Tony Hinkle

Paul D. "Tony" Hinkle (December 19 1899 - September 22 1992) was an American college basketball coach at Butler University in Indianapolis, Indiana. He invented the orange basketball.

Hinkle was born in Logansport, Indiana, was graduated in 1917 from Calumet High School near Chicago, Illinois, and attended the University of Chicago from 1917-1921. He joined Butler University in 1921 when they were still at the Irvington campus; they bought Fairview Park in 1922 and moved the campus there in 1928.

As a player at Chicago, he lettered three times in basketball, was twice All-Big Ten, twice team captain, named to the Helms All-America team in 1920, was a member of the Big 10 Championship team in 1919-1920, losing the national championship to Penn.

At Butler, Hinkle served as a teacher, coach and athletic administrator for nearly half a century. While he coached football, basketball, and baseball, he was primarily known as a basketball coach. His teams were fearless, gaining a reputation as "Big Ten killers". In 1929, he led the Butler Bulldogs basketball team to a 17-2 record, and was crowned national champions; in 1924, he had been assistant coach when they received similar honors. [http://butlersports.cstv.com/genrel/072103aaa.html] Overall, his basketball teams scored 560 victories versus 392 defeats, and he scored more than 1000 victories in all sports.

Hinkle was 1954-1955 president of the National Association of Basketball Coaches, and served on their board. He won NABC's top award in 1962 for contributions to the betterment of the game of basketball. He was named Chairman of the Rules Committee of the National Basketball Committee of the U.S. and Canada. He was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1965, the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame in 1964 and the Indiana Football Hall of Fame in 1974.

Hinkle's legend is forever remembered on the Butler campus with the Hinkle Fieldhouse, longtime site of Indiana's State High School championships and featured in the film "Hoosiers". The fieldhouse, which was the largest basketball arena in the US for decades, was renamed in Tony Hinkle Memorial Fieldhouse in 1966. He coached 41 seasons of basketball at Butler, ending in 1970, and remained with Butler University until his death in 1992.

Career as a player

High school

* Calumet High School (Gary, IN) (graduated 1917)

College

* University of Chicago (1917-21)

College playing highlights

* Helms All-American (1920)
* Two-time All-Big Ten and team captain
* Member of Big Ten Championship team (1919-20)
* Team lost to Penn in national championship
* Earned three letters in basketball

Career as a coach

College coaching

* Butler University (Indianapolis, IN) (1926-70) (absent while serving in the U.S. Navy for three years during World War II [http://www.hickoksports.com/biograph/hinkletony.shtml] )

College coaching highlights

* Butler record: 560-392
* Led Bulldogs to 1929 national championship
* Assistant on the 1924 Butler national championship team

Career highlights

* Acknowledged as "Dean of Indiana College Basketball Coaches" at time of his retirement in 1970
* President, National Association of Basketball Coaches (1954-55)
* Former member, NABC Board of Directors
* Former Chairman, Rules Committee of the National Basketball Committee of the U.S. and Canada
* Fieldhouse at Butler named in his honor (1966)
* Had more than 1,000 coaching victories at Butler in football, baseball and basketball
* Won NABC's top award in 1962 for contributions to the betterment of the game of basketball
* Enshrined in Indiana Basketball and Helms Foundation Basketball Halls of Fame

External links

* [http://www.hoophall.com/halloffamers/Hinkle.htm Basketball Hall of Fame]
* [http://www.hoopshall.com/inductees/1964/phinkle.html Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame]