Jasper High School Announces Five Inductees for 2026 Athletic Hall of Fame

Jasper Athletics named five inductees to its 2026 Athletic Hall of Fame class last Friday, spanning six decades of Wildcat sports history from a 1957 basketball All-Star to a pitcher drafted by the Milwaukee Brewers.

The five will be formally enshrined at a banquet on Saturday, August 29, at Calumet Lake Event Plaza. The evening follows a public introduction the night before, when inductees or their representatives will be recognized at the Jasper football game on Friday, August 28. An anonymous 10-member selection committee chose the class.

Among the inductees is Phil Kendall, the school's current athletic director and a 1996 graduate who helped Jasper baseball win its first-ever state championship that same year under the single-class format. Kendall finished runner-up for Indiana Mr. Baseball in 1996 and was selected by the Milwaukee Brewers in the fifth round of that year's draft, going on to spend four seasons pitching in the minors.

Jody Giesler, class of 1957, earned a spot on the 1957 Indiana Basketball All-Star Team and was later named to the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame's 1982 Silver Anniversary Team. He was a three-time All-Big State Conference player at Texas Wesleyan College, where he won MVP honors in 1961, and also took home Cotton Bowl Tourney MVP in 1959.

Julie Gieser Ruhe, a 2000 graduate, holds the record as Jasper's all-time leading girls basketball scorer with 1,337 points. She earned Second-Team All-State honors in 1999 and received All-Big Eight Conference recognition in each of her four high school seasons.

Bob "Chesty" Luegers, class of 1960, was the No. 1 player on the Indiana South All-Star team his senior year and was later named to Indiana's 1985 Silver Anniversary All-State Basketball Team.

Jerry Schmidt, a 1963 graduate, was named fullback on the 1962 Indiana All-State football team and went on to start several games at defensive guard and tackle for the University of Illinois. Schmidt drew scholarship offers from Ohio State, Notre Dame, Purdue, and Indiana before choosing the Illini.

The August 29 banquet will also honor two anniversary teams. The 1976 and 1977 football Semistate champions will be recognized as the Golden Anniversary Teams, while the 2001 boys tennis Semistate Runner-up squad will receive the Silver Anniversary Team designation.

Jasper Athletics is now accepting public nominations for the 2027 Hall of Fame class.