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Amey Takes Aim

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July 30, 2008

Amey Takes Aim: Maroska’s legacy leaves gap to fill

By Andy Amey The Tribune Star Wed Jul 30, 2008, 11:24 PM EDT

TERRE HAUTE — Long, long ago, when I was young and stupid (stupider?), I thought I wanted to be a high school basketball coach in Indiana.

Just like every other guy, and quite a few of the girls, in the state, in other words. Fortunately I was eventually dissuaded from pursuing a career in which everybody else in your neighborhood knows more about what you’re doing than you do.

Back when Joe Hart was coaching at Dugger, for example, I kept hearing from a lot of people what a bad coach he was. Then I got to the state finals one year and discovered that three of the 16 coaches with teams in championship games were Joe and two of his former players.

That’s about 19 percent of state-finals coaches that year from the Joe Hart coaching tree, in other words. I haven’t seen any other coaching lineages from this area top that.

Now Alan Maroska is out as girls basketball coach at Terre Haute South, after undergoing similar scrutiny during his 20-plus years of coaching and a winning percentage approaching .700. Whether he was a genius or not is not for me to evaluate. But here are some things I do know.

• When it comes to state championships won, the score is Maroska 1, everybody else who has ever coached a Vigo County varsity high school basketball team 0.

• When Reicina Russell left South after her junior season and that state championship to go play for one of the state’s so-called coaching experts, her development as a player went backward.

• One of the most overachieving high school basketball teams I’ve ever seen was the 1991 South girls team led by Mandy Miller, Julie Davis, Emily Shelton, Beth Harrah, Becky Hellmann, Tammy Scott and Annie Donnenhoffer. That team had, if memory serves me correctly, one Division I athlete (Mandy, in softball), and probably four of its seven-player nucleus considered basketball their second-best sport (Julie was a track star, Emily might have been better in volleyball and Annie was a softball standout like Mandy was). It got to the final eight in the state tournament, basically one good quarter shy of the Final Four.

I’ve already heard two names that could go in the hat as South’s new coach, and I look forward to working with whomever is chosen. I can’t help adding one caution, for the benefit of everyone involved, however.

Be careful what you wish for.

• • •

Here’s more basketball news:

• Claps for the Thunder — The Terre Haute Thunder 14-and-under girls team won the USBF national championship recently.

The girls, all from Vigo County, finished their travel season with an 18-2 record and will be entering eighth or ninth grade in a couple of weeks. I’ve officiated games involving several of them, and can promise you you’ll be hearing about them.

At the national tournament at Fishers, they defeated the host Fieldhouse Wildcats 39-34 for the championship and also posted wins over the Indiana Elite 46-32 and the Midwest Storm (from Springfield, Ill.) 47-31.

The team’s roster is Nicole Anderson, Claire Bailey, Erin Barton, Tasia Brewer, Kaylee Ellis, Kayla Ennen, Hannah Lee, MiKayla Metheny and Brooklyn Waters. Rob Ennen is the coach, assisted by Frank Bailey.

Most of them have played together since fourth grade, compiling a 64-14 record in that time. In all those years, they’ve failed to reach the championship game of a tournament only three times.

• State well represented — USA Basketball’s U18 national girls team recently wrapped up two weeks of training at Colorado Springs.

Included on the 12-player roster are two Indiana players, South Bend Washington’s Skylar Diggins and Heritage Christian’s Kelly Faris.

• • •

• Other stuff — After writing about his team’s forfeit at the Little League state tournament for 11-and-under all-star teams a few days ago, I got an e-mail from Oliver Page of South Bend.

He wasn’t happy about his team being labeled cheaters — as I wrote back, he and his teammates were among those who were cheated, out of a chance to compete — but he concluded his letter this way:

“It’s a shame when winning becomes so important that you lose all perspective. Good luck to all of the teams in the tournament.”

Sounds like a pretty sharp 11-year-old to me. I hope to see him next year at the 12-and-under state finals.

And my longtime eight-fingered fraternity brother “Fast Freddy” Weaver — some of you may know him from umpiring, others for general mischief — wrote asking how I wrote so much about South Carolina last week without mentioning NASCAR.

And he’s right. I should have mentioned that while looking for a souvenir to bring home for Ryan, I couldn’t find NASCAR stuff anywhere in the Myrtle Beach area, not even at the truck stops along the interstate just outside Darlington. Jenny and I had to drive all the way to Darlington itself, and even there the only souvenirs were at the track itself.

Sounds like a rare failure of that sport’s marketing to me.



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, IN, 47808; or by fax at (812) 231-4321.

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Amey Takes Aim

• Amey Takes Aim: NHL playoffs to put TVs to good use

  If Jenny had known, she probably wouldn’t have bought that TV.
  But four or five years ago, my Fathers Day present — for those unfamiliar with Amey family traditions, the Fathers Day one is “let’s get something we all really want and pretend it’s a gift for Dad” — was a 42-inch Vizio. It’s been used even more than the cell phone I never would have bought for myself, or the TomTom that disappeared since Jenny’s smartphone arrived.
  And it came with high-def.
  I’m not going to insult you by telling you how great high-def is, because to do so would be to imply that you are even farther behind the technological curve than I am. I’m guessing, however, that not all of you have yet discovered what it does for hockey.

  April 25, 2013  

• Amey Takes Aim: Can’t bottle the joy of Amey vacations

  The first bad sign was the Gatorade bottle.
  In the Bataan-Death-March drive to Orlando that got the Amey family spring break vacation off to a bad start, seeing it between lanes of I-24 — as we zipped along at a 100-miles-in-five-hours clip — filled with an ominous yellow liquid was a little bit scary. And although we didn't stop to check for sure, I'm fairly certain I knew about its contents.
  And the person stuck in the same traffic jam with us, the one with the existential license plate YMIHR4, couldn’t have asked a more pertinent question.
  But, after seeing a lot more of Oak Grove, Ky., than we’d planned, and after enduring more traffic slowdowns in Nashville, we were on our way. Even some rain in the dark in the Smokies didn’t slow us down much, so you would think our first-day troubles were over.
  You would be wrong.

  April 14, 2013  

• ANDY AMEY: Farewell to basketball

  I believe you’ve heard me say before — just about a year ago, perhaps — that a boys high school basketball season that ends with the Tribune-Star in Bankers Life Fieldhouse can’t be considered a bad one, which is why we have a little celebrating to do thanks to the Linton Miners.
  Lover of irony that I am, I’ve also got to point out that this season was another branch sprouting from the Wabash Valley’s most legendary coaching tree, that of Joe Hart.
  Joe never got much credit for his work at Dugger, but he took Brody Boyd, Clark Golish and the Bulldogs to a state championship game in 2000, and since then three of his former players — Joe Pigg, Clint Swan and now Joey Hart, his son — also have coached teams in the final game of the season.
  Joe probably wishes he could take credit for Doc Nash, another down-home type who gave a banjo lesson earlier Saturday in leading Borden past a bigger, more athletic Triton team (banjo lesson is a Howard Sharpism, for you younger readers), but his lineage is still the best I can think of around here.

  March 27, 2013 4 Photos  

• AMEY TAKES AIM: Maroons, Rox final a true Classic

  I don’t make predictions nearly as often as I used to, but I had one several months ago that was proven correct last week.

  January 7, 2013  

• AMEY TAKES AIM: Nitpicking aside, West Vigo Hall of Fame selections spot on

  I can’t imagine a better first class of inductees into the West Vigo High School Athletics Hall of Fame than the one that was feted Saturday night in the Jim Mann Green Dome.

  November 8, 2012  

• Tough bunch of people

  I’m getting my warm clothes ready for a trip to Linton this week, and if a few thrills from the Miners, Casey or North Vermillion happen the next couple of weeks, I hope I get to see them.
  But high school football is over in Vigo County for the season — as coach Chris Barrett of Terre Haute North said, prematurely — and I’m sadder to see it go than usual.
  Walking the sidelines and doing midweek or postgame interviews enables me to meet quite a few of the guys whose names you are about to read, and haven’t been more impressed than I was this fall. What outstanding groups of young men. What a tough, tough bunch of people.
  Many know that one of my favorite athletic adjectives appeared consecutively in the previous sentence.

  October 31, 2012 1 Photo  

• AMEY TAKES AIM: A weekend to remember with ISU’s ’72 football team

  They’re all still pretty hale and hearty, the boys of the fall of 1972 who returned to campus over the weekend to honor their former football coach.

  October 8, 2012  

• AMEY TAKES AIM: ISU reunion raises more questions than answers

  One of the wrestlers I used to hang out with occasionally claimed to be a pretty good second-story man — although he may have just been talking, since I never saw any of the goods — and it was with him in mind that I was able to get access to the Indiana State Wrestling Alumni Reunion late Saturday night.

  July 26, 2012  

• AMEY TAKES AIM: Deciding not to ‘vacate’ during ‘vacation’ – & other ventures

  Flaunting the law, setting a bad example for the kids in other ways, grooming and acquiring dogs … not a typical Amey family vacation, but an appreciated one just the same.

  July 23, 2012  

• AMEY TAKES AIM: Huntsville’s Stars, Havoc take back seat to GGS

  The second-best thing about the Amey family’s spring-break trip to Huntsville, Ala., is that we left a lot of things on the table to do the next time we’re down there.

  April 16, 2012  

• AMEY TAKES AIM: Rox well represented on Amey teams

  If having the state finals in town makes it a successful girls high school basketball season, then certainly having a team to follow at the state finals makes it a very successful boys high school basketball season . . .

  March 26, 2012 1 Photo  

• AMEY TAKES AIM: A feeling of pride, not disappointment, comes from watching Rox play

  It’s not going to come as a startling admission that I — once the rest of the local opposition has been eliminated from consideration — am an unabashed fan of whatever team the Wabash Valley sends onward in postseason high school sports competition.

  March 25, 2012 4 Photos  

• AMEY TAKES AIM: This private school plays basketball the right way

  Any girls high school basketball season that ends with state championship games in Hulman Center is a pretty good one — even though I wished I’d seen Riverton Parke and Seeger knock off a couple of private schools the week before to even the public school-private school battle a little bit.

  March 19, 2012  

• AMEY TAKES AIM: Even 2 of state’s best once had doubts

  Look at them now.

  February 20, 2012  

• AMEY TAKES AIM: Getting ready for the dance

  Terre Haute North got the good news Sunday night — or did it?

  January 30, 2012 2 Photos  

• 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.

  January 23, 2012  

• 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.

  January 16, 2012  

• 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.
  
   

  January 3, 2012  

• 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.

  November 14, 2011  

• 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.

  October 10, 2011  

• 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.

  July 21, 2011  

• 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.

  July 7, 2011 1 Photo  

• 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?).

  April 28, 2011 1 Photo  

• 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.

  April 14, 2011  

• 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.

  March 31, 2011  

• 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.

  March 24, 2011  

• 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.

  March 10, 2011  

• 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.

  February 24, 2011 1 Photo  

• 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.

  February 10, 2011  

• 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.

  January 20, 2011  

• More Amey Takes Aim Headlines

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