TERRE HAUTE — You might recall that we started this week talking four great people I know, and about the naming of the new gym at Woodrow Wilson Middle School for Trannie Grainger and Mike Kennedy.
I’m not sure if there’s a name for the gym at Hinsdale South High School in Darien, Ill., but if they’re looking for a suggestion, I’ve got one. How about Brenda Whitesell Gym, or maybe Brenda Whitesell Field for the school’s softball team?
Whitesell, still practically a child at 53, submitted her resignation as the school’s girls basketball coach less than a week ago, after 500 wins and 271 losses in the past 27 seasons. Counting the four seasons she spent at Knox (Ind.) High School, her overall basketball record is 544-301.
She was also Hindale South’s softball coach from 1983 through 1997, with a 330-144 record there.
“I only have two years left before I can retire from teaching,” she explained by telephone earlier this week, “and I figured it was time that someone else needed to be learning how to do everything.”
Don’t take that to mean that Whitesell, a West Vigo (1973) and Indiana State (1977) graduate, is going to take it easy. She expects to be available for consultations with the new coach, if needed, and even has thoughts about trying to coach another sport — maybe boys tennis, she said, giving her a chance to coach boys for the first time.
She hasn’t coached tennis yet either, she said, although she played the sport one season at Indiana State. She has also coached track and volleyball; played volleyball and ran track at West Vigo (because girls basketball and softball weren’t high school sports yet when she was in school) and competed in volleyball, tennis, basketball and softball at ISU. She expressed disappointment this week that her student teaching, in the fall of her senior year with the Sycamores, prevented her from playing a fall sport that year.
Oh, and before she graduated from West Vigo she was also playing for the nationally renowned Chevettes in women’s softball. While at Indiana State she played in four national tournaments — two WNITs with Edie Godleski’s basketball team and two College World Series with Mary Swiess’s softball team. She also played for seven state championship teams — catcher and shortstop — with the Chevettes.
She was ISU’s Athlete of the Year in 1977, was named to the Illinois Basketball Coaches Association’s Hall of Fame in 2005, and was inducted into the Illinois Coaches Association Softball Hall of Fame in February of this year. Those three were honors she appreciated, she said, because she was nominated and elected by her peers.
Godleski and Swiess — who also coached the Chevettes, making Whitesell a pretty easy recruit for the Sycamores to get — remain huge influences in her life, she said.
“I was fortunate to be able to take the best from two of the earliest role models for women,” she said this week. “I learned a lot about discipline [from them], and I learned about teaching the game.”
You might find her more often in the future at Pizza City on North Second Street, where Margie Whitesell — her mother and, she quips, chief publicist — can usually be found behind the counter.
“I’d like to pursue some other interests,” Whitesell said when asked about any upcoming free time. “Be able to come home more and spend time with Mom and my family.”
But there might also be a small college or a junior college that needs a coach, she admitted. And for that matter, she still hasn’t tried coaching baseball, or golf, or gymnastics, or badminton ...
• • •
• He’s almost there — Then you might remember Evan Austin, the Terre Haute South freshman who is already on any list of all-time mental attitude award winners.
Evan spent his spring break in Minnesota trying out for the U.S. Paralympic Swim Team, and wound up first alternate on the men’s team after winning three gold medals and setting a national record in the process.
“If anyone drops out, I’ll be going [to China],” he told me by telephone this week.
Evan won the 100 butterfly, the 50 freestyle and the 800 freestyle, was second in both the 100 freestyle and 400 freestyle and was third in the 100 backstroke. If you are asking, like I did, how he could win three times and not make the team, it comes down to times. Evan’s best time on a worldwide basis is actually in an event he didn’t win, the 400 freestyle, where he ranks 12th in the world; the 20th man on the 20-man swim team is 11th in the world in one of his events.
Evan’s favorite moment may have been learning about his national record — in the 50 freestyle, which ironically wasn’t supposed to be one of his strongest events. He didn’t know about it until the next day, when he saw the list of national records being posted on the huge scoreboard. “We have a picture of that,” he said.
And did he have a good time?
“It was absolutely wonderful,” he said this week. “I was so amazed with the capabilities of everyone there. It was an honor to be there.”
And, of course, he has plenty of time to make the team in the future.
“They told me, ‘If you don’t go to China, be ready for London [in 2012],’ ” Evan said.
• • •
• Throneburg, Hayes update — Denny Throneburg e-mailed me this week to update people in the Terre Haute area on the progress of the Lake Land College softball team. As of Monday it was 24-3, 15-1 in the Great Rivers Athletic Conference, and ranked first in the nation in hitting for Division I junior colleges with a team batting average of .429.
Helping that average stay so high has been Terre Haute North graduate Alicia Hayes, who is batting .476 (39 for 82) so far with 15 doubles, two triples, two homers, 32 RBIs and a .780 slugging percentage. She’s already signed with IUPUI for next season.
Andy Amey can be reached after 4 p.m. for comments or news items at (812) 231-4277 or at 1-800-783-8742; by e-mail at andy.amey@tribstar.com; by mail at P.O. Box 149, Terre Haute, 47808; or by fax at (812) 231-4321.
Amey Takes Aim
Amey Takes Aim: West Vigo grad ends prolific coaching career
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AMEY TAKES AIM: Getting ready for the dance
Terre Haute North got the good news Sunday night — or did it?
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AMEY TAKES AIM: Harrowing path for state hopefuls
The bad news is that the winner of Class 4A Sectional 13 in boys basketball heads northeast instead of southeast for regional play in March — to Hinkle Fieldhouse instead of Seymour as a result of Indiana High School Athletic Association’s changes.
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AMEY TAKES AIM: A superior all-star arrangement
I don’t work on Wednesdays, so I wasn’t able to attend the first Wabash Valley Football Coaches Association draft last week to set up the annual all-star game that will be June 23 this year.
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AMEY TAKES AIM: The biggest & baddest of a holiday classic
There are more things to love about the Pizza Hut Wabash Valley Classic than could fit in this newspaper, but one of this year’s best things was that for an hour or so on Wednesday, it was Justin Paddock’s world and we were just living in it.
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AMEY TAKES AIM: Taking note of ISU’s latest football win
The biggest difference I’ve noticed, as I transition from the high school football beat to quasi-official status as the Indiana State football beat writer for a few weeks, is the length of the games.
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AMEY TAKES AIM: IHSAA playoff draw not as bad as it could have been
First reaction to the Indiana sectional football pairings drawn late Sunday by the Indiana High School Athletic Association? It could have been a lot worse.
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ANDY AMEY: Between the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame & a hard place
Just in case any of you noticed — with some anticipation — the recent lack of my bylines, I can tell you that your wish (and mine) did come true. It was vacation week for the Amey family.
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Amey Takes Aim: UFC fighter’s bloodines traced back to ISU brothers
As a mild-mannered reporter from a great metropolitan newspaper — or thereabouts — I admit I haven’t paid much attention to the burgeoning mixed martial arts scene.
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AMEY TAKES AIM: Predators’ win is music to new fan’s ears
For many, many years, the number of live games televised on WGN has been cited as perhaps the main reason for the popularity of the Chicago Cubs (it’s got to be something besides masochism, right?).
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AMEY TAKES AIM: You’ll be having a good ol’ time on vacation with the Ameys
When one of the first people you meet is Tammy Wynette’s stepdaughter, when you’ve stepped on the feet of people you haven’t met while trying to navigate Ernest Tubbs’ old Silver Eagle tour bus, and when the activities director of your resort is, well, Elvis, you might be vacationing in Nashville.
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AMEY TAKES AIM: The Annual All-Amey basketball teams close out the prep season
The most encouraging boys high school basketball event I’ve attended so far in 2011 has been the Lafayette Semistate a couple of weeks ago.
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AMEY TAKES AIM: Family remembers Cheryl Weatherman as caring grandmother
As far as Riley and Keely Davis are concerned, Cheryl Weatherman was simply their grandmother, and a pretty darn good one at that.
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AMEY TAKES AIM: Honor to see Turkey Run girls close out memorable career
I don’t know if anyone in this part of the state could actually say they enjoy going to Fort Wayne and back, but I was glad to see the Turkey Run Warriors play one last time during the girls basketball state finals Saturday.
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So many matches, so many favorites
Go ahead, ask me anything about the 224 wrestlers who competed last week at the Indiana state finals — or at least about the 112 wrestlers who survived Saturday’s first round.
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ANDY TAKES AIM: A sportwriters’s lament: Oh, the games we missed
I was already tired of winter by the time that first bitterly cold snap passed through in mid-December, so it’s safe to say the season hasn’t grown on me.
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AMEY TAKES AIM: Time of the season for teams to tough it out
In the last month or so I figure I’ve seen at least four boys high school basketball teams with legitimate state-championship dreams as the season heads into its dog days.
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AMEY TAKES AIM: It's the fall 2010 Amey Awards
I won’t get to know the kids from Casey and North Putnam until they come to Terre Haute in droves next June for the Wabash Valley Football Coaches Association All-Star game, so I guess it’s not too early for the high school football awards from this space.
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AMEY TAKES AIM: An early look at Indiana prep football playoffs
I wasn’t at all surprised to watch Linton pick up a 20-point win over previously unbeaten North Knox in high school football last Friday, one week after the Miners had lost by 40 to North Daviess.
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AMEY TAKES AIM: Baseball season rounding third for an exciting ending
Major League baseball is coming down to an interesting week for the National League, then a couple of interesting weeks for the American League.
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AMEY TAKES AIM: Look for me in the yellow shirt
I won’t be wearing pink or blue tonight for the Terre Haute South-Terre Haute North volleyball match at North, but I’m anticipating that plenty of you will be.
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AMEY TAKES AIM: Little QB had big moments in ISU blue
You won’t find his name easily in the Indiana State record book, but for my money the best quarterback the Sycamores have ever had was Verbie Walder.
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Amey Takes Aim: Biggest baseball pet peeve … Nibbling
Having seen some outstanding baseball — and some not-so-outstanding baseball — at literally every level of play this spring and summer, I have identified what without a doubt is my main pet peeve with the sport. Nibbling. I’m not referring to popcorn or pretzels or nachos or cheese sticks or corn dogs or snow cones or candy or ice cream. Those can also be a serious problem — particularly if the kids are with me — but one that can be solved by simply running out of money.
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AMEY TAKES AIM: Head to the high seas: Ameys’ vacation cruise
It’s good to be king. Abdication? Not so good.
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World Cup replaces void opened when Stanley Cup ended
It’s niche sports day here at the Tribune-Star, so we’ll start with a test of how much you learned while watching the recent National Hockey League season.
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AMEY TAKES AIM: Win or lose, a softball season to remember
Well, this is awkward. I’m writing this late Monday night, with my Tuesday and Wednesday days off in the future, not knowing entirely how happy I am with state-finals softball.
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Amey Takes Aim: Wabash Valley is a softball powerhouse
Greetings from the high school softball capital of Indiana. Your Tribune-Star will be spending all day Saturday at Ben Davis, dominating the press box and elbowing those other newspapers to the back row where they belong. No other paper has as many teams to cover as we do (go Panthers, go Miners and go Patriots); The Times and Post-Tribune get off to a good start with Whiting (against Riverton Parke) and Wheeler (versus Linton), but couldn’t get anything going among the bigger schools (now that my cousin Keith Hauber no longer coaches at Lake Central).
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Amey Takes Aim: NHL playoffs > NBA playoffs
Eavesdropping, as I often do, at a couple of sporting events recently, I heard conversations that warmed my heart. At both the Rose-Hulman baseball game recently and the Terre Haute North-Terre Haute South girls tennis match a week ago, I heard spirited arguments involving — the NHL playoffs.
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Amey Takes Aim: Amey family travels to Astros land
I have an uneasy feeling that I know what I’m getting for Fathers Day. Not sure how your family celebrates that holiday, but mine uses it to get me things I wouldn’t otherwise buy for myself. It’s probably the only reason I ever got a cell phone, and a couple of years ago it was a good excuse for a flat-screen TV for the living room. Yes, I use both of them now.
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Amey Takes Aim: Favorite group for boys basketball Amey Awards ... Most Improved team
As much as I enjoyed the girls high school basketball season this past winter, I liked the boys season even better; something about a team winning its last game — or another team practically becoming the 2010 version of “Hoosiers” — will do that for you. Maybe that’s the excuse for having a record number of captains for some of the Andy Amey teams, as you are about to see.
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ANDY AMEY: Butter your popcorn! It’s time for the Amey Awards!
Yes, you’re right. The high school girls basketball season has been over for awhile, which can only mean the Andy Amey teams are getting out a little late this spring.
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