Former Tipton players to pay homage to late coach
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A group of former players from Tipton High School are paying tribute their head coach this weekend. The players from the class of 1980 have designed a banner to honor coach Richard “Dick” Barr that will be dedicated Saturday ahead of the school’s varsity basketball game against Frankton.
Barr, who passed away in 2018, coached basketball at multiple schools throughout Indiana and Kentucky for more than 30 years.
Barr was the head coach at Tipton on two occasions, from 1960-65 where the team ranked No. 1 in the state in 1964, and from 1975 to 1983. He also coached teams in Parker, Kendallville, Huntington, Jeffersonville, and Hammond, as well as Henderson and Bardwell, Ky.
Barr’s record as a head coach was 485-319, including 418-286 in Indiana.
The group that created the banner is led by Patrick Lindley, now executive managing director of Cushman & Wakefield in Indianapolis.
“He was a program builder. To think that he was able to rack up 485 wins as a program rebuilder coach, that is what’s so remarkable about him as a coach,” said Lindley. “All of us that played for him, what we now appreciate, he was such a strict disciplinarian, but he taught you how to play team basketball. That’s what’s different about today. It was all about team basketball. He taught us how to sacrifice ourselves for the other players on the team, which we have all taken into our professional careers.”
The 4-foot-by-6-foot banner will hang permanently in the main gymnasium at Tipton High School. Barr’s family was also involved in its design, the group said.
The dedication ceremony will take place Saturday night between the junior varsity and varsity games. The JV game starts at 6 p.m.
