Indy Star Magic Johnson and Tommy Baker Photo at bottom
1993
Sherron Wilkerson, Jeffersonville (Jeffersonville)
Wilkerson led Jeffersonville to back-to-back state title games averaged 16.8 points, 6.8 assists, 5.4 rebounds and 3.0 steals for a team which won 74 of 83 games in three years. He won IndyStar Mr. Basketball by the slimmest margin in the award’s history. He captured 97 first-place votes, two more than Anderson’s Kojak Fuller.
But Wilkerson was stripped of the No. 1 jersey after quitting in the middle of an Indiana All-Star game versus Kentucky after being benched.
“I’m upset and I’m leaving,” Wilkerson said after scoring 14 points in 19 minutes. “You just don’t do a player like that… Honestly, I could care less about being Mr. Basketball. It’s just a label. I didn’t want to play in these all-star games in the first place.”
Wilkerson’s time at IU proved a disappointment. He averaged 3.2 points as a freshman, broke his leg and missed the entire following season, and then played just 17 more times for the Hoosiers. Bob Knight dismissed Wilkerson from the team after he was arrested following a domestic dispute and charged with misdemeanor battery.
1977
Tom Baker, Jeffersonville (Jeffersonville)
One of Jeffersonville’s all-time greats, Baker played at IU for Bob Knight, but was dismissed during his sophomore year for allegations of marijuana use. He transferred to Eastern Kentucky and earned all Ohio-Valley Conference honors in 1981. He faced a host of drug charges in the 1990s and died in 2010 from pneumonia at the age of 51.
“He was probably the greatest basketball player that ever came from Jeff,” Bill Ballard, a friend of Baker, told the News and Tribune. “He used to dribble around the area all night, practiced all night.
“He had a lot of natural ability, but also worked on it.
