Indiana Sportswriters & Sportscasters Association

Hall of Fame

Class of 2019

Gordon Engelhardt

Chuck Freeby

Mike Haynes

Robin Miller

Rita Price

Art Saltsberg

For the 24th year, the Indiana Sportswriters and Sportscasters Association inducted new members into its Hall of Fame. This year’s six-member class was inducted at the ISSA’s annual banquet on April 7th at the Valle Vista Country Club in Greenwood.

This year’s class includes the following people who have graced Hoosier newspapers, radio stations and television airwaves over the past several decades. The inductees are as follows:

Gordon Engelhardt, Evansville Courier & Press _ After graduating from Southern Illinois University in 1979, Gordon has called Evansville home since 1984. His sports coverage over the years has ranged from all things college basketball, such as the Final Four and the Elite Eight at the Division II level, to the IHSAA state finals. He’s also covered the Thunder on the Ohio hydroplane boat race for more than 20 years.  

Chuck Freeby, WHME South Bend _​ Chuck is a 1986 graduate of the University of Notre Dame and has been a voice of various levels of sports in the area since that time. For 17 years, he covered high school sports for WNDU-TV. For the past 15 years, Freeby has served as the Sports Director of WHME-TV, handling play-by-play duties for the high school game of the week, as well as serving as the voice of Notre Dame baseball on WHME radio. Chuck was named the ISSA’s Marv Bates Sportscaster of the Year in 2017.  

Mike Haynes, former voice of the Colorado Avalanche _ Mike got his start calling Butler University football and basketball games while a student there in the early 80s, and began his professional career at WCVL radio in Crawfordsville. Haynes moved to Arizona to pursue his dream of calling hockey professionally in 1988. He had moved to Denver to broadcast minor league hockey when the Quebec Nordiques moved to Denver to become the Avalanche in 1995. Mike spent 23 years as the radio or TV voice of the team. 

Robin Miller, NBCSN, formerly of the Indianapolis Star _ Robin began writing for the Star at the age of 18, and he spent his formative years as a writer travelling with the ABA Indiana Pacers. Miller also raced sprint cars and worked for Indy 500 crews while chronicling various forms of motorsports over the years in Indy. Robin became a columnist for the Star in 1987. After leaving the Star in 2001, Miller worked for both ESPN and Speed TV, covering IndyCar racing. In addition to his TV work for NBCSN, Robin currently writes for Racer Magazine and Racer.com.  

Rita Price, WRSW Warsaw _ Rita has been on the WRSW airwaves in Warsaw for nearly six decades, and she has spent 46 years covering local sports for the station. Rita is already a member of the Indiana Broadcasters Hall of Fame and the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame. In 2017, she celebrated her 75th birthday by broadcasting 75 games on WRSW: 10 football games and 65 basketball games.  

Art Saltsberg, WOWO Fort Wayne _ ​Art co-hosted the evening sports talk program on WOWO from 1985 to 2000. He also served as the play-by-play voice for high school sports on WOWO for a large portion of the 1970s. These days, Art serves as the color analyst for Purdue-Fort Wayne basketball on WOWO’s sister station, ESPN 1380.  

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In addition to these new Hall of Famers, the Indiana Sportswriters and Sportscasters Association recognized winners of the following annual honors _ the Marv Bates Sportscaster of the Year, the Corky Lamm Sportswriter of the Year, The Ron Lemasters Lifetime Achievement Award, and the Bob Williams Helping Hand Award.

This year’s winners are as follows: 

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Marv Bates Sportscaster of the Year: Rick Semmler, WTHI Terre Haute _ Rick has been the Sports Director of WTHI-TV for nearly a decade, and he has been covering sports in the Wabash Valley for 16 years in total. His passion for high school sports is on display with the level of coverage he gives to schools in the Terre Haute viewing area, including both those from Indiana and Illinois. Rick has previously won the IHSAA Distinguished Media Service Award, a Spectrum Award from the Indiana Broadcasters Association and three local Emmy awards.  

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Corky Lamm Sportswriter of the Year:  Mike Carmin, Lafayette Journal & Courier _ Mike has now been a fixture in Lafayette for 30 years. He began his career as a freelance reporter covering high school sports and Purdue women’s hoops, which led him to follow the team on its way to the national championship in 1999. Mike’s coverage of that team won a national award from Gannett. For nine of the past 10 seasons, he’s been the beat reporter for Purdue football and women’s basketball for the Journal & Courier.  

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Ron Lemasters Lifetime Achievement Award: Steve Fields, formerly of the Greencastle Banner-Graphic _ Steve has been writing about Hoosier athletes since 1974 at a variety of stops but is best known for his time as the sports editor of the Greencastle Banner Graphic for all but two years from 1978 to 1999. Since 2000, Steve has been a correspondent for the Terre Haute Tribune-Star. Steve was named the Corky Lamm Sportswriter of the Year in 1996. He served as the president of the Indiana Sportswriters and Sportscasters Association for a total of five years over two different stints.  

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Bob Williams Helping Hand Award: Mike Skvara, ESPN 97.7 The Ref _ Mike has served as both a member of the media and as someone who has assisted the media during a career that has spanned four decades. Mike has called the Evansville area home for 30 years, and has assisted the Evansville Memorial football program during that time. However, he also has served as a media coordinator for 34 of the past 36 IHSAA football State Finals, as well as in that same role for more than 50 boys and girls basketball State Finals. During the football season, Mike serves as the color analyst for high school football coverage on WREF in the Evansville area.  

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The Indiana Sportswriters and Sportscasters Association was founded in 1946. It created its Hall of Fame 50 years later in 1996. With the addition of the Class of 2019 the Hall of Fame will have 118 members.

PREVIOUS CLASSES

2018

Conrad Brunner

Larry Clisby

Tim Ethridge

Steve Krah

Mark Montieth

Tom Rietmann

2017

Bill Benner

Jim Brunner

Dan Egierski

Reggie Hayes

Arv Koontz

Bob Simmers

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2016

Chris Denari

Pete DiPrimio

Kent Hormann

Matt Kopsea

Dan Korb

Bob Nagle

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2015

Bill Beck

Bob Jenkins

Mark Morrow

Blake Sebring

Jason Whitlock

2014

Andy Amey

Mike Chappell

Tracy Dodds

Tom Rust

2013

Mark Boyle

Mike Emrick

Andy Graham

Bill Robertson

Ben Smith

2012

Bill Bilinski

Mike Knezevich

Dave Niehaus

Steve Warden

2011

Dick Denny

Bob Lovell

Joe McConnell

Dean Pantazi

Phil Richards

2010

Jerry Birge

Paul Condry

Walt Ferber

Lynn Houser

Jack Lorri

2009

Howard Kellman

Mike Lopresti

Pat McKee

2008

Al Hamnik

Dave Kitchell

Bob Lamey

2007

Jan Clark

Fred Inniger

Tom Kubat

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2006

 Bob Forbes

John Harrell

Dick Mittman

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2005

Bob Bridge

Bob Ford

Don Hein

Tony Roberts

Max Skirvin

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2004

Don Fischer

Bill Fowler

Don Jellison

Rex Kirts

Forest Miller

Stan Sutton

Vic Tanguy

Ben Tenny

Luke Walton

Carl Wiegman

2003

Dennis Kraft

Dave Krider

John Mutka

Joe Smith

2002

George Bolinger

Bob Chase

Jim Costin

Paul (Bud) Gallmeier

Dick Ham

Morry Mannies

Tom Reck

2001

Jerry Baker

Bill Fluty

Ron Lemasters

2000

Don Bernhardt

Joe Boland

Joe Edwards

Kurt Freudenthal

1999

Jimmie Angelopolous

Charlie Jenkins

Chris Schenkel

1998

Marv Bates

Bob Hammel

Sam Simmermaker

Bob Towner

1997

Joe Doyle

Hilliard Gates

Corky Lamm

Bob Williams

1996

Bob Barnet

Dale Burgess

Don Burton

Tom Carnegie

Bob Collins

Sid Collins

Johnny DeCamp

Bill Fox

Gordon Graham

Dan Scism