Editor
Two former Southside girls’ high school greats Katie Douglas and Diane Hoereth and longtime girls’ basketball advocate Denise McClanahan are to be inducted into the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame.
The induction will take place at the 21st annual Women’s Awards Banquet Saturday, April 29 at the Primo Banquet Hall on the Southside.
The 18-member Silver Anniversary team, including Lisa (Eckhart) Ruble of Center Grove, also will be honored at the banquet.
The inductees and Silver Anniversary team recently were announced by the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame Directors.
The Southside inductees:
Katie Douglas was a 1997 Indiana All-Star, having played at Perry Meridian High School. In her senior season, Douglas averaged 19.3 points while amassing 177 rebounds and 118 steals. She was named team MVP, first-team All State, All County, and All Conference, while the Falcons collected the sectional and regional titles her senior season.
After graduating from high school, Douglas went on to help lead Purdue to the 1999 NCAA National Championship. She was honored to play for the USA basketball team. She was Big Ten Player of the Year both her junior and senior seasons, along with earning Kodak All American, and Purdue Female Athlete of the Year honors both years.
She was the 10th pick in the WNBA draft and played pro ball for 14 seasons earning multiple All Star game honors and 2009 All-WNBA honors, while also playing summer basketball in Europe. She played for the Connecticut Sun and was a member of the Indiana Fever WNBA championship team in 2012.
Currently, Douglas is the owner of Orangetheory fitness franchise at Smith Valley Road and State Road 135 in Greenwood.
Diane (Hoereth) Metz, was the 1986 “City Athlete of the Year” as a senior on the Roncalli basketball team that went 22-5. She averaged 17 points and 12.5 rebounds a game and was on sectional, regional, and semistate champions. She was first-team All-State, All-Metro, along with being named Marion County Coaches of GSA Outstanding Senior Athlete. She was a member of the 2011 Silver Anniversary team, along with being the Roncalli Athlete of the Year in 1986.
Diane was also a standout volleyball player where she was a three-time All City and All-State award winner. After graduating from Roncalli, she played collegiate volleyball at Texas, IUPUI and Indiana where she holds the career record for most matches with 20 or more kills (17). Since 1991, Diane has worked for Aldi, Inc. where she is currently the Director of Administration in Mt. Juliet, Tenn.
Denise Gritton McClanahan is the Indiana Fever Silver Medal Award recipient that includes induction into the hall of fame for contributions other than an Indiana high school player or basketball coach.
With over 35 years of experience as a high school coach, AAU director and coach and noted for creation and leadership of Lady Mac summer leagues, McClanahan was the director of Lady Mac high school summer league for 34 years and director for 33 years of Jr. Lady Mac middle school league.
Over the years, these leagues have provided opportunities for countless central Indiana players, recently involving 700 players per summer (36 high school teams and 38 middle school teams). As director, she schedules teams and officials for approximately 400 games per summer.
As a high school coach, her career record of 347-292 includes six sectional titles, one regional title, three Marion County championships and was twice Marion County Coach of the Year and 2002 Indiana All-Star assistant coach.
Her AAU involvement includes creation of Lady Mac AAU Club as well as coaching roles with Indiana’s Finest, Indiana Faith and Indiana Elite programs, coaching teams to numerous national appearances including 2002 17U AAU National Champions with Indiana’s Finest. She also created and ran the High Intensity Basketball Camps. A member of two Marion County championship teams as a player at Perry Meridian High School, she played collegiate basketball at Central Michigan, Butler and IUPUI.
Reservations are available for the banquet by email to [email protected] or by calling 765-529-1891. Info: www.hoopshall.com.