2026 ISSA MEDIA RELEASE
For the 30th year, the Indiana Sportswriters and Sportscasters Association is pleased to announce its incoming Hall of Fame Class, set to be inducted at its annual awards banquet to be held on Sunday, April 12 at Valle Vista Country Club in Greenwood.
This year’s Class of 2026 includes the following people who have graced Hoosier newspapers, radio stations, and television airwaves during the past several decades:
Anthony Anderson, Elkhart Truth _ After graduating from Indiana University in 1985, Anderson quickly embarked on a four-decade career covering all things Michiana sports. Anderson got his start with The Goshen News, before quickly moving to The Elkhart Truth, where his sports bylines appeared for 30 years. His most famous work during that time was his Twine Line column, which ran for the length of his full-time tenure in Elkhart. For the better part of the last nine years, Anderson has served as a freelance reporter for multiple publications in northern Indiana.
Roger Grossman, WRSW Warsaw _ Upon receiving his degree from Butler University in 1991, Grossman landed a summer internship at WRSW in Warsaw…and never left. Grossman began serving as an analyst for football broadcasts that fall, then called girls basketball games the following season. In the 35 years since, Grossman has called more than 3,000 sporting events for the radio station and hosts the weekly Tiger Talk program every Saturday. Grossman previously has been recognized by both the IHSAA and Indiana Basketball Coaches Association for his distinguished service, and his broadcast location for basketball games at Warsaw’s Tiger Den has been affectionately renamed “Roger’s Roost.”
Terry Hutchens, The Indianapolis Star (posthumous)_ Born in Oregon, and raised in California, the man affectionately known as “Hutch” covered sports for the Fullerton Daily News Tribune and the Orange County Register before making the move to the Hoosier state in 1986. The first bylines for Hutchens appeared in Fort Wayne News-Sentinel, for which he covered the Indianapolis Colts and The Indianapolis News, covering a variety of topics including high school sports and the 1987 Pan Am Games. He was hired full-time by the Fort Wayne News-Sentinel as the Colts’ beat writer in 1989 and moved to The Indianapolis News as the Colts’ beat writer in 1991. While Hutchens covered a variety of beats during his first decade in-state, he was best known for his time on the Indiana University beat from 1998-2013. Following his days with The Star, Hutchens worked for two websites and the CNHI chain of newspapers around the state. Hutchens died in 2018, but not before authoring 13 books, nine of which focused on Indiana University athletics. Hutchens also served as an adjunct professor at both Indiana University in Blooming and Indianapolis. Hutchens received the Excellence in Beat Reporting from the USBWA in 2018, and was inducted into the USBWA Hall of Fame in 2024.
Rick Morwick, Johnson County Daily Journal (Franklin) _ While Morwick works these days for Current Publishing as its newsroom director, he is best known for his byline in the Daily Journal based out of Franklin for a quarter of a century. His tenure began in 1990 as a correspondent, which led to a full-time position a year later. By 1997, Morwick served as the assistant sports editor, then became sports editor in 2004. While covering the seven Johnson County high schools was always important, the paper’s proximity to Indianapolis allowed Morwick to routinely be on the Colts and Pacers beats as well. Morwick was named the 2014 ISSA Corky Lamm Award winner as the state’s top sportswriter, and Morwick has received 27 awards from HSPA and APME combined.
Jim Russell, Indianapolis News_Russell had a varied career in the newspaper industry following his graduation from Purdue University. Russell began his off-campus days writing for the Greenfield Daily Reporter, serving as the sports editor for three years. Then for Russell, it was a new venture, Indiana Sports Weekly, a statewide weekly Indiana sports newspaper. A year later, Russell began a 13-year tenure with The Indianapolis News, where his work ranged from covering the Colts, high school sports, golf, tennis and the 1987 Pan American Games. After leaving the newspaper business, Russell served as the sports information director for the Indiana High School Athletic Association from 1994-2001. Russell was a two-time winner of the ISSA’s Corky Lamm Award for top sportswriter in the state.
Vince Welch, ABC/Fox Sports/WIBC_ A graduate of Ball State University, Welch began his professional broadcasting days at WKBV in Richmond in 1987. After three years in radio, Vince moved back to Indianapolis with the idea of breaking into television. He spent 5 1/2 years on the WISH-TV sports team, eventually making the move across town to WNDY-TV, which was putting a major emphasis on local sports, including play-by-play of IHSAA state championship events, Indianapolis Indians telecasts, and coverage of the Indianapolis 500. Welch shifted back to radio, becoming the sports director of WIBC in 1998, while maintaining a live sports presence on national TV working as a pit reporter for IndyCar races and eventually expanding into doing the same in NASCAR, as well as college football and basketball.
In addition to these new Hall of Famers, the Indiana Sportswriters and Sportscasters Association will recognize winners of annual honors such as the Marv Bates Sportscaster of the Year, the Corky Lamm Sportswriter of the Year, the Bob Williams Helping Hand Award, and the Ron Lemasters Lifetime Achievement Award. Those winners are:
Marv Bates Sportscaster of the Year: Rob Blackman, Purdue Sports Network _ Blackman wasn’t just a sports reporter in his days as a student at the University of Evansville, he was also a wide receiver on the football team. Once his playing days were over, Blackman quickly shifted from playing in the game to calling it. His first job landed him in nearby Mt. Carmel, Illinois and eventually on to Nashville where Blackman broke into the Arena Football League as an announcer and also got his first opportunity in calling Division One athletics at Tennessee State University. Blackman would return to his Indiana roots when the Indiana Firebirds came to Indy in 2001, working at both WNDE and WXLW. In 2005, Blackman began what is now a 20-year affiliation with Purdue University athletics, and is the voice of the men’s basketball team, in addition to serving as the anchor of the pregame, halftime, and post-game show during football. The versatile Blackman has called numerous IHSAA state championship games as well as spending time with the IndyCar Radio Network.
Corky Lamm Sportswriter of the Year: Josh Cook, News-Tribune _ A southern Indiana native and Indiana University graduate, Cook has worked at the Danville (Ky.) Advocate-Messenger, the Marion Chronicle-Tribune, the Louisville Courier-Journal and the Shelbyville (Ky.) Sentinel-News. Cook has worked at the News and Tribune in Jeffersonville and New Albany since 2017 and has been the sports editor there since 2020. During his near decade tenure on the sunny side of Louisville, Cook has had the pleasure of covering numerous state championship teams, including the 2025 run to a state boys’ basketball championship by the Jeffersonville Red Devils.
Bob Williams Helping Hand Award: Matt Conti, Vice-President of Communications, Indianapolis Colts _ Conti recently completed his 15th season with the Indianapolis Colts, where he was a part of the 2020 Pete Rozelle Award from the Pro Football Writers Association, recognizing the Colts’ public relations staff as the tops in the National Football League. Conti is a graduate of Penn State University and began his career in the Atlanta market, working for both the Atlanta Falcons and the Atlanta Thrashers in the National Hockey League. Conti has been promoted or elevated within the organization four times during his tenure with the Colts.
Ron Lemasters Lifetime Achievement Award: Sam Simmermaker, WCSI Columbus (retired) _ Few, if any, in the field of broadcast have had a longer tenure in one community than did Simmermaker, the voice of Columbus sports for 64 years before putting away his microphone following the spring sports season of 2024. Simmermaker graduated from Indiana University in 1954 and served in the U.S. Army Signal Corps before beginning his career with WKAM Radio in Goshen. Simmermaker then landed a job with WTTV-TV in Indianapolis as a commercial copywriter. That in turn led to broadcasting Indianapolis Indians games for five seasons. After starting at WCSI-AM on New Year’s Day in 1960, Simmermaker’s voice became synonymous with Columbus High School, which in the 1970s split into Columbus North and Columbus East. Simmermaker was inducted into the ISSA Hall of Fame in 1998 and the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame in 2006. He was recognized with the Sagamore of the Wabash Award in 2015 and received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Sports Media Association in 2024.
These 10 honorees will be recognized at the association’s annual banquet on April 12, which begins at 2 p.m. at Valle Vista Country Club in Greenwood. Tickets are available with a meal included for $50. To order tickets, send a check for $50 to Fred Inniger, ISSA Treasurer, 3011 Noble Hawk Drive, Kendallville, IN 46755.
Also, those wanting to renew their memberships to the ISSA, or to become new members, send $25 to Fred for your annual dues.
Please order banquet tickets before March 30.
The Indiana Sportswriters and Sportscasters Association was founded in 1946. The ISSA created its Hall of Fame 50 years later in 1996. The Hall of Fame currently has 153 members, including this year’s honorees.