Three to receive 2023 'Virgil Sweet Award' from IBCA Grossman, McClanahan, Lopresti to be honored by coaches' group for contributions to basketball Three individuals with significant ties to Indiana high school basketball will be recognized with Virgil Sweet Awards from the Indiana Basketball Coaches Association in 2023, it was announced Wednesday (March 15).
Roger Grossman of WRSW Radio in Warsaw, summer basketball organizer Denise McClanahan of Indianapolis and longtime sportswriter Mike Lopresti of Richmond are the recipients of this year's awards. One person is honored from each IHSAA district -- Grossman in District 1, McClanahan in District 2 and Lopresti in District 3.
Virgil Sweet Awards are presented to those who have provided meritorious service in the promotion of basketball across Indiana. The award is named in honor of Sweet, a former Valparaiso High School basketball coach and executive director of the IBCA from 1974 through 1984.
This is the 47th year that the IBCA has presented an award or awards for service to basketball beyond coaching. A single winner was named from 1975 through 1979. Multiple winners have been named from 1980 to the present, although no winners were named in 1991 (no clinic was held that year) or 2021 (when the 2020 winners were honored because of the COVID-19 pandemic).
A list of winners from over the years -- plus a bio of Virgil Sweet -- are beneath the biographies of the 2023 winners.
This year's awards will be presented on Thursday, April 20 as part of the 2023 IBCA Clinic at Mt. Vernon High School in Fortville, Ind. For more information about the IBCA, go to in.nhsbca.org.
Here is more information about each Sweet Award honoree for 2023.
Roger Grossman
Roger Grossman has broadcast high school basketball and other sports in Warsaw and northern Indiana for more than 30 years. He now is completing his 32nd school year with WRSW Radio.
Grossman is a 1986 graduate of Argos High School, where competed in four varsity sports – three seasons in soccer, one season in basketball, four seasons in golf and, concurrently with golf, three seasons in baseball.
He went on to Butler University, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in radio/television in 1991. He began broadcasting Butler men’s basketball, women’s basketball and football games in 1987 on WAJC Radio while a college student. He also played on the Bulldogs’ golf team for one season and served three seasons as a student manager for the Butler women’s basketball team.
Grossman began his professional career in June 1991 as a summer intern at WRSW, then stayed on as a football analyst that fall and provided play-by-play coverage for Warsaw girls’ basketball that winter. He added football and boys’ basketball play-by-play duties to his responsibilities in 2002.
Over 32 seasons, Grossman has broadcast nearly 2,800 contests in boys’ basketball, girls’ basketball, football, baseball, softball and soccer. He also hosts the “Tiger Talk” program on 35 Saturdays each school year.
He has been named the state Broadcaster of the Year three times by the Indiana High School Baseball Coaches Association. He also was recognized as the IHSBCA district Broadcaster of the Year four other times.
Grossman was honored in 2010 as a recipient of the IHSAA Distinguished Media Service Award, and his broadcast location in the southwest corner of the Tiger Den in Warsaw has been named “Roger’s Roost” in his honor. He also has been a licensed basketball official since 1986. Grossman and his wife, Holly, are parents to two children – Hannah, 13, and Oliver, 9.
Roger Grossman of WRSW Radio in Warsaw, summer basketball organizer Denise McClanahan of Indianapolis and longtime sportswriter Mike Lopresti of Richmond are the recipients of this year's awards. One person is honored from each IHSAA district -- Grossman in District 1, McClanahan in District 2 and Lopresti in District 3.
Virgil Sweet Awards are presented to those who have provided meritorious service in the promotion of basketball across Indiana. The award is named in honor of Sweet, a former Valparaiso High School basketball coach and executive director of the IBCA from 1974 through 1984.
This is the 47th year that the IBCA has presented an award or awards for service to basketball beyond coaching. A single winner was named from 1975 through 1979. Multiple winners have been named from 1980 to the present, although no winners were named in 1991 (no clinic was held that year) or 2021 (when the 2020 winners were honored because of the COVID-19 pandemic).
A list of winners from over the years -- plus a bio of Virgil Sweet -- are beneath the biographies of the 2023 winners.
This year's awards will be presented on Thursday, April 20 as part of the 2023 IBCA Clinic at Mt. Vernon High School in Fortville, Ind. For more information about the IBCA, go to in.nhsbca.org.
Here is more information about each Sweet Award honoree for 2023.
Roger Grossman
Roger Grossman has broadcast high school basketball and other sports in Warsaw and northern Indiana for more than 30 years. He now is completing his 32nd school year with WRSW Radio.
Grossman is a 1986 graduate of Argos High School, where competed in four varsity sports – three seasons in soccer, one season in basketball, four seasons in golf and, concurrently with golf, three seasons in baseball.
He went on to Butler University, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in radio/television in 1991. He began broadcasting Butler men’s basketball, women’s basketball and football games in 1987 on WAJC Radio while a college student. He also played on the Bulldogs’ golf team for one season and served three seasons as a student manager for the Butler women’s basketball team.
Grossman began his professional career in June 1991 as a summer intern at WRSW, then stayed on as a football analyst that fall and provided play-by-play coverage for Warsaw girls’ basketball that winter. He added football and boys’ basketball play-by-play duties to his responsibilities in 2002.
Over 32 seasons, Grossman has broadcast nearly 2,800 contests in boys’ basketball, girls’ basketball, football, baseball, softball and soccer. He also hosts the “Tiger Talk” program on 35 Saturdays each school year.
He has been named the state Broadcaster of the Year three times by the Indiana High School Baseball Coaches Association. He also was recognized as the IHSBCA district Broadcaster of the Year four other times.
Grossman was honored in 2010 as a recipient of the IHSAA Distinguished Media Service Award, and his broadcast location in the southwest corner of the Tiger Den in Warsaw has been named “Roger’s Roost” in his honor. He also has been a licensed basketball official since 1986. Grossman and his wife, Holly, are parents to two children – Hannah, 13, and Oliver, 9.
