Vigo, Purdue athletics legend Terry Dischinger dies at 82
Oct. 10—Terry Dischinger, voted Vigo County's best athlete of the 20th century by a Tribune-Star panel of journalists, coaches and readers in late 1999, has passed away at the age of 82.
A graduate of Garfield High School and Purdue University, he is one of three U.S. Olympic athletes — all Garfield graduates — honored at Gold Medal Plaza in Twelve Points along with Dr. Greg Bell and the late Clyde Lovellette.
Dischinger was a member of Terre Haute's Babe Ruth World Series championship baseball team in 1955 and was named McMillan Award winner in both 1957 and 1958, the first two-time winner in the award's history.
The 6-foot-7 Dischinger was named to several athletic halls of fame, including the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame in 1989. His 1960 U.S. Olympic team was inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in 2010. In 2019, He was elected into the College Basketball Hall of Fame.
Dischinger also is a member of the Purdue Athletics Hall of Fame and National Federation of High Schools Hall of Fame.
While at Garfield, he played football, baseball and basketball and was also on the Purple Eagles' track team, where he was one of the best hurdlers in the state. After graduation, he was named to the Indiana All-Stars basketball team, where he was voted captain and Most Valuable Player.
At Purdue, he was a three-time All-American from 1960-62 and is one of just five Purdue basketball players to have at least 600 points and 300 rebounds in the same season. He's the only one who did it three times.
After his sophomore season at Purdue, he was named to the 1960 U.S. Olympic team. Some consider that team the best amateur team ever assembled — it beat its opponents by an average of 42.4 points per game — and was its youngest member. His Olympic teammates included Oscar Robertson, Jerry West and two other Big Ten centers, Jerry Lucas and Walt Bellamy.
In the NBA, he was the 1963 Rookie of the Year after averaging 25.5 points, eight rebounds and three assists per game for the Chicago Zephyrs and was an all-star for his first five seasons in the league before taking two years off to enlist in the U.S. Army.He then returned to the NBA and finished his career with the Portland Trailblazers in the 1972-73 season.
After his playing career, he became one of the most influential orthodontists in the nation, holding several patents.
"This is kind of overwhelming," Dischinger said in December 1999 when he learned of his 20th Century selection by the Tribune-Star's panel. "There have been a lot of great athletes come out of Terre Haute, so this is very special."
Other athletes from his era interviewed in 1999 paid tribute to Dischinger.
"He was a great all-around ballplayer," said Bob Kehrt, Dischinger's teammate on the 1955 Babe Ruth team and throughout their years at Garfield High School. "In my opinion, [he was] the best there ever was in Terre Haute and a really great guy, too."
"He had size combined with speed," Ray Goddard added. "All-around, I think he was the best athlete that ever played [here]. I would have voted him No. 1."
Dischinger was preceded in death by his son Terry. He is survived by his wife of 61 years, Mary; two sisters Nancy and Tommy; three children; and nine grandchildren.
Information on his funeral services had yet to be announced Tuesday evening.
"He was always the last guy out of the gym," Kehrt said of Dischinger in 1999. "He worked hard at everything."
"He had a work ethic before the term 'work ethic' was popular," Goddard agreed at the time.
— Andy Amey of the Tribune-Star also contributed to this report.
