Donna Cheatham

Donna Cheatham, Camp Director, Five-Star Skills Camp

Donna Cheatham’s accomplishments as Varsity Basketball Coach at Scottsburg High School and Southwestern High School are unparalleled.  In 40 years as a head coach, she has won 649 games while losing only 209, for a winning percentage of 75.6%.  She has won state championships at two schools, taking home the hardware at both Scottsburg (1989) and Southwestern (2002).  This record of sustained coaching success is clearly in the upper echelon in Indiana High School basketball history.

Coach Cheatham’s teams have reached the Semi-State 12 times and the Final Four 5 times.  Both are state records.  She has twice been chosen to the coach the Indiana All Stars against the Kentucky All Stars in the annual series to benefit the blind.  Donna has also coached all star teams for the Reebok North/South Classic, East/West Indiana All-Star Classic, Hoosier Basketball Coaches Association, and the McDonald’s All-Stars.  She has been awarded Coach of the Year honors an astonishing 35 times.

Donna has also developed more than her share of great players, Forty-seven (47) of her players have received college scholarships, this at Scottsburg with 700 students and Southwestern with 400 students.  She has coached 8 Indiana All Stars and 1 Miss Basketball (Renee Westmoreland 1989).

Coach Cheatham was inducted into the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame in 2002 and twice been a finalist for National Coach of the Year.  In 1992, she was selected by the United States State Department to conduct goodwill clinics in Cameroon.

With these accomplishments in mind, it is little wonder that most knowledgeable basketball people in Indiana rate Donna Cheatham as the state’s best active coach.