Bill Shepherd, Hall of Fame basketball coach, passes away

THE REPORTER / WISH-TV
The Carmel community is remembering a man who helped put Carmel basketball and Carmel athletics on the map.
Bill Shepherd Sr., a former Carmel High School basketball coach and athletics director, has died, according to his family. He was 91.  He died Thursday morning in Wellbrooke of Carmel assisted living center, according to his daughter, who spoke with WISH-TV, the Reporter’s news-gathering partner, Thursday night.
CHS athletics director Jim Inskeep tweeted at 8:20 p.m. Thursday:
“Our thoughts and prayers to the Shepherd family with the passing of Bill Shepherd. Mr. Shepherd was a member of the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame, father to Mr. Basketball’s Billy (1968) & Dave (1970). Mr. Shepherd was also Athletics Director for Carmel’s first 41 state titles.”
Shepherd was a 1945 graduate of Hope High School, which has since consolidated into Hauser Junior-Senior High School. Shepherd played basketball for the Hope Red Devils, leading the school to its lone sectional and regional basketball championships in 1945. Shepherd was named as an Indiana All-Star that year.
Shepherd played basketball and baseball at Butler University. He played basketball under the legendary coach Tony Hinkle, and was a star on the baseball field, too: Shepherd held the Butler single-season batting average record (.418) for over 50 years, according to his biography on the Butler website.
Later, at age 31, he was the boys basketball coach at Mitchell High School from 1949 to 1958, his daughter Cindy Shepherd McCurdy said. The Bluejackets won sectional titles in 1950 and 1956.
Shepherd was the boys basketball coach at Carmel from 1958 to 1970. During his tenure, the Greyhounds broke a 41-year drought by winning a sectional championship in 1966. That started a nine-year run of sectional titles for Carmel. In 1970, Shepherd led the Greyhounds to the state championship game, the first time they had been at state since 1925.
In all, Shepherd’s lifetime coaching record was 336-145, including a 50-game home winning streak at Carmel, which lasted from 1967 through 1970. He was inducted into the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame in 1975, according to his biography on the hall’s website.
Two sons he coached at Carmel were named Mr. Basketball recipients: Billy in 1968 and Dave in 1970. The two are the all-time leading scorers in Carmel High School history and the only two Hamilton County players to have scored over 2,000 career points. Shepherd’s grandson Scott Shepherd played for Carmel, graduating in 1992 after being named an Indiana All-Star.
But even after he stepped down from coaching, Shepherd’s involvement with Carmel High School would remain strong for the next two decades. Shepherd became Carmel’s second athletic director in 1961 and would hold that position for 31 years, retiring in 1992. During that time, the Greyhounds developed into the athletic powerhouse that it is today. Shepherd oversaw the addition of girls sports and swimming into the Carmel athletic program.
His daughter said Thursday night, “He was the most loving, compassionate and kind man I’ve ever known. His family was always first.”
He is survived his children, Billy (and his wife, Connie), David (Sally), Cindy and Steve, 15 grandchildren and 25 great-grandchildren.
Visitation will be from 5 to 8 p.m. Monday at Carmel United Methodist Church. The funeral will be 2 p.m. Tuesday at the church. A Celebration of Life will be from 3 to 6 p.m. Tuesday at the church.
Burial will be private.

Bill Shepherd, who coached Carmel for 12 seasons and led them to the state championship game in 1970, passed away on Thursday. Shepherd coached his two sons, Billy and Dave, as they became Mr. Basketball and Hamilton County’s all-time leading scorers. (Photo courtesy Carmel High School athletics)