Estes takes place in Indiana Hall of Fame

Cape Girardeau native Ray Estes was inducted into the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame on March 29 in a ceremony in Indianapolis.

Estes, who attended Central High and Southeast Missouri State, now splits time between residences in Elkhart, Ind., and Fort Myers, Fla.

Mike Beas of the Herald Bulletin in Anderson, Ind., where Estes coached for 12 years, caught up with Estes, 74, just before the ceremony.

"Whenever you're recognized in a chosen profession, I was pleased," Estes told the newspaper. "But none of these things are the result of the actions of just one person. I had great players, great assistant coaches and we had great fans. This is just a great honor and I'm glad to be vertical when it happens."

Estes coached Anderson to three conference championships, had 11 winning seasons in 12 years, including five teams with 22 or more wins, and posted a record of 213-82.

He remembered the enthusiastic fans at Anderson.

"What was so different about Anderson was the community interest," Estes told the Herald Bulletin. "People lined up for 24 hours outside just to get season tickets in the new building.

"I understand there are fans who might have been as good, but there were none better than in Anderson. We had so much fun you wouldn't even believe it. When we would go to a regional or semistate, we would have, I'd say, 5,500 people come along. It was amazing. It was a tremendous time, and timing is very important. It was the golden era."

Said 1973 Anderson graduate Jeff Jenness: "Coach Estes prepared his teams through a disciplined approach which emphasized strong defense and conditioning. To miss a help-side defensive stop or to forgo taking a charge were cardinal sins and usually garnered you a seat for a while next to him. You always walked on the court with a feeling of confidence and preparedness when you played for him."

Estes and his wife, Rosie, have four children and 11 grandchildren.

-- From staff reports