Six local legends join Gary Sports Hall of Fame; induction ceremony slated for July

The Gary Sports Hall of Fame grew by six new members Wednesday, including a former NBA player, two MLB players and a woman who spent 20 years as a leader of the Indiana High School Athletic Association.
The Class of 2024 inductees include NBA player Winston Garland, baseball players Wallace Johnson and Nick Strincevich, girls’ sports advocate Mildred Morgan Ball, journalist and football kicker Fred B. Mitchell, and basketball player and college administrator Emmanuel “Manny” Newsome.
The induction ceremony is at 6:30 p.m. July 19 at the Indiana University Northwest Arts and Sciences building auditorium, 3415 Broadway. The cost is $25 per person. Tickets are available through Eventbrite.
“This is a wonderful initiative to recognize Gary athletes,” said Rhonda Anderson, the Hall’s first woman inductee and a former Olympic hurdler and Lew Wallace track coach.
“We have so much to pride ourselves on,” said Earl Smith Jr., who founded the Gary Sports Hall of Fame and serves as its chairman.
Smith, a 1952 Roosevelt graduate, coached at five Gary high schools and served as athletic director during a 56-year career.
He said it took years of perseverance to get the Hall of Fame established. “You put your confidence in something and believe it could happen and put your faith in God, it will happen.”
IU Northwest Chancellor Ken Iwama said when he arrived on campus in 2020, he met with Hall of Fame organizers who urged him to move forward on their plans despite the pandemic.
“Our present and future are built on strong foundations of the past,” Iwama said.
He said the inductees “left an indelible mark on sports excellence and we’re thrilled it’s housed here in our Arts and Sciences building. The plaques look distinctive and unique, reflecting the honor.”
Hall of Fame vice chairman Chuck Hughes, who heads the Gary Chamber of Commerce, said he encourages area student groups to visit the Hall of Fame, located on the first floor of the Arts and Sciences building. “Come and learn the rich history that’s taken place before them.”
Garland, a 1983 Roosevelt graduate and Missouri State University player, was drafted in the second round by the Milwaukee Bucks.
He played seven seasons in the NBA with the Golden State Warriors, Los Angeles Clippers, Denver Nuggets, Houston Rockets and Minnesota Timberwolves.
He was inducted into the Indiana High School Basketball Hall of Fame in 2007.
Garland coached at West Side High School from 2009 to 2012 and his son, Darius Garland, plays for the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Wallace Johnson, a 1973 Roosevelt grad, led Indiana State to the Missouri Valley title in 1979, while leading the nation in hitting most of the year, finishing third with a .491 mark.
He was drafted in the sixth round in 1979 by the Montreal Expos, becoming its all-time pinch-hit leader with 86 hits. He spent most of his career with the Expos, playing one year with the San Francisco Giants in 1983.
He coached for the Expos, the Atlanta Braves, and the Chicago White Sox.
Best known as an award-winning sportswriter at the Chicago Tribune, Fred B. Mitchell graduated from Tolleston High School and received a football scholarship from Wittenberg University in Springfield, Ohio.
Mitchell set the NCAA record for career points scored by kicking while playing for Wittenburg, a small-college powerhouse, from 1965 to 1968.
He played semi-pro football with the Columbus Bucks and the Chicago Heights Broncos.
In 1974, he became the first Black sportswriter at the Chicago Tribune. He’s still the newspaper’s lone writer whose beats included the Bears, Bulls and Cubs during a 41-year tenure at the Tribune. He spent the last 20 years of his career as a columnist.
He’s also authored books with Pro Football Hall of Famers Gale Sayers and Richard Dent, MLB Cubs Hall of Famer Ryne Sandberg and the late Earl Woods, the father of golf legend Tiger Woods.
Mitchell attended Wednesday’s news conference and called the honor “overwhelming.” He said he’s been blessed to be recognized in seven different “halls” for sports and journalism.
“This is a special honor for me, it’s where I started,” Mitchell said. “It’s a testament of what’s possible…”
Mildred Morgan Ball, a 1953 Roosevelt grad, was an early pioneer in advancing girls’ sports and spent 20 years as assistant commissioner at the IHSAA.
She loved playing sports in high school and became a physical education teacher in East Chicago before being selected out of 54 candidates as the IHSAA’s assistant commissioner in 1977.
When she retired 20 years later, she became the first woman inducted into the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame.
“After I got to college and looked back and saw the whole picture, that’s when I really started thinking that we were not being treated fairly,” she told an Indianapolis Star reporter.
Emmanuel “Manny” Newsome, another Roosevelt graduate, is still considered one of Western Michigan’s greatest basketball players and student athletes.
During part of his senior season, he was the nation’s leading scorer, breaking the Broncos’ scoring mark by more than 500 points in 1964, a record that held for 45 years.
He spent a 40-year career in university administration beginning at Western Michigan. He retired in 2006 as vice president for student affairs at Florida Atlantic University.
Nick Strincevich, who died in 2011, attended Lew Wallace and was Gary’s first MLB player, playing part of the 1941 season with the Boston Braves. He pitched for the Pittsburgh Pirates from 1941-42 and 1944-48. He ended his career with the Philadelphia Phillies in 1948.
He played against baseball legends including Ted Williams, Jackie Robinson and Lou Gehring.
After leaving baseball, he came home to Gary and worked at the Budd Plant, until he retired in 1980, moving to Valparaiso.
Carole Carlson is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.