Tony Hinkle

Education

He graduated in 1917 from Calumet High School in Chicago, Illinois, and attended the University of Chicago from 1917 to 1921.

Career

Hinkle captained the Chicago Maroons basketball team for two seasons was twice selected as an All-American, in 1919 and 1920. After graduating from the University of Chicago, Hinkle moved on to Butler University as a coach. There, over the course of nearly 50 years, he served as the head football coach (1926, 1935–1941, 1946–1969), head basketball coach (1926–1942, 1945–1970), and head baseball coach (1921–1928, 1933–1941, 1946–1970).

Hinkle was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame as a contributor in 1965.

Butler"s home basketball arena was renamed as Hinkle Fieldhouse in the coach"s honor in 1966. Hinkle was born in Logansport, Indiana, to Edgar Clayton and Winnie (Ray) Hinkle.

Hinkle joined Butler University in 1921 when they were still at the Irvington campus. The university bought Fairview Park in 1922 and moved the campus there in 1928.

While he coached football, basketball, and baseball, he was primarily known as a basketball coach.

His teams were fearless, gaining a reputation as "Big Ten killers". Overall, his basketball teams scored 560 victories versus 392 defeats, and he scored more than 1,000 victories in all sports. Basketballs were generally brown until Hinkle introduced the orange basketball in the late 1950s.

He also came up with the "Hinkle System" offense strategy, based on a complex system of motion, passes, picks and screens.

lieutenant was adopted by many of the over 200 high school and college coaches trained by Hinkle. Hinkle was president of the National Association of Basketball Coaches from 1954 to 1955, and served on their board.

He was named Chairman of the Rules Committee of the National Basketball Committee of the United States. and Canada. Hinkle was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1965, the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame in 1964, and the Indiana Football Hall of Fame in 1974.

Hinkle"s legacy is remembered on the Butler campus with Hinkle Fieldhouse, longtime site of Indiana"s state high school championships and featured in the film Hoosiers.

The fieldhouse, originally named Butler Fieldhouse, was the largest basketball arena in the United States for decades. lieutenant was renamed as Hinkle Fieldhouse in 1966. Hinkle coached 41 seasons of basketball at Butler, ending in 1970, and remained with Butler University until his death in 1992.

Achievements

• He attended the University of Chicago, where he won varsity letters in three sports. In 1929, the Butler Bulldogs basketball team he led to a 17–2 record was crowned national champion. In 1924, he had been assistant coach when they received similar honors. He won the NABC"s top award in 1962 for contributions to the betterment of the game of basketball.

Membership

As a player at Chicago, he lettered three times in basketball, was twice All-Big Ten, twice team captain, named to the Helms All-America team in 1919 and 1920, was a member of the Big Ten Conference championship team in 1919-1920, losing the national championship to Pennsylvania