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Five inductees finally get their due in GHS Athletic Hall of Fame
Four Greencastle High School athletes of the 1950s and ’60s are now getting their due, with a fifth soon to be added to their number.
As all-state athletes, Gilbert Brown (class of 1959), Raymond “Wheaties” Churchill (1967), Louis Luzar (1967) and DeWayne “Pete” Norris (1968), have now all taken their place alongside the dozens of other GHS Athletic Hall of Fame members whose plaques line the wall just west of the gym in McAnally Center.
Elliott Williams (1965) will also be joining them soon.
Plaques for the first four were mounted alongside their earlier and later counterparts this fall, while a plaque for Williams is on the way.
How it is they came to be overlooked is a bit more of a mystery. But efforts by Norris, Greencastle Athletic Director Doug Greenlee and research from a couple of anonymous GHS alumni have made right.
Norris, whose older brother Steve was already on the wall as the 1962 state champion in the high jump, began getting interested in the matter.
Trying to recall things from his sophomore season more than 50 years earlier, Norris began doing some online research, finding archives of old Daily Banner articles. It was an era when Greencastle athletes, and Norris himself, really came into their own.
“When I played, the thing I was most proud of was we won,” Norris said. “I got really involved in reading the old articles. I really couldn’t believe how much I had accomplished when I was in high school.”
It was at this time Norris began digging in more, though. He knew that he had once held the school record for rebounds in a game at 34, but that was no longer reflected in the record book, with a later total in the 20s listed as the record.
He also learned that there was a Hall of Fame that several athletes of his era and earlier — Brown, who was his uncle; Churchill, who is cousin; and teammate Luzar all sprung quickly to mind.
“I felt like I needed to get those folks in the hall of fame,” Norris said.
Having quickly found the Daily Banner article regarding his rebounding record, that was cleared up, with Greenlee changing the record.
As for the Hall of Fame, Greenlee began working with a couple of local alumni who researched the matter and found that all four men, as well as Williams, as it was discovered later, were deserving.
“It came to my attention that there were some highly-qualified people who were missing,” Greenlee said.
What’s most troubling, though, is that there isn’t exactly a guideline of what qualifies for the “Hall of Fame.”
The display started as a “Wall of Champions” 40 years ago when Lisa Allen was the state champion in the 800-meter.
Others from earlier were subsequently added: Ray Sears won four track state championships for GHS between 1925 and 1927; Pete’s older brother Steve Norris won the state title in the high jump in 1962.
Likewise, later champions have been added, including Andy Weatherford’s back-to-back state titles in the 1,600-meter run in 2005 and 2006 and Emma Wilson’s five track and cross country state titles in 2017 and 2018.
While there are many others who have been named all-state in a variety of sports, Greenlee hopes to set specific standards for inclusion.
“As athletic director, I’m trying to establish criteria,” Greenlee said. “I’m looking at what other schools do. I went to Plainfield, and they have on the wall their criteria.”
Once he has a solid idea, he plans to take it to the rest of the athletic council, which includes himself and the head coaches, for approval.
For the cases at hand, though, Greenlee said there is no need for further review.
“There’s no question that these guys have met the criteria,” Greenlee said. “It was a simply case of being overlooked, but thanks to a couple of Greencastle grads, we can make it right.”
Gilbert Brown, 1958
All-State Football, RB
Brown, who passed away eight years ago, was not one to talk about his accomplishments to his three children, instead focusing on their academics and athletics.
For that reason, daughter Shalisa Wilridge was surprised when she learned of her father’s induction.
“I was at a loss for words,” Wilridge said. “I’ve always heard of how athletic he was. I see the high school yearbook and hear the stories, but I wasn’t there at the time. When I heard it, that was awesome.”
One thing he did relate, though, was the toll playing football took on his body.
“I do know that he didn’t want to play any more after high school because he told me how bad his body hurt,” Wilridge said. “He did tell me that he would tell the quarterback, ‘Hey, could you get it to somebody else because I’m tired.’”
However, younger cousin Pete Norris recalls Brown as the “tone-setter” for the bigger successes GHS athletes had in the late 1960s.
After high school, he was drafted into the U.S. Army before returning to Greencastle and working at IBM, eventually relocating to Harrisburg, Pa., when the plant closed.
He later retired to Arizona, where he did landscaping and painted.
“All of his children have come out with pretty strong genes from him. We all are artistic in some way,” Wilridge said.
Raymond ‘Wheaties’ Churchill, 1967
All-America Football, All-State Football, RB
Track State Finalist, 100-yard dash
Churchill recalls taking part in sports as just a given in his family, where uncles, cousins and others had all played.
But none of them had done as well as “Wheaties,” who went so far as to earn All-American honors and earn a football scholarship to the University of Iowa.
He remembers his first three years of high school football as “pretty miserable, with GHS taking its lumps in the old Western Indiana Conference that also featured Brazil, Clinton and several Terre Haute schools.
“Those schools were really tough,” he said, though things changed his senior year “We started winning football games. We were pretty good. We started beating our rivals.”
The Tiger Cubs ultimately went 6-0 and beat Clinton for the title.
And Churchill was a huge part of that, earning all-state and All-American honors, as well as playing in the very first North-South All-Star Game.
“I was elected co-captain,” he recalled. “That was a great honor, just to play against some of the best players in the state.”
From there, Churchill went on to Iowa, where he played for two years, even starting as a defensive back as a sophomore. However, he decided to leave football behind and take an academic scholarship, graduating in accounting.
He moved from Iowa to California in 1971, where he earned an MBA from USC before going to law school.
“As it turned out, I could be a lawyer longer than I could play sports,” Churchill said. “It’s been a good career. I enjoyed it. I think I’ve had a very successful life, stemming from those days in Greencastle. Playing sports taught me to work hard and sacrifice yourself for the team.”
Even 55 years after his senior year of high school, he’s honored to be a part of the Hall of Fame..
“I look at it as the icing on the cake. I had a great career at Greencastle and it feels good to be recognized as part of that group, the Hall of Fame,”Churchill said. “I’m very satisfied with it and happy about it. There have been a lot of athletes to go through Greencastle High School.
“I just wish my parents were alive to experience it.”
Louis Luzar, 1967
All-State Football, LB/FB
A backfield mate of Churchill, Luzar also earned a Division I scholarship to play at Miami University in Ohio.
He passed away in 2015 at age 66.
“I know Louie had tremendous respect for Pete and Wheaties,” younger brother Jim said. “I think he would be very pleased that they are now formally recognized for what they accomplished. My family is honored that Louie has been recognized, as may great athletes share that wall with him.”
Jim Luzar noted that he has had the chance to follow Greencastle athletics over the years and knows it’s no small task to be named among the very best to wear the purple and gray.
“I’ve followed some of the other athletes that have been named so it’s a real honor to be listed and mentioned with those athletes,” Jim said. “It’s very heartfelt because there are a lot of good athletes in that hall of fame.”
The younger Luzar also noted that Norris had kept him up to date regarding the process of getting the men enshrined and said Louie was one of the classmates he really respected.
The respect flows the other way from the Luzar family as well.
“My sister was in Pete’s class and talked about how those guys were athletes but also scholars,” Jim said. “I think Pete and Raymond, looking a their careers, it’s very satisfying and pleasing that they’ve been named. My brother Louie had a lot of respect for them as well.”
DeWayne ‘Pete’ Norris, 1968
All-State Football, QB
Track State Finalist, Long Jump
All-State Basketball
The man whose curiosity got the ball rolling on this Hall of Fame process, Norris was not only an excellent individual athlete but part of some excellent teams at GHS, alongside Churchill, Luzar and others, as they captured their first WIC title in basketball his sophomore year and their first football title is junior year.
“Then we come back my senior year, we went all the way to the Sweet 16,” Norris said. “My class was a class of winners. So to me it’s important that maybe those teams should be in the hall of fame too.”
After high school, Norris went to Eastern New Mexico to play basketball, where he was part of an NAIA title-winning team.
He later returned to Greencastle and taught for a year before moving west with Churchill.
He ran recreational programs in Pasadena, Calif., then later worked with youth in Sacramento, becoming a teacher and principal.
Even when he opened a barbecue restaurant, he tried to use it as a way to train at-risk youth.
Then when his a career allowed him to travel, he could get back to Greencastle often and helped found the Family Youth & Community Development Program, now known as the Bob Bottoms Community Center.
While programming has declined at the center over the years, Norris has plans to found a museum at the site documenting the history of African Americans in Greencastle.
“A lot of people don’t know that there were a lot of African American families in the South End and they were doing things,” Norris said.
Elliott Williams, 1965
All-State Track, High Jump
Though his plaque is not technically on the wall yet, Elliott Williams will soon join the Hall of Fame for his accomplishments on the track.
In 1964, he placed second in the IHSAA State Finals in the high jump, having placed second to the same man, Ted Sweatt of Terre Haute Wiley, at sectional, regional and state.
“He was my nemesis,” Williams said. “I’m 5’11, and he’s 6’5 or 6’6.”
But that’s not his main memory.
”My most memorable experience was when I was down at Indiana University and I set the indoor record for the high jump.”
A man of few words, Williams retired as an insurance broker south of Chicago and now enjoys playing golf.
“I just enjoyed being an athlete at Greencastle High School, being a Tiger Cub,” he said. “I was totally surprised. Other than that, it’s very nice. I’m appreciative of it.”