EDITORIAL: 2009 in review

I am not much of one for year-end reviews and the like, but 2009 was an exceptional year in Indiana high school sports. The year supplied me with countless memories, both good and bad. I think it is appropriate to relate both. 

So, in no particular order, here are my memories of 2009.

I will remember the state swimming finals for both boys and girls. These events share the crown for the best one-day sports atmosphere on the high school calendar. They do not get the credit they deserve because swimming is a non-revenue sport and not promoted like many of its brethren.

The girls basketball season supplied me with two memories I will carry for a long time. The fond one is from the Heritage Christian versus Oak Hill Class 2A state championship contest. The game will go down as one of the greatest in the long history of the tournament, regardless of gender. 

Even more than the drama of the battle, however, I will remember the character of the teams involved. Heritage Christian took its place in history with class and dignity. The Eagles knew they had been taken to the limit. They knew that in some ways they had been lucky. Neither players nor coach shied away from those facts.

Sometimes winning with class is far more difficult than losing the same way. Heritage Christian provided a blueprint for how to do it right. 

Conversely, the pride and will of the girls from Oak Hill were remarkable. They were the quintessential country kids who refused to back down to the big-city bullies. They cared little that they were facing the media darlings of the decade. They cared only about proving they belonged on the stage. 

They accomplished that for the ages.

One of my worst memories of the year also comes from the girls hoop tourney. It is the sight of Crawfordsville point guard Lexi Stevens in the final minutes of the Athenians’ semistate loss to Owen Valley. 

Stevens – the definition of leadership, guile, and clutch play – had suffered a serious ankle injury late in the first quarter of the game. She returned in the second half despite pain that would have quickly sidelined most players. As the tense final moments of the game unfolded, Stevens called on the intelligence, determination, and guts that had so often allowed her to guide her team through. They did not fail her, but the ankle did. 

She deserved a better moment in the spotlight, and so did the Athenians.

My strongest memory of the year comes from the boys tournament, and it has nothing to do with action on the court. I will never forget driving from Seymour to Osgood to attend the pep rally for Jac-Cen-Del after the Eagles won the 1A semistate. I remember the six-mile traffic jam to enter a town of no more than 1,500 people. 

I remember the more than 3,000 people who crammed into a gymnasium to pay homage to players from a school with an enrollment of about 200. I was proud to witness a community that was still unabashedly proud to indelibly link its identity with the accomplishment of its youth. 

It was the Indiana basketball I recalled from my youth, and it was wonderful. Still, my main memory of that evening is that intertwined with all of the joy was a melancholy that was palpable. 

The most-revered person in the gym that night was a frail man in his 90s. He was the coach who had led the local lads to a failed attempt against the big-city teams at the same semistate level nearly 50 years ago. 

With all they had accomplished, and all they would go on to accomplish, you still got the feeling the folks in Osgood would trade it for one more chance to measure themselves in open competition. There was a tinge of sadness that such an opportunity had been forever stolen from them, and through no fault of their own.

Track & field season brought the exploits of a young lady from Pendleton Heights, Ellie McCardwell, who exploded onto not only the state but also the national stage in track and field. The diminutive McCardwell established herself as one of America’s best female pole vaulters. 

The great part of this story is that McCardwell had not pursued such a dream her entire life. Rather, she was introduced to the sport while in middle school and fell in love with it. It also helped that she was a classy, well-spoken young lady who represented her school in tremendous fashion.

Softball brought us the New Palestine Dragons. It is not that these ladies won the 3A title that is memorable; it is the way they did it. They forever dispelled the myth that girls do not approach goals and competition like boys. 

They viewed winning this title as their job, and they did their job very, very well. They also did it with a sense of absolute joy.

I will carry two memories from this fall’s football season. The first is Carmel’s loss in the classic battle versus Warren Central for the 5A state crown. There is no question the Greyhounds lost the title on a very bad officiating call. There are very few who would question that stance. 

Nonetheless, for Carmel to lose in that fashion was ironic at the very least. This was a team that had clawed to a 12-1 record by making, taking advantage of, or simply benefitting from every odd or unusual break in game after game. 

Whether the final was a travesty, irony, or poetic justice is a matter of perspective. But it is somehow fitting that an unusual circumstance was involved in the outcome.

My fondest recollection from the football season will be watching the West Lafayette Red Devils win the 3A championship. Coach Marshall Overley is one of the nicest men in Indiana sports. He is unassuming, devoid of ego, and an educator first. Football coaches are often guilty of promoting an “us against the world” philosophy that carries well beyond their opponents to anybody within their own school, the media, or community who might believe that there is more in life than football. 

Marshall Overley is a man who makes sure his players know there is more to life than football.

I have left out many, many, memories from the past year, some good and some bad. But somehow, in the end, it is always the glory of the human spirit that gravitates to the top of a sports fan’s mind.

Happy New Year from Hoosier Authority!