WINONA LAKE – Hall of Fame boys’ basketball coach Al Rhodes will be honored during Saturday’s Champions of Character Classic at Grace College.

The classic features four powerhouse high school boys basketball programs in Warsaw, Zionsville, Valparaiso and Fishers. All four head coaches in the inaugural event learned as assistant coaches under Al Rhodes during their careers. Warsaw’s Doug Ogle and Zionsville’s Shaun Busick both served as assistants at Warsaw under Rhodes. Valparaiso’s Barak Coolman was on Rhodes’s staff at Fort Wayne Northrop, and Fishers’s Matt Moore was with Rhodes at Logansport.

Rhodes began his legendary coaching career in 1975, winning the 1984 state championship at Warsaw and coaching two Indiana Mr. Basketball winners (Jeff Grose, 1985; Kevin Ault, 1986). He was inducted into the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame in 2010.

Rhodes coached Warsaw from 1980-2002, posting a record of 405-132 in his 22 seasons. He guided the Tigers to 14 sectional  titles, seven regional crowns and four semistate championships. Rhodes had 11 seasons of 20 or more wins at WCHS and only two losing seasons.

Rhodes is currently in his 10th season as coach at Penn High School, his alma mater. He is 132-84 at Penn and 586-276 overall in his 37th season. His 586 career wins ranks 15th all-time in state history among boys basketball coaches and is fourth among active coaches.

Rhodes, who has received numerous coaching honors during his long and illustrious career, played at Penn and then at Tri-State University.

Rhodes will be honored at Grace’s Manahan Orthopaedic Capital Center on Saturday immediately following the 6 p.m. game against Zionsville and Valparaiso.

The tourney will have Fishers versus Valparaiso at 11 a.m., followed by Warsaw versus Zionsville. Zionsville will then play Valparaiso at 6 p.m. with Warsaw facing Fishers in the final game.