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Huter's influence went beyond basketball court
GREENCASTLE -- Two-time Kentucky state champion. Four hundred forty eight wins as varsity basketball coach. Forty seven years as an educator. Kentucky Colonel. Sagamore of the Wabash.
Looking back on the life of "Coach" Jim Huter, who passed away on Jan. 30, the list of accomplishments goes on and on.
It's easy to get caught up in them.
But when speaking about any good man -- particularly a teacher -- the truth isn't in the numbers. Instead, the story comes from those he guided and inspired.
And inspire he did, as a teacher, coach, administrator, mentor and father.
"He really let us know that we could be whatever we wanted, no matter what," said daughter Jill McCammack, one of Huter's six children.
McCammack and older sister Judi Huter followed in their father's footsteps and became teachers. Jill teaches fifth grade at Fillmore Elementary, while Judi is an English teacher at Terre Haute South High School.
"He gave us an appreciation of education," McCammack said. "He never pushed us. He actually said, 'Are you sure you want to go into education?'"
While her dad warned McCammack teaching wasn't a path to riches, he also told her it could be a fulfilling career if one was cut out for it. She saw the way he enjoyed what he did.
"Not a whole lot of people can say that they enjoy going to work. Sometimes it's just a job. But he showed us that if we really got into it, we could enjoy what we did. That's a rare occasion, I think," McCammack said. "I think just knowing that he enjoyed doing what he did led me to what I wanted to do. It was a passion for him; it wasn't just, 'Well, I gotta go to work.' I wanted to make sure that I was able to do something like that."
As a teacher and coach, Huter's sphere of influence extended well beyond his own home.
In three years as varsity boys' basketball coach at Greencastle, Huter's record was sub-.500 (30-38), but he helped rebuild the program with a young squad, and led the Tiger Cubs to two sectional finals.
Jim Spencer played two years for Huter at GHS. He then followed in the coach's footsteps, teaching and coaching at both Greencastle and North Putnam.
He currently teaches social and coaches track at North Putnam. He is an assistant coach for DePauw's men's basketball team.
Through Spencer, Huter's practice habits had a profound effect on players several generations younger than the coach.
"We ran an unbelievable amount of sprints in practice with Coach Huter," Spencer said. "I thought he was crazy at the beginning, but then I noticed how much easier the second and fourth quarters were for us than our opponents and I begin to believe in the sprints. Anyone that played for Coach Huter can probably still remember the distance and the time to beat for each day of the week.
"I believe that extensive conditioning has been a very important part of the success of the teams I coached in high school," he added. "So I guess my former players can put the blame on Coach Huter, not me, for the insane amount of conditioning they experienced in high school."
Spencer said Huter chose to get young players to the varsity level as quickly as possible. In this way, he helped build the program for the coming years.
"I always started and played many freshman at the varsity level," Spencer said. "This allows you to make a run for state when these players are juniors and seniors because of their extensive experience."
During the largest part of his time in Putnam County, the man known to many simply as "Coach" was, in fact, not a coach. After three years at Greencastle, he spent 17 years as South Putnam High School's athletic director before retiring in 1994.
Current SPHS principal Kieth Puckett coached boys' basketball during Huter's tenure. He remembers Huter as a great advocate for the school.
"Boy, was he a defender of South Putnam," Puckett said. "Probably the thing he did best for us was represented us statewide, conference-wide, countywide. He defended South Putnam and took care of our interests."
Having such an accomplished coach for a boss was of great benefit to Puckett as a basketball coach.
"He would come through practice, and without even trying to tell me things or teach me things, I would learn from him," Puckett said. "Just in having general discussions about players and asking, 'What do you think about this kid?' he would point something out that I had never seen.
"He gave me a phrase, 'Have them keep the ball above their elbows,' and it just served me really well. (It was) little things like that, that a veteran knows," Puckett added.
Huter drew people to him, and it was about a lot more than basketball. Anyone with "Coach" stories talks about the way he always seemed to be in a crowd.
"He was one of the most positive, outgoing citizens Greencastle has had," Greencastle City Councilor Jinsie Bingham said recently. "I never saw him standing alone. He just had a magical power that people just gravitated toward him."
His family remembers this quality with amusement.
McCammack said in going to an Indiana University game or a Colts game, her dad always seemed to find someone he knew.
"My kids will tell you that, no matter where we would go, he met somebody that knew him," McCammack said. "The standing joke was, you had to go there at least an hour early. If you didn't, you'd never make it to your sporting event before halftime because he knew so many people."
That magnetism must spring from the glowing descriptions everyone seems to have of the coach. Terms like "good man" and "caring" and "gentleman" come up a lot.
"I'm honored to count him as one of my mentors in life -- and not just in sports, in life," Puckett said. "He really was a gentleman, knew his manners and knew how to do the right thing at the right time."
"He was always there to offer advice and support and I greatly enjoyed talking with him about sports. And he was very interested in my children as students and athletes," Spencer said. "Additionally, he remained very informed about Putnam County athletes and took a great interest in the success of all student athletes, regardless of their sport or high school."
The most fitting way to remember the man might just be in a few simple words from a loving daughter.
"He was just a good man. That's not easy to say about a lot of people," McCammack said.