Hoosiers Now

Hoosier Favorite No. 41? Picking Favorite Indiana Basketball Players, One Number At a Time

There are no names on the Indiana basketball jerseys, just a number, and those digits mean a lot to all Hoosiers fans. We want to know who your favorites are, resuming with the No. 41 in Indiana basketball history that's meant the most to you. Pick your favorite, and we'll do this every day for the rest of the summer.

Haley Jordan

In this story:

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — Welcome back to our summer series where Hoosier basketball fans can vote on their favorite Indiana players to ever wear each number. Today, we resume with all the best to wear No. 41.

Hoosier favorite?

Every day we're going to give you four choices along with a short player bio to pick your favorite Hoosier who wore a certain number.

Here are your four No. 41 jersey choices in alphabetical order so that we're not showing bias. Be sure to take the poll below via Twitter.

(Editor's Note: We'll take results for 24 hours on the poll and then share results on this story the next day, so keep coming back to see the results.)

Butch Carter (1976-80)

To start off his Hoosiers career, guard Butch Carter broke his fifth metatarsal bone in his left foot and was unable to play for the majority of his first two seasons.

The Middletown, Ohio native is best known for hitting the game-winning shot in the 1979 NIT championship game versus rival Purdue. Alongside teammate Ray Tolbert, Carter earned the tournament MVP title.

Post college, Carter was selected as the 37th overall pick in the 1980 NBA draft by the Los Angeles Lakers. Carter played six years in the NBA with four different teams before he began his high school, college and later NBA coaching career with the Milwaukee Bucks and Toronto Raptors.

Butch Carter
Butch Carter / Indiana University

Mike Giomi (1982-85)

Newark, Ohio native Mike Giomi started in 59 out of 96 games played for the Hoosiers under former coach Bobby Knight.

The forward totaled 667 points, 416 rebounds and 58 assists throughout his Hoosiers career.

In Giomi's stint, he went to the NCAA Tournament twice with the Hoosiers, a Sweet 16 appearance versus Kentucky in 1983 and an Elite Eight run versus Virginia in 1984.

The Hoosiers were Big Ten regular season champions with a 24-6 overall record and 13-5 conference record in Giomi's freshman 1982-83 season.

Although he was the team's leading rebounder and third-leading scorer at the time, Giomi was let go from the team by Knight after trouble attending classes.

Mike Giomi
Mike Giomi / USA Today

Ted Kluszewski (1944-45)

Ted Kluszewski might seem like an odd basketball choice at No. 41, but even though he didn't get much of a chance to prove himself on the court, he had a very successful career in baseball. He proved to be a Swiss army knife athlete and also played Hoosier football.

Kluszewski loved basketball but didn't see it through after falling off the bench in his first Hoosiers game sustaining injuries that would last for several weeks, the Chicago Daily Tribune reported.

The Chicago area native played one season of baseball at Indiana and then went on to play in the MLB for four teams from 1947-61 spending 11 of his 15 seasons with the Cincinnati Reds.

He was a four-time National League All-Star and hit 40 or more home runs in three consecutive seasons. Nicknamed "Big Klu" the two-time World Series champion was inducted into the Reds Hall of Fame in 1962. He even has a statue that sits at Great American Ball Park in Cincinnati. 

Ted Kluszewski
Ted Kluszewski / 247 Sports

All-time No. 41's at Indiana

Here are all of the players who have worn No. 41 at Indiana:

  • Mike Giomi — (1982-85)
  • Butch Carter — (1976-80)
  • Craig Morris — (1972-74)
  • Gabe Oliverio — (1966-69)
  • Erv Inniger — (1964-67)
  • Max Walker — (1963-66)
  • Bill Altman — (1959-62)
  • Leroy Gamble — (1958-59)
  • Dick White — (1952-55)
  • Ted Kluszewski — (1944-45)
  • Andy Zimmer — (1940-42)

Vote for your favorite No. 41 on Twitter

You'll be able to vote on Twitter for your favorite player with each number. Here's the link to today's poll for No. 41.

'Hoosier' Favorite Results

Check this story every day to see which players won the vote for each respective number.

'Hoosier' Favorite Results Story CLICK HERE

Related stories on Indiana Basketball:

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Haley Jordan
HALEY JORDAN

Haley Jordan is a Sports Illustrated/FanNation video director, staff writer, host and reporter for Hoosiers Now, Fastball and Fastbreak sites. She is a graduate from Indiana University with degrees in Sports Broadcast Journalism and Spanish.

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