1976 TVHS graduate Ron Newlin (left), receives a plaque from former Indiana Pacers player Darnell Hillman (right) at the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame men’s banquet held March 22 in Indianapolis. (Photo provided)

INDIANAPOLIS – A 1976 graduate of Tippecanoe Valley High School was inducted into the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame at a ceremony in Indianapolis on Wednesday, March 22.

Ron Newlin received the Indiana Pacers 2017 Silver Medal Award for serving as executive director of the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame from 1987 to 1995. The award is given each year to a person who has made some contribution to the game other than as a coach or player.

Armed with four years’ experience developing exhibits at the Indiana State Museum, Newlin, at age 28, became heavily involved in the process to relocate, design, build and open the new Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame museum in New Castle.

Part of his role was to oversee a $1.7 million statewide capital campaign to help fund construction of the museum, as well as grow the organization’s membership and donor base. Newlin was also instrumental in launching the Indiana Basketball History quarterly magazine.

Newlin and his family moved to Indiana his sophomore year. He found success in baseball and cross country, but ironically, didn’t make the cut when he tried out for the basketball team.

“High school sports, for me, weren’t about excelling. They were about learning self-confidence and redefining myself as something other than a nerd,” he joked.

Although he wasn’t on the court, Newlin got to tag along with the basketball team as a manager and statistician. He recalls Akron winning the 1974 sectional his first real exposure to the excitement of a state tournament, a story he would often share as museum director.

“I tell it because everybody who played basketball in Indiana has a story like that,” said Newlin. “That’s what the Hall of Fame tries to do is give everybody who loves basketball a place to find something meaningful to them.”