Robert "Fuzzy" Vandivier
Athlete
Inducted: July 2, 1986
Fourth Annual Induction Ceremony
Las Vegas, Nevada
(The following appeared in that year’s HOF induction program)
In a state that has produced two other High School Hall of Fame members - Oscar Robertson and Rick Mount - the late Fuzzy Vandivier was perhaps the forerunner of the state's best all-time basketball players.
Vandivier has been called the greatest player in Indiana basketball history, so says one John Wooden, who, along with Vandivier, Robertson, George McGinnis and Homer Stonebraker, is on the all-time all-Indiana team.
Vandivier led Franklin High School to an 89-9 record and three consecutive state championships (1920-22), the only school in Indiana prep history to accomplish that feat. After enjoying equal success at Franklin College, Vandivier returned to Franklin High, where he was the school's athletic director and coach for 18 years. As a coach, his teams won 14 of 18 sectional tournaments and reached the state championship game one time.
Vandivier was elected to the Indiana High School Basketball Hall of Fame in 1962 and the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in 1975, in recognition of his outstanding ability as a player in high school and college.
Born in 1905 in Franklin, he is now deceased.
