Hunter said Unruh played a big part in the team’ s success.
“ Coach Unruh was one of the strong points of that team. He was the glue that held everyone together,” said Hunter, who was named to the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame Silver Anniversary Team in 2022.“ LaMont and myself got a lot of press that year but he made sure we played with a team concept.”
New Albany almost did not make it out of its own sectional that season having to rally in the fourth quarter to edge arch-rival Floyd Central in the championship game.
“ The kids just took off from there and got momentum,” Unruh said.
“ One special thing about the’ 96 team is we always managed to make a late run when we had to. That was something unique about us,” Hunter said.“ We were able to do that.”
Unruh, who served six years as an assistant to Jim Miller before taking over as head coach, was in his first year during the 1995-96 season. He was head coach for three years, taking his team to the semistate final the next year, before becoming the school’ s athletic director, replacing Gary Austin who retired.
“ That is something I really wanted to do,” he said of becoming the school’ s athletic director.“ I have no regrets doing that.”
Looking back, Unruh said the loss to Ben Davis“ was a gut punch like no other.” However, he added that the season was filled with so many great moments including victories in the sectional, regional and semistate.
“ As crushing as it was, we had so many great memories that season,” he said.“ It was a great experience. We had such great community and school support. I knew how important it was to the community living in New Albany all my life. I knew what it meant to fans and the whole city of New Albany, and what it meant to me being a New Albany graduate. We made a great run and had great memories all the way up to state.”
“ One special thing about the’ 96 team is we always managed to make a late run when we had to. That was something unique about us.” Hunter said.
PAGE NO. 30 NEWS AND TRIBUNE SPORTS MAGAZINE MAR / APR 2026