~ Former Central and Southeast player Ray Estes will join elite company.

Few states are as synonymous with high school basketball as Indiana.

There's even a movie -- "Hoosiers" -- to prove it.

Then there's the state's basketball Hall of Fame, with players such as Larry Bird and Louie Dampier and coaches such as John Wooden, Norm Sloan and Bobby Knight among those who have been inducted.

A Cape Girardeau native and Southeast Missouri State graduate will join the Hall of Fame in 2006. Ray Estes, who coached in two stints at Indiana's Anderson High School, was among 14 people selected on Nov. 29 for induction.

The ceremony will take place March 22 at a banquet hall in Indianapolis. The museum is located in New Castle, Ind.

Estes graduated from Central in 1949 and was a four-year letterwinner at Southeast through his graduation in 1953.

The campaign for his induction was led by those who coaches against him, including Hall of Fame members Cecil Tague of New Castle.

"Ray definitely deserves to be in the Hall of Fame," Tague said. "After I was elected, I didn't understand why I was in the Hall and he wasn't."

Estes coached at Anderson for a total of 12 seasons -- from 1960 to 1969 and 1971 to 1975. His record at Anderson was 213-82, including three conference champions, seven sectional titles, four regional crowns and one semistate titles. His 1972-73 team reached the state finals, losing 99-95 in the title game to South Bend Adams. The following year's team posted the school's only perfect regular season at 20-0 and finished 26-1.

Estes coached five players who became Indiana All-Stars, including 1974 Mr. Basketball Roy Taylor.

Estes is the only member of this year's class who did not attend high school in the state of Indiana.

He coached at schools in Wisconsin and Illinois before coming to Indiana and racked up a career record of 350-123, according to a release from the Hall of Fame.

"Ray reached the state finals in three different states," Tague said.

Estes' Anderson teams were a thorn in New Castle's side.

When Tague's 1966-67 New Castle team went to state with a 25-3 record, Anderson dealt one of the three defeats. The Indians beat New Castle in a holiday tournament, before the Trojans avenged the loss by winning the conference game at Anderson later in the season.

During Estes' career, Anderson was 14-5 against New Castle.

As for his coaching style, Estes is remembered for his teams' aggressive defense.

"[Hall of Fame coach] Joe Heath and I called him Dracula," Tague said. "That's because our teams were bloody after they got done playing his. He was one of the first high school coaches to play a deny-the-ball defense."

Hall of Fame inductees must have played or coached high school basketball in Indiana. Players must have graduated from high school at least 26 years ago and coaches must have been a varsity head coach for 25 years or have been retired for at least 10 years.

Any individuals who meet these criteria may be nominated.

For information on the banquet or the Hall, call the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame at (765) 529-1891.

Portions of this story reprinted with permission from The Courier Times of New Castle, Ind.