Al Rhodes won his 600th basketball game Thursday night, leading Penn to a win at South Bend Washington. The former Warsaw head coach becomes the fourth active coach to reach the milestone. (Photo courtesy Penn Athletics Twitter)

SOUTH BEND – Already a legend in Indiana high school basketball, Al Rhodes added another notable to his storybook.

Rhodes guided Penn to a 71-56 victory at South Bend Washington Thursday night, notching his 600th career win. The win moves the Kingsmen to 5-0, the best Penn has started under Rhodes since the 2013-14 when it rushed out to nine straight wins in what became a 23-2 season.

Rhodes still holds a very special place in the hearts of Warsaw basketball fans, serving as one of the iconic figures in a storied program. Rhodes, who last coached at Warsaw in 2002, worked the sidelines for the Tigers for over two decades, guiding the team to four state finals appearances and a state championship in 1984, the only in the program’s history.

One of the brightest minds in the game, Rhodes helped coach such players as Jeff Grose, Kevin Ault and Rick Fox and groomed a young Doug Ogle into the head coaching spotlight, to which Ogle has been coach at Warsaw for the last 17 years and won his 250th game this past weekend. In 38 years of coaching at Warsaw, Logansport, Fort Wayne Northrop and Penn, Rhodes is 600-285 overall.

Rhodes became the 15th coach in Indiana boys basketball history to reach 600 wins, passing Jimmie Howell of Lapel who sits at 599 wins. Just three active coaches are ahead of Rhodes, those being JR Holmes at Bloomington South (788), Jack Keefer of Lawrence North (781) and Gene Miiller of Washington (683).