Legends honored: 2024 Monroe County Sports Hall of Fame inductees announced
Two Bloomington basketball legends, Jordan Hulls and Djibril Kante, head another star-filled class of the Monroe County Sports Hall of Fame.
Hulls, the 2009 Indiana Mr. Basketball, led Bloomington South to an undefeated record that season, capped off by South’s first state title. He went on to an outstanding career at Indiana University, helping the Hoosiers to a Big Ten title in 2013 and consecutive Sweet Sixteen appearances in 2012 and ’13. After a successful professional career overseas, he has returned to the Hoosiers in a coaching role under Mike Woodson.
Kante holds the distinction of playing for Bloomington’s North’s 1997 state champions, the last team to win an all-inclusive state tournament before the arrival of class basketball in 1998. Kante went on to star at Indiana State, helping the Sycamores to two wins over IU, two NCAA appearances and a Missouri Valley Conference title. He played 13 years of pro ball in South America.
Other athletes in the Class of 2024 are Greg Easton, Sara (Fields) Hamidovic, Greg Granger and Mike Mossbrucker. Rounding out the class are coaches Garry Anderson and Eric Moore along with contributors Bill Atkinson and David Grossman.
Easton was a three-sport star at Bloomington High in the early 1960s. He excelled in football and baseball and also lettered one year in baseball. In 1964 he was the leading scorer for an undefeated Panther football team that also included future IU All-American Jade Butcher. Easton also played on an undefeated baseball team, leading in six offensive categories. After attending IU he stayed in Bloomington and served on the police force, rising to the rank of captain.
Fields shined in track and field, medaling in the state discus all four years and winning the Gold Medal and Mental Attitude Award in 2000. She also played on the Cougar volleyball team and went on to play both sports for the U.S. Military Academy, winning a combined five conference titles in the discus and shot. After graduation Fields served two combat tours in Iraq.
Granger was an ace pitcher for Edgewood in 1990 and ’91, good enough to get drafted by the Atlanta Braves. He pitched Edgewood to a sectional title his senior year, shutting down South in the final. The 6-foot-5 right-hander also played center for the Edgewood basketball team that took Top 10-ranked Martinsville to the wire in the 1990 sectional final. Granger declined to sign with the Braves and went on to pitch for Lake City College (now Florida Gateway). In 1993 he was drafted by the Detroit Tigers in the seventh round and spent time in the Tigers’ farm system.
Mossbrucker won a state wrestling title for North in 1976 and helped the Cougars win the state title in ’77. He also was a three-year starter in football and baseball, helping the Cougars win the 1977 baseball sectional. He went on to wrestle at IU before going to Mooresville, coaching baseball, wrestling and football for the Pioneers. He served as athletic director for a combined 26 years at Mooresville and North. He was named to the Indiana Wrestling Coaches Hall of Fame in 2011.
Anderson has the honor of having already been inducted into halls of fame in two sports, the Indiana Wrestling Coaches Hall of Fame and the Indiana Track and Field Hall of Fame. He coached wrestling for 31 years at Edgewood, garnering six sectional titles, 16 conference titles, eight state qualifiers and one state champion (Rusty Dutton). He coached the Edgewood girls track team for 33 years, qualifying 28 girls for state, highlighted by Stacy Martin’s state titles in the shot put and discus in 1999. Anderson finished his career at Greencastle, winning seven conference titles in 14 years. He passed away in 2020.
Moore played football under Dick Ranard at Edgewood and for Lee Corso, Sam Wyche and Bill Mallory at IU. Those mentors served him well at Center Grove, where he just finished his 23rd season. He has coached the Trojans to three state titles, including an unbeaten season in 2020 which earned them a national ranking of No. 8. He is a two-time Indiana Coach of the Year and a member of the Indiana High School Football Hall of Fame. He also has succeeded as the boys’ track coach at Center Grove, putting at least one athlete on the podium every year.
Atkinson was part of the Edgewood program for over 30 years as either a coach, teacher or administrator. He coached the Edgewood girls’ basketball team for 16 years, winning four sectionals and two regionals in the single-class era. He also served as an Edgewood assistant football coach for eight years. After a record-setting career at Mississinewa High, Atkinson went on to play football for John Pont and Corso at IU, making team captain in 1974. He has been inducted into the Grant County Sports Hall of Fame and the Indiana Football Hall of Fame.
Grossman made his mark as a nationally renowned athletic trainer. He started out as a student trainer at IU and went on to two stints at Bloomington South. He also was head trainer for Northwestern, Duke, William and Mary and Arizona State. He served as a trainer for 38 World Wrestling Championships, three College World Series, one NCAA basketball tournament, two NIT Tournaments and two Major League Baseball teams, the Chicago White Sox and Chicago Cubs.
The Class of ’24 will be formally inducted into the Monroe County Sports Hall of Fame on Friday night, July 19, at the Monroe Convention Center.
This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: Here is who's in the Monroe County Sports Hall of Fame Class of 2024
