Ted Kitchel is a former American basketball player who grew up in Cass County, Indiana and went on to play for Indiana University. He was part of the 1980-1981 National Championship team. Kitchel also represented the US in the 1982 FIBA World Championship. He was drafted 41st overall in the 1983 NBA Draft by the Milwaukee Bucks but ended up playing professionally in Italy. After his playing career, he was a regional broadcaster for IU basketball and high school football. Being diagnosed with Parkinson’s in 2015, Kitchel has become an advocate for the cause and has raised thousands of dollars to support research efforts.
Ted Kitchel Biography
- Name: Ted Daniel Kitchel
- Nationality: USA
- Age: 64 years old
- Birthday: November 2, 1959
- Born: Howard County, Indiana
- High School: Lewis Cass (Walton, Indiana)
- Height: 6’8″ (2.03 m)
- Weight: 220 lb (100 kg)
- Position: Forward
- Seasons: 5 (1978-1979, 1979-1980, 1980-1981, 1981-1982, 1982-1983)
- NBA Draft: 1983 / Round 2 / #41 overall by the Milwaukee Bucks
- Jersey: #30
- Post-playing career: Regional television IU color commentator
Ted Kitchel’s Seasons with the Hoosiers
22-12 (10-8 Big Ten)
🏅 NIT Champions
21-8 (13-5 Big Ten)
🏅 NCAA Sweet Sixteen
26-9 (14-4 Big Ten)
🏆 1981 NCAA Champions
19-10 (12-6 Big Ten)
🏅 NCAA Second Round
24-6 (13-5 Big Ten)
🏅 NCAA Sweet Sixteen
Ted Kitchel’s Indiana University Statistics
| Season | G | GS | MP | FG | FGA | FG% | 2P | 2PA | 2P% | 3P | 3PA | 3P% | FT | FTA | FT% | TRB | AST | STL | BLK | TOV | PF | PTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1978-1979 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 0.000 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||
| 1979-1980 | 22 | 4 | 154 | 16 | 50 | 0.320 | 7 | 12 | 0.583 | 28 | 15 | 6 | 2 | 15 | 24 | 39 | ||||||
| 1980-1981 | 34 | 27 | 748 | 113 | 243 | 0.465 | 88 | 103 | 0.854 | 113 | 46 | 17 | 3 | 43 | 87 | 314 | ||||||
| 1981-1982 | 29 | 28 | 928 | 204 | 385 | 0.530 | 160 | 183 | 0.874 | 141 | 55 | 18 | 9 | 72 | 90 | 568 | ||||||
| 1982-1983 | 24 | 23 | 768 | 145 | 284 | 0.511 | 124 | 252 | 0.492 | 21 | 32 | 0.656 | 104 | 121 | 0.860 | 99 | 52 | 9 | 0 | 54 | 58 | 415 |
| Career | 110 | 82 | 2601 | 478 | 964 | 0.496 | 124 | 252 | 0.492 | 21 | 32 | 0.656 | 359 | 419 | 0.857 | 381 | 168 | 51 | 14 | 186 | 259 | 1336 |
Ted Kitchel’s Early Life and High School Career
Kitchel grew up in Cass County, Indiana on a rural farm. He began playing basketball with a makeshift hoop hung from the rafters of a cement floored toolshed. He later attended Lewis Cass High School.
In high school, he was a three-year starter and was all-conference all three years. He was on the all-state team twice and was a member of the 1978 Indiana All-Star team. As a senior, Kitchel averaged 26.2 points and 13 rebounds leading the team to a 20-0 record. Cass also went on that season to win the school’s first sectional championship.
Kitchel later said, “That’s still by far my greatest basketball thrill – winning that sectional… Of course you have to understand how big high school basketball was then and how important winning a sectional at Cass was. Everyone who was important in my life was there that day. People from big schools can’t understand how big of a deal it was – they’re used to winning. But in the history of the school we had never won a sectional. [The championship] wasn’t just for me, it was for the whole community.”
Upon graduation, Kitchel was the program’s all-time leading scorer with 1630 career points.
Kitchel’s Indiana University Career
Kitchel played for the Hoosiers from 1978 to 1983.
His first season he only appeared in one game and only played three minutes. In those three minutes, he had a steal, missed two field goals, and had two turnovers. The season was essentially his redshirt year.
In the 1979-1980 season, he finally saw the court on a consistent basis. He appeared in 22 games, averaging about seven minutes per appearance. Kitchel found it difficult to get meaningful playing time that season because Indiana had a plethora of scoring, with four players averaging double-digit point totals, led by senior Mike Woodson’s 19.3 ppg (Woodson only appeared in 14 games due to injury) and freshman Isaiah Thomas’ 14.6 ppg. IU won 21 games that year. They were a #2-seed in the NCAA Tournament but lost to #6-seed Purdue in the Mideast Regional Semi-Final.
The next year Kitchel became an integral part of the Indiana squad that won the National Championship over North Carolina. He played in 34 games, starting 27, seeing 22 minutes of game action per appearance. He averaged 9.2 points, 3.3 rebounds, and 1.4 assists per game.
