ANDERSON — For the past seven years, former Anderson High School varsity basketball coach Norm Held has been eligible for the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame.
Each year his name didn’t appear when the new inductees were announced.
In 2010 that all ended, and Held was named to be inducted into the Hall.
“It’s a tremendous honor,” said Held in a phone conversation last week from Florida. “It’s been a long time. I kind of had an inkling it might happen this year. There have been some people working on my behalf.”
A coach becomes eligible for induction 10 years after he retires from coaching. Held ended his career at Anderson in 1993.
“I don’t know how long he’s been eligible, but he’s long overdue,” said Alan Darner, whose Highland Scots staged some memorable battles with the Indians. “He should be judged by the longevity of his career.”
Held coached the Tribe for 18 years and reached the state championship game four times, finishing second every time.
“Not everybody liked Norm Held,” Held said. “If I had to analyze what I did, it would be to motivate kids to be better than they were.”
Alexandria coach Garth Cone doesn’t believe that Held’s lack of a state title should have delayed his induction.
“The journey getting there is always very difficult,” said Cone of getting to the title game. “People would be real excited now to get there four times.”
“There’s many coaches in the Hall of Fame who have never won a state championship,” said Darner.
Cone’s teams battled Anderson to the wire numerous times during those 18 years.
“Norm was able to give his players an air of confidence,” he said. “His players always felt they were going to have a 16-0 run. He had some players there to be sure. But there’s a tendency for us to overcoach and overexpect. He didn’t do that. I think he’s very deserving of this.”
No coach makes it into the Hall of Fame by coaching expertise alone, and Held acknowledges that fact as well.
“One thing I look forward to saying is that this honor belongs to the city of Anderson, the fans, the players and the coaches,” he said. “There were so many great fans during my years there, and I want to share this with them.”
Held pointed out that he came along at the perfect moment.
“My timing was really good,” he said. “I came along at the right time. I left at the right time. I could say that everything turned gold, but I guess I should say it turned silver.
“I always wanted to play the best, and we did that. We had some really great coaches during the time I was there. We had Dave Nicholson at Noblesville, Steve Witty at Ben Davis, Jack Keefer at Lawrence North, Bill Harrell, Phil Buck, Carl McNulty and Bill Green. Those were some quality coaches.”
“It was a lot of fun to play Anderson,” said Darner, who won two state titles with Pike. “We always had really good games. The gyms were filled. The city teams were always good plus the teams in the county were often just as good as we were.”
Now it is time for Held to secure his place among the state’s best. The induction takes place Wednesday evening at the Primo Banquet Hall in Indianapolis. To get tickets call the Hall of Fame at 529-1891.
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