Each year the IBCA Board of Directors selects individuals from each of the three IBCA Districts to receive the Virgil Sweet Distinguished Service Award. The award, named in honor of the longtime former Executive Director of the IBCA, is given to individuals who have provided meritorious service in the promotion of basketball in the state of Indiana.
Al Hamnik
District I
Al Hamnik is a sports journalist who has long served the readers of northwest Indiana, the past 18 years with The Times of Northwest Indiana.
A native of East Chicago, Ind., Hamnik graduated from Griffith High School in 1965. He then attended Calumet College of St. Joseph in Whiting, Ind., earning degrees in English and journalism.
He began his full-time sportswriting career in 1970 and has covered eight high school boys basketball state championships, 12 high school football state championships, Big Ten football and basketball, Chicago Cubs and Chicago White Sox baseball, the Pan American Games, the U.S. Olympic Track & Field Trials, the Chicago Bulls’ six NBA championships and three Super Bowls (Bears-Patriots, Bears-Colts and Giants-Patriots).
He worked for the Gary Post-Tribune from 1972-94 before moving to The Times of Northwest Indiana as a columnist and sportswriter. Overall, he has described the action for 42 years.
Hamnik was named a winner of the IHSAA Distinguished Media Service Award in 1996-97. He was winner of the Corky Lamm Award as Indiana Sportswriter of the Year in 2003 and the National Sportswriters and Sportscasters Association Indiana Sportswriter of the Year the same year. In 2008, he was inducted into the Indiana Sportswriters & Sportscasters Association Hall of Fame.
Hamnik also has won numerous writing awards from the Hoosier State Press Association, the Society of Professional Journalists, the Indiana Associated Press Managing Editors and the Black Journalists’ Association.
A resident of Highland, Ind., Hamnik is married to Kathy. The couple has one daughter, Rachel.
Greg Jones
District I
Greg Jones has earned tremendous respect and several awards as a professional journalist for more than two decades, the last 13 years at the Fort Wayne Journal-Gazette.
A 1986 graduate of Peru High School, Jones matriculated to Ball State University and earned his bachelor’s degree in 1990. He began his full-time journalism career as a sportswriter from 1990-94 at the Logansport Pharos-Tribune. He followed by serving as sports editor at the Warsaw Times-Union from 1994-98. Jones then moved to the Fort Wayne Journal-Gazette, where he has served as high school sports editor since 1999.
In addition to his reporting duties, Jones oversees and emcees The Journal-Gazette’s twice-a-year athletic banquets and helps direct the annual Nancy Rehm Border Wars All-Star basketball games between Indiana and Ohio high school players.
Jones participated in football and cross country and was a basketball manager in high school. He enjoyed sports, and sportswriting was a way to stay connected to athletics. Through his writing, he was recognized as a Media Award winner by the Indiana High School Baseball Coaches Association in 2002, 2004 and 2008.
Jones and his wife, Michelle, have been married for more than 16 years. They have two children, daughter Emma, 11, and son Riley, 9. In Jones’ free time, he enjoys playing golf, watching movies and spending time with his wife and children.
John R. McCarroll, MD
District II
Dr. John McCarroll has been practicing orthopedic medicine for nearly 40 years. As a lifelong athlete, he knows the frustration of being sidelined by injury and the desire to return to action as soon as possible. He applies that understanding to the practice of orthopedic medicine every day, with every patient, whether they are a professional athlete or a working mom with an active lifestyle.
A founding partner of Methodist Sports Medicine/The Orthopedic Specialists and a fellowship-trained physician, Dr. McCarroll is certified by the American Board of Orthopedic Surgeons. He earned his medical degree from Ohio State University in 1970 and served an orthopedic residency at the Naval Regional Medical Center in Portsmouth, Va. His specialized training in sports medicine came from the University of Oklahoma.
Whether as an all-state player on his high school football team or as a member of the Ohio State baseball team, Dr. McCarroll embraced the spirit of competition and teamwork, something that he continues to nurture today as he works diligently with patients to achieve the most desirable outcome possible.
Dr. McCarroll is active in the local, regional and national soccer community and has been an orthopedic consultant to Indiana University athletic teams for 25 years as well as the long-time team physician for Ben Davis High School. Dr. McCarroll has also served as the team physician for two professional soccer teams, the Indiana Blast and the Indiana Twisters.
In 2009, Dr. McCarroll received the Indiana Soccer Hall of Fame’s Merit award and was honored by Indiana University Athletics for his 26 years of service.
Married with four children and two perfect grandchildren, McCarroll, is a native of Zanesville, Ohio. He is a member of the American College of Sports Medicine, the American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine, the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons, the Indiana Orthopedic Society, the American Medical Association, the International Arthroscopy Association, the International Knee Society and the American Medical Society for Sports Medicine.
His preferred vacation involves 18 holes, a small white ball and a bright yellow sun. When not active in some sporting activity, you’ll most likely find him reading about one in Sports Illustrated, his favorite magazine.
Robin Miller
District II
Robin Miller graduated from Southport High School in 1967, where he served as a student manager for coach Blackie Braden. Miller was described by Braden as “the worst student manager I ever had. All he does is shoot baskets and give away shoes to his buddies.”
Miller then went to Ball State for two quarters and spent a semester at IUPUI before he “got lucky and got hired” by The Indianapolis Star in 1968.
In more than three decades with The Star, Miller covered the Indiana Pacers in their ABA glory days from 1969-72, high school basketball, Indianapolis Caps pro football, Indiana Central University, the Larry Bird days at Indiana State and, of course, the Indianapolis 500.
Racing was Miller’s passion as he worked on Indy 500 pit crews from 1970-78 and drove in USAC races from 1975-83. He began writing a racing column in the mid-1970s and in the mid-1980s became a general sports columnist, writing about the Pacers, Indianapolis Colts, high school and college basketball, and racing.
Miller moved in 2001 to ESPN, where he served as an analyst for "RPM 2Nite" and "SportsCenter" as well as writing for the ESPN web site. He joined SPEED network in 2004 and works as an open-wheel racing reporter/analyst for Indy cars as well as covering IndyCar for NBC Sports.
Single for life, Miller treasures his memories of life at The Star, putting out the paper and writing for the city he grew up in. He hates what they did to the high school tournament but still loves to shoot baskets.
Dick Rea
District II
Dick Rea is a local TV news veteran who has been a part of the central Indiana sports landscape for more than three decades.
The Lafayette native attended Butler University and began working full-time at WISH-TV (Channel 8) after receiving a bachelor’s degree in 1981.
After serving in several capacities for 17 years, Rea left WISH-TV for an opportunity to lead the sports division at WTHR Channel 13. He was the Sports Executive Producer for WTHR through 2003 and relinquished that role to increase his on-air responsibilities at the station.
In 2006, Rea’s career path led him to Methodist Sports Medicine/The Orthopedic Specialists, where he is currently the director of Marketing and Communications. He continues a reduced on-air role at Channel 13 in a freelance capacity.
Rea has resided in Indianapolis his entire adult life, has been married for more than 23 years and has two sons who attend Lawrence Township schools.
Curt Cavin
District III
Curt Cavin is in his 25th year as a sports reporter for The Indianapolis Star. While best known for motor sports coverage, Cavin has invested much of his career in Indiana basketball at the high school and college levels.
His father, Mark, played on a semistate finalist (Lebanon 1961), which explains why Curt's favorite player was Rick Mount. Cavin always has had a passion for the high school tournament, spending sectional nights as a youngster filling out brackets on 3x5 cards.
Covering the 1990 State Finals at the RCA Dome – the year that Damon Bailey and Bedford North Lawrence won the championship – remains one of his favorite moments. Among his proudest endeavors: Writing The Star's famous Shootin' the Stars column and offering input to the Indiana All-Star game director through much of the 1990s.
A Western High School and Franklin College graduate, Cavin lives in Mooresville with his wife, Becky, and children Katie and Quinn.
Arv Koontz
District III
Arv Koontz has been covering high school basketball in Jackson County since 1972 while working for the Seymour Tribune and Jackson County Banner.
He estimates he has covered more than 1,500 games in more than 70 gymnasiums from Connersville to Evansville and from Indianapolis to Corydon and has been on many ice- and snow-covered roads.
Koontz has covered several Indiana All-Stars and all-state players, and numerous Hall of Fame players and coaches. They include Seymour High School graduates Julie VonDielingen and Teri Moren, former Bedford North Lawrence standout Damon Bailey and current college players Kristin Turner and Erin Murphy.
Before coming to Seymour, Koontz covered high school basketball in DeKalb, Ill., for 11 years – meaning he has covered high school sports for 51 years.
Koontz received the IHSAA’s Distinguished Service Media Award in 1989-90 and was the winner of the Indiana Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association Corky Lamm Award as state Sportswriter of the Year in 1990. He also has been honored over the years by the Indiana Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association, the Indiana Football Coaches Association and the Indiana High School Swimming Coaches Association.
During his career, Koontz has covered state meets and tournaments in 14 sports and he was inducted into the Seymour Bowling Hall of Fame as a sportswriter in 1985.
Pete Swanson
District III
Pete Swanson has served the youth of Indiana, Illinois and Ohio as a sports journalist for 57 years, 21 of the past 23 years as sports editor of the Princeton Daily Clarion.
A Chicago native who attended Arlington (Ill.) High School, Swanson earned a journalism degree from the University of Illinois in 1961.
He began writing while in high school for the Arlington Heights (Ill.) Herald, then continued writing while attending college for the Champaign (Ill.) News-Gazette and Champaign-Urbana (Ill.) Courier. He worked briefly for the Chicago City News Bureau in 1961 before moving to the Elyria (Ohio) Chronicle-Telegram from 1961-65. He had a brief tenure with the Lima (Ohio) News in 1965, then shifted to a long stop with the Evansville Sunday Courier & Press from 1965-86.
Swanson was a freelance writer only from 1986-88, then accepted the position as sports editor of the Princeton Daily Clarion on Jan. 2, 1989. He served in that role through March 2006 before a 23-month retirement. He returned as the PDC sports editor in March 2008 and remains active in that role covering Princeton, Gibson Southern and Wood Memorial high schools, Oakland City University and other Gibson County sports at all levels.
During his tenure in Evansville, Swanson covered Southern Illinois prep sports and many other events, including Double-A Southern League baseball when Evansville had that from 1966-68; and Triple-A American Association baseball when Evansville had that from 1970-84. He also served as a correspondent for The Sporting News from 1966-86 as well as president of the American Association Baseball Writers from August 1974 until August 1975.
Swanson won first place in an Ohio UPI statewide sportswriting contest in 1962, second place in an Indiana sportswriting contest in 1985 and was inducted into the Illinois Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Fame in April 1986. He received the IHSAA Distinguished Media Service Award in 2000 and a Media Award from the Indiana High School Baseball Coaches Association in 2011. He also was recognized with a “Pete Swanson Day” in Princeton in October 2003.
Swanson, 73, is the son of Paul and Florence DeMack Swanson. He has been married for more than 17 years to his wife, Donna. He has one son, Paul, principal at West Elementary School in Mount Vernon, Ind.; two step-sons, Carl and Chris Fenwick; and three grandchildren.
