Bill Hudnut defined Indianapolis during his four terms as mayor. And long after his final days in office, his legacy remains strong.


Everything about Bill Hudnut was big.

His heart and his personality. His vision and his legacy. His dreams for his city and his belief in the power of people to come together. All of it was not only big, it was larger than life, and Hudnut’s life is a reminder of how much public servants can mean to the people they serve, and how big and lasting their impact can be on the communities they represent.

It goes without saying that Mayor Hudnut, who died at the age of 84 this weekend after a long illness, was a towering figure in the history of Indianapolis. He was Indianapolis’ longest-serving mayor, yes, but his legacy was marked not by the number of terms he served but by the big dreams, big spirit and bold ambitions he brought to Indiana’s once-quiet capital city.

His was a personality matched by few in public life, a gregarious optimist with a huge smile who pushed his city and his constituents to believe in the art of the possible. A pastor turned politician, he brought to the job of mayor a passion for progress and improvement, and a belief that our leaders must tirelessly champion those people and places they serve.

Old-timers still talk about Hudnut’s cheerleading on behalf of Indianapolis and of his willingness to do whatever it took to get his message across. That meant marching in the St. Patrick’s Day parade dressed head-to-toe as a leprechaun or heading out on snowplows during a historic blizzard. As he once told me, his goal was not to showboat — though he loved the theatrics of politics — but to show his people that he was one of them.

I got to know Hudnut long after he left the mayor’s office, a decade ago when he was still in his 70s, but that spirit he had as mayor endured until the end and turned every conversation, every email, every long dinner, into a rollicking example of why he meant so much to so many. He would write to celebrate when Indianapolis had a great moment, or to bemoan Statehouse decisions he believed were hurting the city he loved.

“Hudnut’s legacy is this city,” John Krauss, one of his close friends and former aides, wrote to me on Sunday. “Mayor Bill brought the community together to create the Indianapolis we enjoy.”

On social media, longtime fans suggested that Hudnut belongs on “Indy’s Mount Rushmore,” and they could not have been more right. A long list of people have played outsized roles in building the modern-day Indianapolis, but Hudnut belongs at the front of that list. His 16 years in office were marked most of all by forward progress and a demand for momentum that paved the way for the city’s rebirth.

His legacy is easy to find.

Those Indianapolis Colts who played Sunday afternoon? They would not have come to Indiana all those years ago if not for Hudnut and his belief in the notion that a midsized Midwestern city deserved to strive for bigger things.

The Downtown that is one of the state’s gems and has shined so much attention and praise on Indianapolis? It has many mothers and fathers, but Hudnut’s role can hardly be overstated.

But more important than any project was the spirit Hudnut brought to his city. He did not just work to lure the Colts to Indianapolis, he took a huge risk in a risk-averse city by building a stadium before landing a team. He didn’t just help rebuild Downtown, he pushed for investments in the core of the city at a time when America’s downtowns were on the decline.

In short, he bet on his city time and again. And his city won, time and again, because of his belief in it. And because he was able to sell Indianapolis on the idea that what was good for one part of the city could help every part of it.

I have met a lot of politicians in my 25 years in the news business, but I can honestly say I’ve never met another one like Hudnut. While I wrote several columns about him in recent years — about his legacy and political views, as well as about his illness — I considered him much more of a friend whom I admired than someone I covered.

Why was that the case? Well, because if you spent any time around Bill Hudnut, you couldn’t help but get caught up in his love of life and his enduring excitement about the things that can be accomplished if people dream big and come together.

Bill Hudnut dreamed big and brought people together — that is his greatest legacy.


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