TERRE HAUTE — With just one kilometer left in Saturday’s 5K Sycamore Pride Alumni/Intrasquad Meet, 1950 Indiana State alumnus Dan Dimich was greeted by more than 25 Sycamores.
The ISU runners had decided to escort Dimich down the front straightaway of LaVern Gibson Championship Course to the finish line Saturday morning.
“I was honored to come back and run the course. I was treated so wonderfully by the runners,” said the member of the ISU Athletics Hall of Fame, inducted with the 1949-1950 national championship basketball team. “That was a thrill.
”Dimich plans to return the favor to the Sycamores’ runners when the ISU teams travel to South Bend for the Notre Dame Invitational on Sept. 29.
“I’ll be there to root them on at Notre Dame,” Dimich said.
The 80-year-old, who recently returned to his hometown of South Bend from a mountain climbing trip in Sun Valley, Idaho, finished the race in 44 minutes, 52 seconds. Upon his finish, Dimich received congratulations from ISU Director of Athletics Ron Prettyman, cross country coaches John McNichols and John Gartland and other Sycamore alumni in attendance.
McNichols introduced Dimich to his runners at the end of a post-race carry-in lunch in the Wabash Valley Family Sports Center. Dimich told the runners about his time at ISU in a room filled with Larry Bird memorabilia.
Like most of his ISU basketball teammates and legendary coach John Wooden, Dimich is a veteran of World War II. Drafted during his senior year in high school, Dimich spent 30 long months serving his country across the Atlantic Ocean.
Shortly after returning home to Indiana, Dimich arrived at Indiana State and joined the Sycamores’ cross country and basketball teams.
Cross country was mainly a way to stay in shape for basketball at that time, he said.
“We ran about five meets a year,” said Dimich, whose cross country coach was David Glascock, who is probably best-known for leading Crawfordsville to the first IHSAA basketball championship in 1911.
The 6-foot-5 Dimich started at center on the 1949-50 NAIB national championship team and the 1948-49 national runner-up team. The star on those teams was Duane Klueh, along with other starters Bobby Royer, Don McDonald and Lenny Rzeszewski. Wooden’s teams were revolutionary fast-breaking teams.
“We were five skinny guys about my size that could run,” Dimich said.
While Dimich was a member of the 1950 NAIB all-tournament team, he bantered Saturday about how his playing ability doesn’t stack up with most of Wooden’s big men.
“Coach Wooden wanted me to talk to Bill Walton and tell him that I played ball for Wooden. My speech to Bill Walton was ‘Bill, I was a center with Wooden. Of course, I know you and Jabbar played. I said, I know you how you were the best center, I wanted you to know I was the worst center. I was just good enough to be there.”
Like Klueh and many other former players of Wooden’s, Dimich spent many years as a teacher and basketball coach, coaching at French Lick, Brookston, and Pendleton.
Dimich said he always enjoys coming to visit Terre Haute, although he didn’t call Klueh — a longtime Terre Haute resident — in advance.
“I didn’t want him to see me run this slow,” Dimich said.
Still, Dimich enjoyed his first Sycamore Pride Alumni/Intrasquad Meet and left impressed by the Gibson course.
“I always liked the way the university receives us as alumni and how we’re treated. It’s always a delight coming back to Terre Haute and visiting some dear friends,” Dimich said.
Craig Pearson can be reached by phone after 4 p.m. at (812) 231-4356 or by email at craig.pearson@tribstar.com.
Given to Fly
August 27, 2006
Given to Fly: ISU runners, alumni share cross country course
- Given to Fly
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GIVEN TO FLY: Come to expect new standards of excellence
Records are definitely meant to be broken; athletes today are faster and stronger than those in the past in many endeavors in athletics.
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GIVEN TO FLY: ISU women have solid recruiting class
The caliber of athletes that the Indiana State women’s basketball coaching staff is bringing in is on an upswing.
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GIVEN TO FLY: Major leaguers John, Dorsett meet up at tonight’s game
Terre Haute’s only two big leaguers of the last 50 years — Tommy John and Brian Dorsett — will catch up with one another today.
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FOOT NOTES: Valley natives perform well on national stage
Several Wabash Valley natives continue to shine on the national track and field scene.
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'Til It's Over: Sycamores ‘in a good place,’ but searching for more in MVC
Can Teri Moren lift Indiana State, last year’s seventh-place team in the Missouri Valley Conference, to one of the league’s contenders in her first year on campus?
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'Til It's Over: Two sets of identical twins should keep North Central baseball a contender
The last high school baseball team standing in the Wabash Valley was the North Central, the Thunderbirds falling short 4-3 in the Class A Semistate on Saturday just one game shy of Victory Field.
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'Til It's Over: Jarvis, Anderson confident Olney, hard work leads to Division I dream
Olney, Ill., population 8,000-plus and known for its population of white squirrels, might not be the dream destination for high school basketball players in Indiana.
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'Til It's Over: Robinson 7-footer more focused in postseason; 6-foot Jones keeps producing
Robinson 7-footer Meyers Leonard is not going to be the No. 1 overall pick in the NBA some day, but his odds of reaching the league are pretty solid if his game continues to evolve as it has during high school.
- 'Til It's Over: ‘Stepping stone’ game points Sycamores in right direction Whether the win comes against a top-25 team or a conference pushover, ending a four-game losing streak is always a relief.
- 'Til It's Over: Indianapolis ISU recruit rolling along in senior season As Indiana State recruit Anna Munn approached Christmas with the Decatur Central basketball team, the senior guard didn’t seem to need much of a wishlist.
- 'Til It's Over: Magic’s still there for '79 Sycamores For the former Indiana State players who visited the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame in late November, the weekend was a chance to relive memories with teammates and see Larry Bird’s career with the Sycamores celebrated again.
- CRAIG PEARSON: North has strong history in cross country state finals Vigo County is home to just four IHSAA state championships in team sports. Most recently, Terre Haute South won girls titles in basketball (2002) and tennis (2001).
- 'Till It's Over: It’s been rough year but no need to break up Cubs' core Chicago Cubs general manager Jim Hendry is only in the first year of a three-year contract, and aren’t back-to-back division championships enough to keep him around despite this year’s season filled with bad luck?
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You might have heard of the Indiana Pacers’ 2009 first-round draft pick. He was on the television once in a while during his four-year career at North Carolina.
- 'Til It's Over: Bertoli, Moore put on show in abundance of events “Anthony and Erica” may not have the marketing capability of “Dan and Dave,” but neither of Indiana State’s outstanding multi-event participants had let-down performances this weekend in the Missouri Valley Conference Championships.
- ‘Walking wounded’: ISU seniors return to provide spark All three ISU seniors will graduate in May, and all three will be in uniform today as Indiana State battles Bradley in the Missouri Valley Conference tournament quarterfinals.
- Given to Fly: Northview standout runner Thacker coming to ISU Doc Brown told an old-timer in a saloon in “Back to the Future III” that despite having automobiles in the future people run for recreation.
- Given to Fly: Schilli’s Rodman-like performance aids ISU With Indiana State’s women’s basketball team ranking eighth in the Missouri Valley Conference in field-goal percentage (36.5), the Sycamores need as many shot attempts as possible to maintain their standing on top of the league.
- Given to Fly: A classic in every sense of the word What tournament director and co-founder Gary Fears had in mind when creating the tournament came to fruition Tuesday. Marshall, with an enrollment of 438 students, became the smallest school to win the Pizza Hut Wabash Valley Classic in the ninth season of the tourney.
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Given to Fly: ISU women should build confidence off strong outing
Indiana State did not pull off the monumental upset Saturday against No. 23 Kansas State, but the Wildcats are —aside from Connecticut in 2005 — the best team the Sycamores have played in the Jim Wiedie era.
- Given to Fly: ISU women's hoops team slides onto commercial radio Coach Jim Wiedie expects the Indiana State women’s basketball team to have a bit of a retro feel this season, meaning the Sycamores have the potential to get back to creating havoc with their full-court press.
- Given to Fly: ISU vets hope to prove pundits wrong Indiana State’s only two seniors were surprised to see they were picked ahead of just three Missouri Valley Conference women’s basketball teams Tuesday morning.
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Footnotes: In first marathon, former Sycamore comes out a winner
Indiana State graduate Dani Prince made her debut in the event with a victory in the Columbus Marathon on Sunday.
Prince’s goal was a time under 2 hours and 50 minutes, and she ran a 2:48.56. -
Given To Fly: ISU volleyball turning things around
It was an extremely busy weekend for Indiana State athletics this weekend.
- Footnotes: Here’s hoping perfect weather is still around for Nationals in November The weather made for a perfect fall afternoon Saturday at LaVern Gibson Championship Course. For what it’s worth, the Farmer’s Almanac calls for more sunny conditions from Nov. 20-24, with the NCAA Championships falling on the 24th this year.
- Terre Haute natives cherish memories of ‘House that Ruth Built’ Yankee Stadium was packed as usual on Easter Sunday in 1979. George Steinbrenner’s Yankees were one loss away from being swept by the Milwaukee Brewers to start the season. That was no way for the two-time defending World Series champions to perform, so the boss had a conversation with his new veteran left-handed starting pitcher prior to the game.
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Footnotes: Oregon men and women have strangehold on preseason NCAA cross countryrankings
The Oregon men and women were almost both unanimous picks as the No. 1 teams in the nation in the preseason cross country national rankings released recently.
- Given to Fly: Bronze medalist has strong ISU ties One of the remarkable American medalists of this 2008 Olympics thus far also provided one of the most sparkling stories in the brief history of the LaVern Gibson Championship Cross Country Course here in Terre Haute.
- Former ISU QB gets back to Amarillo This week, Indiana State signed its most highly-touted football prospect in years, and former quarterback Julian Reese is ripping it up for the Amarillo Dusters of Arena2.
- Indiana State track sending strong group to NCAA regional Three sophomore women and three senior men lead a large Indiana State contingent of track and field athletes into the NCAA Mideast Regional this weekend at Fayetteville, Ark.
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