When the Monroe County Sports Hall of Fame selection committee looked at Bill Atkinson’s résumé, it wasn’t a question of whether he would be selected but in which category he belonged.
He surely qualified in the “Coach” category by way of coaching four sports over a 19-year period at Edgewood High School, 17 as the school’s winningest girls basketball coach plus eight years as an assistant football coach, two years as track coach and three years junior high wrestling coach.
But there was so much more in Atkinson’s career than coaching. Overall, he devoted 33 years as an educator and administrator. In the end, it was that full body of work that punched Atkinson’s ticket to the Monroe County Hall Sports of Fame in the category of “Contributor.” On July 19, he will formally be inducted at the annual awards banquet.
Putting Edgewood girls basketball in a class of their own
As Edgewood’s girls basketball coach Atkinson fashioned a record of 228-101, winning four sectionals, two regionals and seven conference titles during the era when there was no such thing as class basketball.
Edgewood’s schedule was an annual gauntlet of big schools such as Bloomington North, Bloomington South, Martinsville, Bedford North Lawrence, Columbus East, Terre Haute North and the occasional Indianapolis school. The sectional was loaded with the likes of North, South, Martinsville, Owen Valley and Brown County. Just winning a sectional then was a monumental achievement for a mid-sized school like Edgewood.
“I consider myself a single-class coach,” Atkinson says. “I enjoyed the competition. I always took my teams to Indianapolis to watch the state finals, just so they could see what it took to get up there.”
The Mustangs won two regionals in four years under Atkinson in 1986 and 1990.
The 1986 squad, led by Sherry Dunbar, Cheryl Rambo, Jenny Latimer, Lori Weaver and Lisa East, won the regional by beating a Terre Haute North team that had defeated them by 50 points in the regular season.
The 1990 regional championship team featured Joni Brown, Rachel Chambers, Missy Arthur, Karla Weathers and Stephanie Owens. Although that team, like the 1986 club, was unable to get through the rugged Indianapolis semistate, it earned enough respect to receive an invitation to the 1991 Hall of Fame Classic at New Castle.
“All those years I had great student athletes, girls who wanted to play and succeed,” Atkinson says. “Really, the coaching part was pretty easy. I never scouted. I just looked at the newspaper to see who the other team’s leading scorers were. I just felt it was important for my team to play defense and run our offense. We always had girls who could score, but they had to play our offense and defense.”
Three of those players were Atkinson’s own daughters, Jette, Kate and Sarah. From 1994-98, there were two Atkinson sisters on the team at the same time. In Jette’s senior year of 1994-95, Kate made the varsity as a freshman. In Kate’s senior year of 1997-98, it was freshman Sarah who earned a spot on the varsity.
Jette and Kate set records along the way. Jette, a rangy forward, finished as Edgewood’s all-time leader in blocks and rebounds, earning a scholarship to Indiana State. Kate became the school’s first 1,000-point scorer, earning a ride to Eastern Illinois. Both played four sports in high school, just like their father.
“Jette was tall and played the post,” Bill says. “She could score inside the paint. Kate was quick, played guard and used her speed very effectively. She had only one speed, full-go. But I always told the girls that all of them were like daughters to me. Once you stepped on the floor you were just basketball players.
“There was one time on the ride home from school I started rehashing a game, and Jette looked over and said, ‘Dad, I’d rather hear this tomorrow with the other girls.’ My daughters knew I wasn’t going to cut them any slack.”
Why Bill Atkinson is a Grant County legend
Atkinson’s own high school career is something to behold. He played four sports at Mississinewa High — football, basketball, baseball and track — with football being his best. As a running back he scored a touchdown in every game from junior high all the way through high school, including one high school contest in which he scored 46 points. He averaged 14.8 points for his career.
As a defensive back, he intercepted six passes in a single game, still an Indiana state record. He was named to the 1971 North-South All-Star Team. In 2009 Atkinson was named to the Grant County Sports Hall of Fame. In 2014 he was named to the Indiana Football Hall of Fame in Richmond. A legend in his own time? “I guess so,” Atkinson says. “Others have said it.”
Atkinson’s career didn’t end with high school. He caught the eye of Division I schools and took visits to Indiana, Purdue, Notre Dame and Michigan. Atkinson ultimately picked IU because of coach John Pont, the architect of the 1967 Rose Bowl Hoosiers.
“When I met Coach Pont it just clicked,” Atkinson says. “I knew I wanted to play for him.”
Atkinson was sad to see Pont go when IU replaced him with Lee Corso in 1973. Prior to that, Atkinson married his college sweetheart, Donna Michael, on Dec. 30, 1972.
“I met her at McNutt Quad the very first day of my freshman year,” Atkinson says. “She stole my heart right then.”
Under Corso, Atkinson played defensive back and kick returner. He did score a college touchdown on a 54-yard punt return his senior year, a year in which Corso named him team captain. The Corso years were entertaining to say the least.
“He used to say I was his only married football captain," Atkinson said. "Playing for him was such a difference than Pont. He (Corso) was crazy on TV and crazy on the field. During practice the week we were playing Minnesota, he rode up on mule swinging something that looked like a post with a bucket on the end. He would go around as if he was whacking gophers (as in Minnesota Gophers).
“On the week we were playing West Virginia, they had an All-American receiver named Danny Buggs. Coach had us carry fly swatters all week long while playing John Denver’s “Country Road.” Then Buggs didn’t even play because he was hurt.”
Speaking of hurt, Atkinson paid a heavy cost for all his years as an athlete, enduring a total of 26 surgeries.
Taking his place in the Monroe County Sports Hall of Fame
While coaching Edgewood in the 1980s, Atkinson was part of a staff that included three other future Monroe County Sports Hall of Famers: volleyball coach Joyce Gates (a 2011 inductee), basketball coach John Holmes (2015), baseball coach Bob Jones (2022), and Garry Anderson, Edgewood’s longtime track and wrestling coach who is joining Atkinson in the Class of 2024. Atkinson also coached two athletes who are enshrined in the Hall, Missy Ringler (golf, 1990) and Sherry Dunbar (volleyball, basketball, 2018).
After retiring from coaching in 2000, Atkinson stayed on as a teacher and administrator at Edgewood, teaching Health and Physical Education while also serving as Dean of Students for 19 years until retiring in 2014.
Meanwhile, Donna Atkinson spent 37 years in education, with 31 of those at Edgewood Junior High, including the role of principal. With Bill’s 33 years, the Atkinsons have a combined 70. The Bloomington Chamber of Commerce took note by giving them the Educational Lifetime Achievement Award.
“One of the things I’m most proud of is that both of us were Lifetime Achievement award winners for Monroe County,” says Bill, 71, who in his retirement served eight years on the Monroe County Sports Hall of Fame Board of Directors before stepping down in 2022.
“Looking at our (Hall of Fame) program I counted about 50 members who I had coached or coached against or had been associated with in some manner,” Atkinson says. “Being on the Board of Directors and seeing all those people and what they had done, it is quite an honor to be thought of in that way.”
Banquet info
The Monroe County Sports Hall of Fame Awards Banquet is on Friday, July 19, at the Monroe Convention Center. Tickets are $50 and available through the organization’s website, www.monroecountyshof.org.
Lynn Houser covered sports for the Bloomington Herald-Times from 1984-2012. He now serves on the Monroe County Sports Hall of Fame Board of Directors.
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