scorer at IU and have a long lasting career in the NBA, I think we'd be kidding ourselves."

Cheaney will join fellow Harrison product Vaughn Wedeking in the Hall. Wedeking was inducted in 2009.

"Year in and year out, Indiana basketball is the best in the entire country," Speer said. "To have two guys from our school be recognized is something we're extremely proud of."

Russ Grieger is another inductee with area ties. He averaged 23.4 points for Bosse in 1960 and was a third-team all-stater. He played for a pair of Hall of Fame coaches, Herman Keller in high school and Arad McCutchan at the University of Evansville. Grieger was a starting guard on UE's 29-0 NCAA College Division national championship team in 1965. His brother, Gary, was inducted in 2007.

Joe Todrank led Holland, a school of approximately 75 students, to a 50-16 record. He later became a Little All-American at Oakland City.

Willie Humes, who became a junior college All-American at Vincennes University, graduated from Madison High in 1967. He is the brother of former UE standout Larry Humes, who was inducted into the Hall in 1991.

n OFFICIALS: Jim Schwenk, a 1945 graduate of Ireland High in Dubois County, will be posthumously recognized with the Center Circle Officials Award. He worked 17 sectionals, 11 regionals, five semistates and two state finals in his career.