Joshua Bell: Violinist
Bloomington native Joshua Bell is a world-renowned violinist who debuted at Carnegie Hall at age 17. A Bloomington High School North graduate, Bell got his start training under violinists at the IU School of Music, where he received an artist diploma in violin performance in 1989.
Bell, 53, has served in multiple professorships, including as a visiting professor at the Royal Academy of Music in London, and was artistic partner of the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra from 2004–2007. He received the Indiana Governor’s Award and was named an Indiana Living Legend.
Bell plays the Gibson ex Huberman Stradivarius violin, which was crafted in 1713 and purchased by Bell for nearly $4 million. The violin, which has twice been stolen from previous owners, is the subject of a documentary film called The Return of the Violin (2013). —Sophie Bird
Walt Bellamy: Hall of Fame Basketball Star
North Carolina native Walt Bellamy says he chose to play basketball at IU because “it was the closest school to the South that would accept African Americans.” A 1961 graduate, he is considered one of the greatest basketball players in school history.
In 70 games for the Hoosiers, Bellamy tallied 1,087 rebounds (a school record), averaged 20.6 points per game, and shot 51.7% from the floor. His 33 rebounds in one contest—his final college game against Michigan—still stands as both a school and Big Ten record. He became the first Hoosier ever taken No. 1 in the NBA draft, and was the first Hoosier named NBA Rookie of the Year in 1962.
A four-time NBA All-Star, Bellamy played for six teams in his 14-year professional career, averaging 21.7 points and 13.7 rebounds per game, and was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. He died November 2, 2013, at the age of 74. —Rodney Margison
Angela Brown: Opera Star
Angela Brown journeyed through teenage soul bands, musical theater performances, and a brief stint as a singing waitress before the fates turned her talents toward opera. She studied with voice teacher Virginia Zeani in graduate school at the IU School of Music and won the National Metropolitan Opera Council Auditions in 1997, launching her career.
Her turn as the lead in Verdi’s Aida at the Metropolitan Opera in 2005 brought her international acclaim, and soon she was performing on historic opera stages around the world. She founded Morning Brown Inc., a nonprofit designed to “introduce and expose economically and ethnically diverse and multigenerational audiences to opera and classical music”—a mission that Brown regularly brings to life with her own iconoclastic stage show, titled Opera from a Sistah’s Point of View. —Tracy Zollinger Turner
Joe Buck: TV Sportscaster
Joe Buck’s life as a student at IU was preempted by his career in sportscasting. He began broadcasting on local St. Louis television and radio stations as a caller for minor and major league baseball games around the time he turned 20, sometimes filling in for his veteran sportscaster father, Jack.
At age 25, Buck was hired by Fox Sports, where he was the youngest announcer ever to call NFL games and the World Series on a national network. He is now Fox’s lead play-by-play announcer for NFL and MLB games, and has won seven Sports Emmy Awards.
Buck was chosen as one of the final guest hosts of Season 37 of Jeopardy! as the game show continues to seek a successor to long-time host Alex Trebek. —Tracy Zollinger Turner
Meg Cabot: Author
Meg Cabot has written more than 50 teen, young adult, and adult novels, primarily in the fiction and fantasy genres.
Cabot’s most well-known series is The Princess Diaries, which was adapted into the 2001 film of the same name starring Anne Hathaway and Julie Andrews. The Princess Diaries was published in more than 40 countries and spent 38 total weeks on The New York Times Children’s Best-Seller List.
A Bloomington native, Cabot graduated from Indiana University in 1991 with a degree in studio arts. She married writer and poet Benjamin Egnaz on April Fool’s Day in 1993. Cabot and Egnaz split their time between Bloomington; Key West, Florida; and New York. —Sophie Bird
Paul Caine: Media Honcho
Paul Caine, who graduated from IU in 1986 with a degree in telecommunications, has served in leadership positions at USA Today, Time Inc. and WestwoodOne.
Caine served as the youngest salesperson at USA Today before being recruited by Time Inc.
to join the sales team of People magazine. At Time, Caine helped launch Teen People magazine,
and served as publisher of Entertainment Weekly and People before being named executive vice president, chief revenue officer, and group president of Time Inc.
After a stint as CEO of radio syndication company Dial Global—which Caine renamed WestwoodOne—Caine joined Bloomberg Media as chief revenue officer before leaving to serve as chairman of the board of both Telaria Inc., a video advertising firm, and global marketing agency Engine Group. —Sophie Bird
Hoagy Carmichael: Songwriter
Anyone who has tapped out the piano duet “Heart and Soul” is familiar with Hoagy Carmichael, who composed the music in 1938. His song “Stardust,” which was written in Bloomington, is one
of the most-recorded songs in the world and is part of the Great American Songbook.
From the 1920s to the 1950s, Carmichael wrote more than 50 hit songs and appeared in a number of movies, often as a piano-playing character.
Born in Bloomington in 1899, Carmichael earned a bachelor’s degree (1925) and a law degree (1926) from IU.
In 1971, Carmichael was one of the first 10 inductees into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. He died in 1981 and is buried in Rose Hill Cemetery on Bloomington’s west side. —Carmen Siering
