LIFE

9 achievers who once were Indiana hoopsters

After the hardwood, they became lawmakers, artists, a tycoon, a TV star, an Indian chief.

Indiana

This time of year basketball is heartbreak, it's euphoria. It's ... everything.

It's single-elimination — you lose, and you're done.

But not really.

Here are nine former hoopsters, Indiana high school players, who won some and lost some, who at one point were "done."

But they weren't really "done," they were just starting — they had (or are having) huge careers in fields totally unrelated to basketball.

Alan Cohen

Alan Cohen — As a senior at Broad Ripple High School (Class of '65), Cohen once scored four points in five seconds (and ended with 26 points, as Ripple beat Lawrence Central 71-64). Later he rode the sneaker wave as co-founder and CEO of Finish Line Inc. (capitalization: $1.1 billion). He was named Entrepreneur of the Year by Ernst and Young and Inc. Magazine in 1991. Cohen retired from Finish Line as chairman in 2010.

James Dean

James Dean — He was the second shortest player on the Fairmount High Quakers in 1947. He played guard. He later became an actor, and though he made just three movies ("East of Eden," "Rebel Without a Cause" and "Giant"), Dean became and remains an American icon. He was killed in a car crash Sept. 30, 1955 at age 24. He was buried in Fairmount, and some 3,000 people came to his funeral.

Vivica A. Fox

Vivica A. Fox — She played hoops for Arlington High School (Class of '82). "I was great on defense — great rebounder, great blocker," she told ESPN in 2003. "I wasn't much of a shooter even though I had a nice shot." She later moved to California and became an actress. She started with bit parts, on the soap "Days of Our Lives" and the film "Born on the Fourth of July," and later became a star, known for her roles in "Independence Day" (1996), "Why Do Fools Fall in Love" (1998) and "Kill Bill" (2003).

Lee Hamilton

Lee Hamilton — Hamilton was named to the all-state team as a senior at Evansville Central in 1948. He'd led his team to the state final game, scoring 16 points in the semi-final. He played college ball at DePauw and later served in Congress, as a Democrat, from 1965 to 1999. His chairmanships included the Committee on Foreign Affairs, the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, and the Select Committee to Investigate Covert Arms Transactions with Iran.

Baron Hill

Baron Hill — He was the leading scorer in Seymour High history with 1,724 points and was a first-team all-state selection (Class of '71). He played college ball at Furman. Hill, a Democrat, was elected to the Indiana General Assembly in 1982 and served eight years. In 1998, he was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives and was reelected four times, serving until 2010 (he lost his 2004 bid; his constituency in effect benching him for two years). Now Hill is considering running for U.S. Senate in 2016.

Michael Michele

Michael Michele — That's her stage name. As Michael Michele Williams, she played basketball for Benjamin Bosse High School in Evansville (Class of '85). She then went into acting, landing the role of Wesley Snipes' girlfriend in "New Jack City" (1991). She made several other films, but is perhaps best known for her portrayal of Dr. Cleo Finch on the TV show "ER."

Earl Townsend

Earl Townsend — In 1932, Townsend led Tech High School to its first North Central Conference title and later played at DePauw University then Michigan. Later, Townsend became a noted trial lawyer in Indianapolis. He also was among the nation's preeminent collectors of prehistoric Indian artifacts. In 1971, the Black River-Swan Creek Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe made Townsend an honorary chief and gave him the name Senee Pen Eshee Na Na. For the first telecast of the Indianapolis 500-Mile Race, in 1949, Townsend was the announcer.

Herschell Turner

Herschell Turner — He was the scoring leader at Shortridge High School during the mid-1950s, during the time Oscar Robertson was at Attucks. Later, he starred at the University of Nebraska (he was the first Cornhusker to score 1,000 points), then played several seasons with several ABA teams and had a stint with the Harlem Globetrotters. Later, he became an artist, a painter. His work has sold for thousands of dollars. Turner, who lives in Grand Rapids, for a time was art director of the Michigan Department of Corrections — he taught prison inmates how to draw.

Michael Warren

Michael Warren — He was a two-time all-state player and career scoring leader with South Bend Central (Class of '64), and later an All-American at UCLA. During his time, under legendary coach John Wooden, UCLA won two national titles. After school, Warren became an actor on TV and in movies. Most notably he was a cast member on the acclaimed TV show "Hill Street Blues," and also had major roles in the films "Drive, He Said" and "Anderson's Cross."

Contact Star reporter Will Higgins at (317) 444-6043. Follow him on Twitter @WillRHiggins.