Year graduated
1977
Major accomplishments
Received the Trester Award for mental attitude; Ended college career with nine NCAA records, including 9,188 passing yards in football; A fourth-round draft choice in 1981 by Denver
Mark Herrmann is a football man—always has been, always will be. Nevertheless, the former Purdue All-America quarterback, 11-year NFL performer, and current Indianapolis Colts radio analyst also was a pretty good basketball player. Good enough, in fact, to help the Carmel Greyhounds win their only state high school championship.
The year was 1977, and the 6-foot-4 Herrmann and his starting buddies, Bart Burrell, Jon Ogle, Tim Wiley, and Paul Hensel; all of who had been together since they were undefeated in the seventh grade; were unranked and huge underdogs in the title game against East Chicago Washington. Carmel defied the odds, and before a capacity crowd of 17,490 in Indianapolis’ Market Square Arena, upset the Senators, 53-52, in what Herb Schwomeyer described in his Hoosier Hysteria book as “one of the most inspiring final-game performances since Milan’s Cinderella team shocked highly favored Muncie Central in 1954.”
Herrmann says his team was probably a double-digit underdog, at least, against East Chicago. “We had watched them in the afternoon game, and they looked awfully impressive. They beat Terre Haute South pretty handily [66-45]. We knew we had to beat Columbus East to get to the championship game. We played very well, and won by double digits [71-60]. Although East Chicago was a prohibitive favorite at night, we thought, ‘Hey, if we play our game, who knows what could happen.’ We had played a 2-3 zone the whole tournament and we stuck with that. We executed very well and frustrated them a little bit.”
After Carmel took a sizeable lead in the third quarter, East Chicago rallied and grabbed a 52-51 lead on Morris’ two free throws with 11 seconds to play. That’s when the real drama began during a Carmel timeout.
“Coach [Eric] Clark said, ‘Let’s get the ball into Mark and let him take the last shot,’” said Herrmann. “I couldn’t get open. Morris and I went for the ball on the in-bounds pass. The refs couldn’t decide who touched the ball last and called for a jump ball.”
During that Carmel timeout, Burrell, who became one of Herrmann’s top receivers at Purdue, tried to fire up his team. “The year before we had lost in the state football championship game to Valparaiso by one point,” said Herrmann. “So Bart said, ‘Let’s not lose another one-point game.’”
On the jump ball between Herrmann and Morris at the Senators’ end of the floor, Burrell made the play of the game. “Bart had kinda figured out where Drake was going to tip the ball most of the day, and I think he figured Drake would get the tip. Bart said, ‘Everybody out of the way,’ and Drake tipped the ball back right to him. He took it on the run, and threw about a half-court alley-oop pass to Ogle. Jon laid it in with four seconds left. It was a heckuva pass and a great shot.”
Morris took a last-second shot that would have won the game for East Chicago, but it missed, giving Herrmann and buddies a championship victory.
“We were hugging and tears were streaming down our faces,” said Herrmann. “We had five senior starters, and we had been together a very long time.”
Morris, who went to Purdue on a basketball scholarship, had 37 points against Terre Haute South and 27 against Carmel. He made the Indiana All-Star team. None of the other Greyhounds were voted onto the team. Herrmann, who had 22 points against Columbus East, and 16 against East Chicago, plus six rebounds and six assists, considers that a compliment for a group that played as a unit.
“There wasn’t a star on the team,” he said. “Nobody went on to play Division I ball, which is unheard of these days. I think the fact that we had no All-Stars was something to be very proud of.
“When my family moved to Carmel from Kansas City, which was more of a football town, in my sixth grade year, I got exposed to basketball and loved it. I wish Indiana high school basketball was still like it was, one class, because that was a tremendous thing the state of Indiana had to be proud of. I think some of the small schools miss having that opportunity to knock off the big schools. Coming from 13-7 at the end of the regular season in ‘77, nobody gave us a chance. I think that made it even sweeter winning a state championship.”
Herrmann still has three mementos from that game he treasures: a piece of the championship net, a championship ring, and the Trester Award trophy. “It was like a cherry on top of the sundae to be singled out for such a prestigious award,” he said.
Of Carmel’s 14-13 loss to Valparaiso in the ‘76 state football championship game, Herrmann said, “To fall short was devastating, because we felt we had the best team in the state by far. The week before we had beaten a very good Richmond team in 70-degree weather in Butler Bowl. Then we had to go up to Valpo and play in 20-degree weather at night. We missed an extra point to tie it, and lost.”
In his freshman year at Purdue, Herrmann says it was brought up that he might play two sports. Herrmann opted to concentrate on football, and it paid off big-time. In four seasons as a starter, he led the Boilermakers to a 33-13-1 record and bowl victories his last three years: Peach, Bluebonnet, and Liberty. Herrmann, who finished fourth in Heisman Trophy voting as a senior, ended his career with nine NCAA records, including 9,188 regular-season major-college passing yards.
“I got to play all four years, and we threw the ball a lot,” he said of his Boilermaker days. “A Rose Bowl would have been nice, but I had a lot of great teammates and some good memories.”
A fourth-round pick by Denver in the 1981 NFL draft, Herrmann wound up playing for five different teams: The Broncos, Baltimore, San Diego, the Los Angeles Rams, and the Indianapolis Colts. He calls his pro career good and bad.
“I was fortunate to play a lot of years, which beats the average,” he said. “The average is about three years. I was more of a backup most of my career. That was a little frustrating and disappointing, but to have had a chance to play at the highest level was a great thrill. I had my share of good games, but not enough.”
Ironically, Herrmanns career ended the day after he led the Colts to victory in 1992 in one of his best games.
“I was offensive player of the game, got the game ball, went home to our neighborhood and had a nice celebration,” he said. “It was the first time the Colts had won a home opener since they moved to Indianapolis from Baltimore.”
His excitement quickly turned to shock the next morning. Before he could begin lifting weights, Herrmann was called to owner Jim Irsay’s office. “He said, I great win yesterday. You played a great game. But we’re going to have to release you’. In their minds they felt like they had to go with some other players. We shook hands and I walked out of his office, and that was it, never to step on a football field again. People still talk about that to this day. I had the entire media of the city in my front yard when I got home. It was quite a circus. You go from Cloud Nine one day, then out of a job the next.”
Herrmann chose not to “blast everybody,” and he’s glad he took the professional approach, because “I really enjoy doing radio for the Colts games” and his position as associate director of education programs with the NCAA, which he assumed four years ago.
“We have a program called Stay in Bounds, which is a character development program,” said Herrmann. “I was one of the volunteer speakers for the program, in which former athletes talk to school groups about their experiences in sports, highs and lows. There was an opening, and I was approached about filling it. It’s a position that I’ve enjoyed.”