From the Court to the Clinic: Jessica H. Makes Basketball History

Jes­si­ca H., a phar­ma­cist at South Bend Clin­ic, recent­ly received an unex­pect­ed yet mean­ing­ful
hon­or: being named to the Indi­ana Bas­ket­ball Hall of Fame’s 2025 Women’s Sil­ver Anniver­sary
Team.

The Sil­ver Anniver­sary Team rec­og­nizes 18 stand­out Indi­ana high school bas­ket­ball play­ers who
grad­u­at­ed 25 years ago — cel­e­brat­ing not only their ath­let­ic excel­lence but also the lega­cy they
left on the court.

“I was kind of shocked,” Jes­si­ca said. ​“I was suc­cess­ful in high school and col­lege, but as time
goes on, you don’t real­ly think about those days much. It was an hon­or just to be considered.” 

Jessica’s love for bas­ket­ball began in fourth grade. Encour­aged by her teach­ers-turned-coach­es,
she joined an Ama­teur Ath­let­ic Union (AAU) team and ​“nev­er looked back.”

“They always say, ​‘bas­ket­ball is life,’ and at that age, it real­ly was,” she shared. ​“I was always
work­ing out and train­ing. In the sum­mers, I worked at camps. The friend­ships, the lessons, the
expe­ri­ences — they’ve stayed with me.”

She went on to play four years of col­le­giate bas­ket­ball at Ball State Uni­ver­si­ty while earn­ing a
degree in chem­istry. After grad­u­a­tion, she attend­ed phar­ma­cy school at Pur­due Uni­ver­si­ty.
Today, near­ly two decades lat­er, her pas­sion for the game has come full cir­cle in a new role:
coach.

“When my kids’ school brought back fourth and fifth grade sports, they need­ed a bas­ket­ball
coach — so I signed up,” she said. ​“At first, I was ner­vous — it had been 20 years — but the
moment I was back on the court with those girls, it all came rush­ing back.”

Jes­si­ca was able to bal­ance her respon­si­bil­i­ties at South Bend Clin­ic to make her return to the
court pos­si­ble. ​“I’m so grate­ful to my cowork­ers and my boss, who worked with my sched­ule so
I could attend prac­tices,” she said. ​“It’s been a great way for me to con­tin­ue doing the work I
love as a phar­ma­cist while bring­ing bas­ket­ball back into my life.”

Though the sea­son with her young team last­ed just six weeks, the impact was last­ing. ​“I hope
they saw how much I love this sport,” she said. ​“Even if they don’t stick with bas­ket­ball longterm, maybe they’ll car­ry some­thing from it — team­work, pas­sion, hav­ing fun.”

More than just a game, bas­ket­ball shaped Jessica’s approach to both life and work. ​“Bas­ket­ball
teach­es you dis­ci­pline, lead­er­ship, time man­age­ment, and how to work as part of a team — all of
which I bring into my role as a phar­ma­cist,” she shared.

Thanks to the Indi­ana Bas­ket­ball Hall of Fame, Jessica’s lega­cy on the court is now per­ma­nent­ly
etched into his­to­ry, with her pho­to and biog­ra­phy dis­played among the greats of Indi­ana
bas­ket­ball. But it’s her lega­cy off the court — shaped by the game — that con­tin­ues to grow every
day at South Bend Clinic.