IBCA Virgil Sweet Awards Announced 2025

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                         Contact: Pat McKee, 317-403-1665

March 17, 2025                                                                IBCA Director of Special Projects

Coach Sweet at one of the Presentations a few years ago.

    Virgil Sweet Awards

Three to receive 2025 'Virgil Sweet Award' from IBCA

Welter, Rakestraw, Brochin to be honored by coaches' group for contributions to basketball

            Three individuals with significant ties to Indiana high school basketball will be recognized with Virgil Sweet Awards from the Indiana Basketball Coaches Association in 2025, it was announced Monday (March 17).

            Harold Welter of WKVI Radio in Knox, Greg Rakestraw of the ISC Sports Network in Indianapolis and Mark Brochin of WWBL Radio in Washington are the recipients of this year's awards. One person is honored from each IHSAA district -- Welter in District 1, Rakestraw in District 2 and Brochin in District 3.

            Virgil Sweet Awards are presented to those who have provided meritorious service in the promotion of basketball across Indiana. The award is named in honor of Sweet, a former Valparaiso High School basketball coach and executive director of the IBCA from 1974 through 1984. Sweet passed away on June 7, 2023.

            This is the 50th year that the IBCA has presented an award or awards for service to basketball beyond coaching. A single winner was named from 1974 through 1979. Multiple winners have been named from 1980 to the present, although no winners were named in 1991 (no clinic was held that year) or 2021 (when the 2020 winners were honored because of the COVID-19 pandemic).

            A list of winners from over the years -- plus a bio of Virgil Sweet -- are beneath the biographies of the 2025 winners.

            This year's awards will be presented as part of the 2025 IBCA Clinic on April 24-25 at Mt. Vernon High School in Fortville, Ind. For more information about the IBCA, go to in.nhsbca.org.

            Here is more information about each Sweet Award honoree for 2025.

Harold Welter

  Harold Welter has been best-known as a play-by-play announcer who began covering high school sports in 1965 at WRIN Radio in Rensselaer and continued at WLOI Radio in LaPorte. Over 57 years and in part of six decades, he broadcast more than 3,500 sporting events, traveling more than 250,000 miles to 147 different locations to call games. 

            Since establishing WKVI Radio in Knox as its first general manager at age 24, Welter has concentrated on covering high school sports at nine area schools – Knox, North Judson, Oregon-Davis, Winamac, West Central, John Glenn, Culver Community, South Central (Union Mills) and Tri-Township (formerly known as LaCrosse). Welter’s radio play-by-play on WKVI has been featured on ABC-TV’s “NightLine” and his signature shout of “unbelievable” when witnessing exciting plays has been a familiar refrain for three generations of players in the Kankakee Valley area.

            Welter stepped away from his radio career in 1973 to become a congressional assistant in Washington, D.C. He returned to Knox in 1975 to start Financial Partners of Knox LLC and to return to the airwaves on WKVI. Welter has also covered college sports, but his main focus has been high school sports. He has done play-by-play for basketball, football, baseball, softball, volleyball and wrestling.

            He also has hosted the “Saturday Sportsline” coaches’ interview show on WKVI for more than 50 years with guests including six Hall of Fame coaches. He continues to contribute to the Saturday show by interviewing players he has covered with a weekly segment called “Where Are They Now?” He has used radio sportscasting as a positive vehicle for listeners and for promoting young people. He has taught classes for high school-age students at his church and frequently speaks with high school classes about life’s challenges and their destination of greatness.

            Welter received an IHSAA Distinguished Media Service Award in 1989-90. The 1963 Knox High School graduate was inducted into the school’s Athletic Hall of Fame in 1994. He received the Broadcaster of the Year Award in 2004 from the Indiana Football Coaches Association, which was memorialized in the Congressional Record for the 108th Congress by Indiana representative Steve Buyer. Welter also was inducted into the Indiana Sportswriters & Sportscasters Association Hall of Fame in 2023.

            He and his wife, Becky, have four children, Susan, Laura, Cheryl and Nathan – and five grandchildren. Cheryl was killed in an auto accident the night before homecoming during her senior year of high school. In memory of her, Welter and his wife established the Cheryl Lyn Welter Charitable Foundation to help teachers who work with underprivileged children in rural Indiana schools. Welter published a book in 2024, “Joy in the Mourning (Growing Through Grief),” which tells Cheryl’s story and the story of how and why the Foundation was established.

Greg Rakestraw

   Greg Rakestraw's love of Indiana high school basketball began in kindergarten when his beloved Lanesville Eagles had one of their best seasons in school history, going 18-3. Even an opening-night sectional loss to end that magical season couldn't dampen Rakestraws's love for high school hoops. Neither would a 2-19 finish the following season.

            Rakestraw was hooked – and has been for the past 43 years.

            Rakestraw's playing days at Lanesville only lasted two seasons before he turned his athletic exploits to focusing on baseball and tennis, the latter being the sport he played collegiately at the University of Indianapolis. But Rakestraw would stay connected to basketball at LHS by serving as the mascot, the public address announcer and writing about the team for the school newspaper and yearbook.

            Once Rakestraw made the move to Indianapolis in the fall of 1994, his basketball horizons expanded to quickly serve as one of the voices of U of I games on WICR radio. Before graduating from UIndy in 1998, Rakestraw began working on Johnson County high school basketball broadcasts on WPZZ Radio based in Franklin, which eventually led him to being named the program director of what would become ESPN 950 in Indianapolis in the summer of 2002.

            At that point, Rakestraw began to leave a greater impact on the high school sports scene in Indianapolis as live high school play-by-play was a staple of what 950 would broadcast on a regular basis. He served as the voice of Roncalli High School football for four years, including three state championship appearances. He also called IUPUI men’s basketball, home and road, for nine seasons.

            Rakestraw moved to HomeTown Sports in 2009, where his focus shifted to multiple high school sports, including basketball. He served as the television play-by-play voice for the Class A and Class 2A boys' basketball State Finals in 2010, and he has been on the call of at least two basketball state championship games every year since (except 2020 when no boys’ basketball title games were played because of COVID). Over the past 25 years, he has called more than 200 IHSAA state championship events, including basketball, football, volleyball, baseball, softball, soccer and wrestling.

            These days, Rakestraw serves as vice president of the ISC Sports Network, which produces more than 50 telecasts a year on WNDY-TV in Indianapolis. He also serves as the lead voice of the IHSAA Champions Network in terms of play-by-play and hosting numerous pairings show, is the preseason voice of Indianapolis Colts games on television and has been the voice of the Indy Eleven since the franchise was founded in 2014. In basketball alone, Rakestraw calls more than 100 games each year, ranging from high school regular-season games, high school tournament games, college games and all-star events such as the Indiana-Kentucky All-Star series.

            Twice a winner of the Marv Bates Award as Sportscaster of the Year from the Indiana Sportswriters & Sportscasters Association, in 2015 and again in 2020, Rakestraw also was recognized as the National Sports Media Association’s Indiana Sportscaster of the Year for 2023.

            Rakestraw and his wife, Amy, have been happily married for more than 25 years. Together, they raise their daughter, Mia, and son, Jack, in the Broad Ripple area.

Mark Brochin

  Mark Brochin is a retired sportscaster from southwest Indiana, working in the field from 1971 to 2021. He moved to Washington in 1982, covering games and doing local sports updates for 39 years. He worked mainly for The Original Company, which owned 12 radio stations in Indiana and Illinois and was the state’s largest radio group to carry high school sports. His primary duties were with WWBL “The Bullet,” where he produced and delivered 10 sportscasts each day on three Original Company stations.

            Throughout his career he was a play-by-play announcer for more than 2,000 contests, including boys’ basketball, girls’ basketball, football, baseball, softball, wrestling and swimming. Brochin often was a one-man crew, keeping his own statistics while calling the games and conducting interviews. He also provided color commentary for an additional 500 contests and was a part of boys’ basketball and girls’ basketball State Finals broadcasts in 26 different years. He also did spot reporting for golf, cross country, volleyball and tennis and wrote a weekly sports column for the Tri County News for several years.

            In addition, Brochin was an IHSAA licensed official in basketball and recently was a starter for an IHSAA golf regional  held at Country Oaks Golf Course in Montgomery, Ind.

            Brochin was a recipient of the IHSAA Distinguished Media Service Award in 2011-12. He counts that as one of the greatest professional honors he has received.

            A 1974 graduate of Connersville High School and a 1978 graduate of Indiana University with a bachelor’s degree in telecommunications, Brochin started in broadcasting in 1971 while a sophomore at Connersville and was part of the radio crew that called the Spartans’ 1972 IHSAA  boys’ basketball state championship. During his last two years in high school, he was on the news and sports broadcast crew for Connersville Cable TV, which was the first agreement in the nation between a high school and a cable partner. He later announced games for radio stations in Rushville, Columbus, Vincennes, Petersburg, Linton and Evansville. In addition, he broadcast games in Illinois, Missouri and Oklahoma, but the majority of his career has been in Daviess County, Indiana.

            In retirement, he volunteers at Daviess Community Hospital, Eastgate Manor Nursing and Rehab Center, Daviess County Friends For Animals and Our Lady of Hope Catholic Church. He also works part time at Country Oaks Golf Course, bowls in two leagues and continues to golf whenever possible. He is entering his 43rd consecutive season as a member of the Washington Men's Golf League.

            Brochin and his wife, Patricia, are parents of two adult children, Andrew and Elizabeth, each a multi-sport athlete at Washington Catholic High School. Their first grandchild is due this summer.

* * *

Virgil Sweet Award winners

            Virgil Sweet Award winners, as presented by the Indiana Basketball Coaches Association from 1974-present. One winner per year, 1974-1979. Generally, five winners per year from 1980-2003 when the IHSAA was in a five-district format. Three to eight winners per year from 2004-present when IHSAA has been in a three-district format. The award initially was called the IBCA Medal Award. The name was changed to the IBCA Service Award in 1978. The name was changed to the IBCA Virgil Sweet Award in 1986.

            1974: Tom Carnegie.

            1975: Bob Williams.

            1976: Nate Kaufman.

            1977: Hilliard Gates.

            1978: Marion Crawley.

            1979: Marv Bates (posthumously).

            1980: Doug Adams (District 1); Len Davis (District 2); Jerry Baker (District 3); John Jordan (District 4); Bob Simmers (District 5).

            1981: Terry Lee (District 1); Jack Yaggy (District 2); Otis Bowen (District 3); Bob Barnet (District 4); Joe Edwards (District 5).

            1982: Bob King (District 1); Forrest Miller (District 2); Dave Pert (District 3); Herbie Houk (District 4); Richard Lankford (District 5).

            1983: Dave Krider (District 1); Earl Mishler (District 2); Patricia Roy (District 3); Sam Simmermaker (District 4); Norman Hall (District 5).

            1984: Pinky Newell (District 1); Herb Swartz (District 2); Don Jellison (District 3); Morry Mannies (District 4); Whitey Jones (District 5).

            1985: Virgil Sweet (District 1); Joe Smekens (District 2); Charlie Maas (District 3); Sam Roberts (District 4); Bob Hammel (District 5).

            1986: Harry Bradway (District 1); Hilliard Gates (District 2); Jimmie Angelopolous and Ron Harris (District 3); Don McBride (District 4); John Potts (District 5).

            1987: Bill Overholser (District 1); Bill Fowler (District 2); Howard Catt (District 3); Orvis "Shorty" Burdsall (District 4); Lloyd E. "Barney" Scott (District 5).

            1988: Paul Rommelmann (District 1); Gene Conard (District 2); Jerry Baker (District 3); Eric Wohlford (District 4); Bob Simmers (District 5). 

            1989: Doug Adams (District 1); Bob Straight (District 2); Don Bates (District 3); Phil Stigelman (District 4); Guy Glover (District 5).

            1990: Skip Collins (District 1); Bud Gallmeier (District 2); Betty Sizelove (District 3); Gus Moorhead (District 4); Bob Lochmueller (District 5).

            1991: no awards presented (no clinic program held this year).

            1992: Joe Heath (District 1); Ken Klimek (District 2); Garry Donna (District 3); Phil Buck (District 4); Bud Ritter (District 5).

            1993: John Mutka (District 1); Leroy Lambright (District 2); Ray Craft (District 3); Ron Lemasters (District 4); Charlie Jenkins (District 5).

            1994: Mildred Ball (District 1); Bob Primmer (District 2); Tom Carnegie (District 3); Ted Server (District 4); George Marshall (District 5).

            1995: Earl Mishler (District 1); By Hey (District 2); Kurt Freudenthal (District 3); Harold Schutz (District 4); Temme Patterson (District 5).

            1996: Paul Condry (District 1); Greg Johans (District 2); Wayne Fuson (District 3); Jan Clark (District 4); Mike Blake (District 5).

            1997: Paul Jankowski (District 1); David Fulkerson (District 2); Gene Conard (District 3); John Robbins (District 4); Dan Korb (District 5).

            1998: Wally McCormack (District 1); Dick Stimpson (District 2); Bill Pfister (District 3); Ron Raver (District 4); Mike Barrett (District 5).

            1999: Forrest Rhode (District 1); Dennis Kraft (District 2); Jim Rosenstihl (District 3); Phil Snodgress (District 4); Robert “Bud” Shippee (District 5).

            2000: Jeff Washburn (District 1); Rita Price Simpson (District 2); Howard Sharpe (District 3); Scott Davidson and Jeff Ayler (District 4); Larry Schweizer (District 5).

            2001: Curt Casbon (District 1); Fred Inniger (District 2); Gene Cato (District 3); Bob Lovell (District 4); Brian Bohne (District 5).

            2002: Marvin Tudor (District 1); Jack Woodruff (District 2); Jim Russell (District 3); John Hodge (District 4); Tom Collins (District 5).

            2003: Paul Curtis (District 1); Dean Pantazi (District 2); Vince Welch (District 3); George Griffith (District 4); Jack Butcher (District 5).

            2004: Ron Heflin and Dan Swift (District 1); Patrick Aikman and Pat McKee (District 2); Richard Lankford, Donna Sullivan and Graham Taylor (District 3).

            2005: Keith Nuest and Elmer Strautman (District 1); Bill Benner and Gene Keady (District 2); Walt Ferber (District 3).

            2006: Homer Drew and Mike Hey (District 1); Gene Milner and Herb Schwomeyer (District 2); Dan Egierski and Orlando "Gunner" Wyman (District 3).

            2007: Anthony Anderson, Tom Rehm and Dan Willett (District 1); Dave Calabro and Judi Warren (District 2); Cliff Guilliams and Kurt Gutgsell (District 3).

            2008: Chip Jones and Fred Mitchell (District 1); Roger Dickinson and Bob Kirkhoff (District 2); Chris James and Jason Recker (District 3).

            2009: Bob Adams (District 1); Greg Bell and Leigh Evans (District 2); Bob Boyles, John Harrell and Jeff Sagarin (District 3).

            2010: Stu Swartz, Jackie and Cory Webster (District 1); Larry Barrett and Ed Siegel (District 2); Hugh Schaefer (District 3).

            2011: Mark Smith (District 1); Mike Beas (District 2); Charles Denbo (District 3).

            2012: Al Hamnik and Greg Jones (District 1); Dr. John McCarroll, Robin Miller and Dick Rea (District 2); Curt Cavin, Arv Koontz and Pete Swanson (District 3).

            2013: Joe Arredondo and Wayne Svetanoff (District 1); Rich Nye (District 2); Keith Doades and John Heaton (District 3).

            2014: Chuck Freeby, Steve Hanlon and Bob Nagle (District 1); Danny Danielson and Charlie Hughes (District 2); Andy Graham and Johnny McCrory (District 3).

            2015: Tommy Schoegler and Bob Stambazze (District 1); Mark Morrow and Kyle Neddenriep (District 2); Bryce Kendrick (District 3).

            2016: John Dillman and Jerry Hoover (District 1); Dan Repass and Bill Uhrig (District 2); Kevin Smith (District 3).

            2017: Phil Gardner and Mike Lightfoot (District 1); John Grimes and Paul Patterson (District 2); Bob Bridge (District 3).

            2018: Wayne Kreiger (District 1); Terry Downham (District 2); Walt Raines (District 3).

            2019: Bill Walker (District 1); Charlie Hall (District 2); Larry Goffinet (District 3).

            2020: Jim Peters (District 1); Mike Carmin (District 2); Gordon Engelhardt (District 3).

            2021: no winners named (winners from 2020 honored in 2021 because of COVID-19 pandemic).

            2022: Dan Vance (District 1); Randy Shields (District 2); Andy Amey (District 3).

            2023: Roger Grossman (District 1); Denise McClanahan (District 2); Mike Lopresti (District 3).

            2024: Angelo Di Carlo (District 1); Craig Lyon (District 2); Rick Semmler (District 3).

            2025: Harold Welter (District 1); Greg Rakestraw (District 2); Mark Brochin (District 3).

* * *

Virgil Sweet bio

            Virgil Sweet was a part of the Indiana Basketball Coaches Association since the group’s inception in 1970 and an award is named after him. However, not everyone may recall what an outstanding coach Sweet was for 20 years at Valparaiso High School.

            A 1945 graduate of Covington High School, Sweet played basketball on a team that reached the Indianapolis Semi-State and lost 39-38 to Rushville as a senior. He initially went to Butler and played one year of football for Tony Hinkle, then transferred to Eastern Illinois and played football and baseball for the Panthers. He graduated from EIU in 1950 and later earned a master’s degree from Indiana University.

            Sweet began his basketball coaching career as an assistant coach to Don Reichert for one season at Covington. Sweet became varsity coach for three seasons at Westville (Ill.) before moving to Valparaiso as the varsity coach from 1954-74. His Vikings won 296 games over those 20 seasons, going 48-6 in sectional contests, claiming 14 sectional titles – including 11 in a row – and twice reached the final eight of the state tournament.

            In 23 seasons as a varsity coach, including the three years at Westville, Sweet’s teams won 342 games.

            Sweet’s teams at Valparaiso were noted for their excellent free-throw shooting, largely because of 20-step system that became known as the “Valparaiso Free-Throw Method.” His 1963-64 squad shot .792 for the season, then a national high school record. He coached two high school All-Americans, 54 players who played college basketball and 16 players who became coaches. Sweet was inducted into the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame in 1987.

            After retiring as a coach, Sweet was chairman of the Valparaiso physical education department and served as the IBCA executive director from 1974 through 1984 after assisting Marion Crawley with the group for a year. He then retired from teaching and moved to Florida, where he had a successful second career in real estate.

            Sweet’s wife of 47 years, Paralee, passed away in 1999. They had two daughters, Shari and Sandy, three grandchildren and three great-grandchildren. Sweet remained active until his passing, regularly playing tennis and attending the IBCA Clinic almost every year through 2019.

            Sweet was 96 years old when he passed away on June 7, 2023.

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Gene Milner

IBCA Website Coordinator