TERRE HAUTE, Ind. – The Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame has announced that Clarence Walker and John Sherman Williams will be inducted into the Hall of Fame as part of the organization's 60th class. The induction class will be honored in a ceremony to held at the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame on March 23, 2022.
 
The late Clarence Walker was the first Black player to participate in a national collegiate basketball tournament game. A 1946 graduate of East Chicago Washington High School under Hall of Fame coach John Baratto, he was a key member of their 24-3 regional championship team that season.
 
Recruited by John Wooden to Indiana State, he was a member of their 1947 team that was invited to the NAIB national tournament. On the basis that a Black player would not be eligible to compete in that tournament, Indiana State declined their invitation. A year later, the rules had been altered and with Walker permitted to play, the Indiana State squad finished as national runners-up in the 1948 NAIB tournament.
 
As a senior, Walker was a starting guard as the Sycamores won the 1950 NAIB National Championship, following a 1949 national semi-finals appearance. Receiving numerous awards, including the Purple Heart for his service in the Korean War, he was a teacher, counselor, and administrator in Gary Schools for 35 years, rising to Assistant Superintendent. He died in 1989 at the age of 60.
 
John Sherman Williams sprung an all-star high school career at Indianapolis Washington into an All-American college career at Indiana State. Averaging over 21 points and nine rebounds per game as a high school sophomore, his averages climbed to 27.3 points and 10.6 rebounds by his senior year, leading to recognition as a 1982 Indiana All-Star.
 
Along the way, he led the Continentals to a sectional championship in 1980 before a loss to eventual state champ Broad Ripple and reached the 1982 regional finals before a one-point loss to state finalist Cathedral. His senior season, he was the Indianapolis city scoring champion. A stellar career at Indiana State University culminated with 2,370 career points, leading the Sycamores in scoring each of his four seasons and earning Missouri Valley Conference all-conference recognition four times and All-American honors three times.
 
His senior season, he tied Larry Bird's ISU record of 81 consecutive games in double-figure scoring, was 5th in the country in scoring at 25.4 points per game and graduated 2nd in Indiana State career scoring. He completed his college career 3rd in career scoring in the history of the Missouri Valley Conference, trailing only Oscar Robertson and Larry Bird and in 2007 was named one of the 50 greatest players in MVC history.
 
The Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame's 60th Men's Awards Banquet is scheduled for Wednesday, March 23, 2022. The day's events will include a reception at the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame Museum in New Castle that afternoon with a banquet that evening at the Primo Banquet Hall in Indianapolis.
 
Reservations will soon be available online or through mail order in early 2022. Call the Hall at 765-529-1891, visit www.hoopshall.com or email info@hoopshall.com for more information.
 
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