At the beginning of November, former Center Grove High School coach Carol Tumey called Nikki Cerbone. She asked where she was and if she could sit down. Cerbone told her she was at home and she could. She wondered what terrible news was about to be delivered.
Then Tumey told her.
Cerbone was selected for induction into the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame as part of its 2017 class this April.
“I was speechless,” she said of the moment. “Pleasantly surprised and overwhelmed and honored – so many things.”
Cerbone, whose maiden name is Anderson, was a standout player for the Center Grove Trojans from 1983 to 1987. She set the school record for points at 1,347 – a record that stands today. As a senior, she earned Indiana All-Stars recognition. Her free throw shooting remains among the best in Butler University history, she is among the all-time top single-game scorers and a leader in field goals made during a single game.
But before all that, Cerbone played games with her brother, Terry, and his friends as a child. The neighborhood was full of boys, so Cerbone was left with little choice – play with them or not at all.
“My brother was very, very gracious in allowing me to play with his friends,” Cerbone said. “It wasn’t long before they started treating me like one of the guys … They made me tougher, made me better than what I probably could’ve done on my own.”
When she was old enough, Cerbone joined a recreational league for fourth through sixth graders. She continued playing basketball in middle school and started going to basketball camps over the summer.
Still, the game didn’t get serious for her until her freshman year at Center Grove.
She played varsity volleyball and basketball that year, though it was only her second year playing volleyball. Initially, volleyball coach Shelly Haley brought her onto the team as a floater. Then Cerbone started practicing with the varsity team more and more.
“I think she, of all my coaches, probably was the first coach that really recognized my potential as an athlete,” Cerbone said.
She gained more confidence as her role expanded on the volleyball team and Haley’s belief in her became clear. She took that confidence to coach Mike Swango’s basketball team.
“I always wanted to be the best I could be,” she said. “I think that’s something I learned at a young age from my parents. Work hard and good things will happen.”
She was inspired after going to a talk given by former Olympic and Indiana University basketball player Steve Alford. He reinforced what her parents had said – hard work pays off – and helped her realize college basketball was a possibility for her.
After that, Cerbone said, she had a basketball in her hands every day. She did drills she learned from her coaches on her own at home. She set goals for them – hit 8 of 10 from the field or 7 of 10 from the line – and if she didn’t achieve the goal, she did the drill again and again until she did.
She took that drive and intensity to Butler. She didn’t miss a game in four years of play and graduated with a speech communication degree in 1991. She went back to school at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis in 1992 to get a secondary education certificate.
Today, she teaches eighth grade English at Franklin Township Middle School West and serves as assistant coach for the girls basketball team at Franklin Central High School. She and her husband, Bob, have three sons.
Q & A
Q: What’s some advice you wish someone had given you when you were younger?
A: Enjoy every opportunity you have to play, no matter what the score is, because it goes by really fast.
Q: In your school-age years, is there a person who had a significant impact on you? Who and why?
A: More than anything, it would be my parents and my brother. They taught me discipline and accountability and the fruits of hard work at a young age that followed through and helped me be successful, not only in spots but it helped me be successful in life. They always supported me. (There were) all the times (my brother) let me tag along and play, even when he wasn’t always real happy about it. He still let me do it. I’m sure sometimes that got old.
Q: What do you do in your free time?
A: I enjoy spending time with my family and friends, being active, and supporting my sons in whatever they’re doing at the time.
Q: What are some goals you’d like to accomplish in the coming year?
A: I want to, first and foremost, be the best wife and mom I can be. Those are definitely my priorities – my family. I think the most important thing I can do with the time I have here on Earth is help people and, hopefully, affect people in a positive way as much as I possibly can.
Originally published in Center Grove ICON, 2017. Republished here for archival and portfolio purposes.