INDIANAPOLIS - Former Tell City center Steve Lochmueller has been elected to the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame.
Lochmueller will join his father and high school coach, Bob Lochmueller, in the hall, just as he joined him in Tell City High School’s Athletic Hall of Fame two years ago.
Steve Lochmueller, a 1971 Tell City graduate, will be inducted into the Indiana hall March 19 at the Primo Banquet Hall on the south side of Indianapolis.
Tickets for the induction banquet will be made available in early 2008.
Steve Lochmueller, in Tell City to visit his father for Thanksgiving, said Wednesday: “I don’t know if this is a bigger honor than being inducted into the Tell City Hall of Fame because I have a lot of fond memories of playing for Tell City and that meant a great deal to me.
“But this obviously carries a lot of esteem.”
Lochmueller, a 6-foot-6 1/2 center, was a three-year starter for Tell City, leading the Marksmen to three sectional titles and the 1971 Evansville regional title.
The Marksmen went 22-4 his senior season.
He averaged 24.5 points and 17.0 rebounds per game that season, both still school records.
He scored 1,355 points and grabbed 948 rebounds for his Tell City career, also school records.
Adept at drawing fouls, he also holds school records for most free throws made in a game (19), most free throws made (218) and attempted (298) in a season, and most made (459) and attempted (639) in a career.
He then played three years for the University of Kentucky.
He averaged 3.6 points and 2.7 rebounds per game and hit 51.5 percent from the field as the Wildcats’ backup center his junior season.
He decided to play football the next year and red shirted because of a preseason injury. Under NCAA rules then, an athlete who redshirted in one sport also had to sit out the season in other sports that year, so Lochmueller missed out on playing for the Wildcats’ 1975 NCAA runner-up team.
He has been president and chief executive officer of Sumerset Houseboats, the largest houseboat company in the United States, since 2003. He is also CEO of American Waterways Houseboats.
He lives in Lexington, Ky., with his wife, Christi, and their 3 1/2-year-old twins, son Chase and daughter Presley. He also has a 26-year-old daughter, Whitney, who lives in Lexington.