“What you leave behind is not what is engraved in stone monuments, but what is woven into the lives of others.“ – Pericles
By Justin Sokeland
WBIW.com
BEDFORD – Legacy, defined as a long-lasting impact, is leaving a mark that cannot be erased, living a life that casts a shadow once the light of mortality has dimmed. People come and go, their faces fade as the years go by, but the Stars will always shine at Bedford North Lawrence because of one man’s remarkable influence.
Austin “Pete” Pritchett, the giant gentleman, the coach who started what has become an iconic basketball program, will never be forgotten, as long as the team photos of state champions adorn the walls, as long as the banners wave quietly in the northeast corner of BNL Fieldhouse. He was the Godfather of BNL basketball, a Hall of Famer whose fingerprints will be found on generations to come.
Pritchett, the beloved coach who guided BNL to its first two girls basketball state championships, died on Monday at age 89. He took over the Lady Stars for the 1982-83 season, guided that first team to the state title, and the rest is history. His overall record of 271-25 from 1982-94 included 12 sectional titles, 10 regionals, four semistates and the second state crown in 1991.
Those are numbers. They hardly tell the story of the man. If Indiana girls basketball ever chisels out a Mount Rushmore of icons, Pritchett must be included. All those who have followed – whether BNL coaches who will be measured against his standard or contemporaries and peers who must thank him for his contributions to the game – will struggle to match his footprints. Big shoes, big heart.
“He was at the forefront of girls basketball, when it really started to move forward into a new generation and become an exciting sport to watch,” current BNL coach Jeff Allen said. “There are lot of pioneers, and he’s definitely one that laid the framework for what we’re about. It’s a huge loss for us.”
Pritchett, inducted into the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame in 2007, was a formidable player, graduating from Oolitic in 1952 (scoring 1,092 career points) before going on to Indiana State. After coaching stints at Mooresville and Oolitic, he left the profession. When he was hired to take over the BNL girls, he was an unknown among the team he was inheriting.
“We didn’t know him,” said Kelly Fitzgerald Cobb, a senior in ‘83 who would be named to the Indiana All-Stars. “We didn’t know anything about him.
“I always go back to the first night of practice. He walked in the gym, and the very first thing he said to us was ‘You have the potential to be the No.1 team in the state.’ That set such a tone. We believed him. Right off the bat, he believed in us. That’s all it took for us. We were off and running.“
His first BNL team went 26-1. Then came the second set of glory years. The Stars competed in three straight state championship games from 1990-92. They set records with 55 straight wins, with 89 consecutive regular-season wins over four seasons. BNL also boasted three straight Mental Attitude Award winners during that incredible span.
That’s a lot of winning. And that only scratches the surface of his influence.
Pritchett made his mark on the relationships he crafted. Success was just a byproduct. Brandi Hughes grew up next door to the Pritchett family, and many after-dinner nights were spent running plays on the kitchen table with salt-and-pepper shakers.
“He was more than a coach to me,” Hughes said. “He was a big ol’ teddy bear. And that laugh – oh, my gosh.
“What he taught us was the fact we are Lady Stars, and we are ladies first. And it was about how we were perceived by others, what we represented, taking pride in who we were. That’s what he instilled in players at a very early age. We walked around with our heads held high. When you put on a Lady Stars jersey, Mr. Pritchett always made sure we understood what that meant, who we represented. He expected nothing less.”
The laugh fit the big man. Maybe the signature red socks did not. His aura was overwhelming, so raising the deep voice an extra octave was usually unnecessary.
“He was a big guy, but he never yelled,” Cobb said. “I think he raised his voice at us one time that year. He was intense. He was just a big physical presence with a big persona.”
“So many memories come to mind when I think of him as a coach and mentor,” said Marla Eltrevoog, the 1992 Miss Basketball. “First, the stomp (on the sideline), the red socks, and the jovial laugh. We knew what the stomp meant without him saying a word, because he had us so prepared we knew what we had done wrong. He had high expectations and aspirations for all of us, but it never felt like he pressured us.
“He taught us more than just fundamentals and how to play the game. He instilled in us life-long lessons that I think all of us took with us. How to be a good teammate, trust one another, and persevere through the ups and downs of the season. He kept us in check and never let anyone of us think we were irreplaceable. It was an exciting time to be a Lady Star and he was the centerpiece.
“Mr. Pritchett’s impact is immeasurable. He was the catalyst for all the success BNL girls have had over the years. He laid the foundation and expectations for the future coaches and players.”
That’s the ultimate sign of respect. His former players never refer to him as Pete. It’s Mr. Pritchett.
“I have recently watched our state games, and you could see the respect we had for him and what he instilled in his players,” Amy Walker-Sundt said. “Our character and how we reacted when things didn’t go our way can be credited to Mr. Pritchett. He emphasized that a lot. He built the women’s basketball program and will forever be in the hearts of our community and a legend in Indiana for his accomplishments and contributions to women’s basketball.
“He was no nonsense, play the game, do what is right – on and off the court. Never boast, have respect for the officials, other players and coaches. He was a blessing to me but also intimidating at times.”
After his retirement, Pritchett settled back to watch the program’s growth. When Kurt Godlevske was hired in 2006, his first call was to set up a lunch date with the former head coach and pick his brain for ideas.
“The main thing I took away was how he cared for the girls,” Godlevske said. “Every girl he brought up, he called them a ‘peach’. You could tell his care and appreciation for the girls, his relationship with the girls was strong.
“And the second thing was he said we got really good at what we do – play hard defense and run the offense as well as we could. That was the simplistic way of saying how great those teams were, because how easy he made the game for them.”
BNL has returned to state prominence, winning Class 4A titles in 2013 (under Godlevske) and ‘14 (with Damon Bailey in charge), then again in 2023 under Allen. They all point back to the man who started it all.
“It’s been pretty incredible to watch that tradition continue,” Cobb said. “He had a tremendous influence.”
“Everything about the program is him,” Godlevske said. “His footprint – and it’s a big print because he was a big guy – was deep, and forever entrenched in what we did. He’s an icon in basketball.”
During the Pritchett Era, BNL boys basketball was also at its zenith. Dan Bush, the Hall of Fame coach for the Stars (and another Bearcat), would spend most lunch hours in Pritchett’s office, talking about the game and exchanging information. Oh, to be a fly on that wall.
“We spent a lot of time talking about basketball, running things by each other, and had a good time doing it,” Bush said. “He was the perfect personality, the perfect fit for those girls. When it was time to get serious, I think they realized it. That’s exactly what they needed when he took over.”
The BNL basketball family will join the Pritchetts (including daughter Kristin, another Hall of Fame inductee) in mourning the passing of a legend.
“It’s a loss, not only for his family, but for the community,” Allen said. “What he did was instill the love of the game into the girls and the community, the drive to be excellent. That has carried the tradition of BNL basketball, and every coach since has tried to follow, to keep that drive alive.
“I talk about how hard the girls play all the time, how people talk about that and the passion we play with, and that started from Pete Pritchett. Hopefully we carry that forward. It’s the tradition that started with him.”
