TERRE HAUTE — I’m almost ready to congratulate Sam Karr right now.
As soon as I heard earlier this week that Fort Wayne was going to be the site for the 2009-2010 girls basketball state championship games, I figured it would be inevitable that the Tribune-Star would have a team to cover up there.
I haven’t made that round trip in more than 25 years, since trying to juggle a couple of part-time jobs and still be an assistant coach of a Connie Mack baseball team playing for a state championship (the year Bryan Higgins’ glove work at second base was so spectacular he was named tournament MVP even though our team didn’t win). I don’t remember the many drives that week with any fondness, though, and that was before the Lawrence-Fishers-Noblesville bottleneck made I-69 such a pain in the neck.
So as soon as I saw the announcement by the Indiana High School Athletic Association, I was pretty much resigned to getting up that way again. The only question was with whom.
Then I thought of Turkey Run.
Even though Meghan Doss will have taken her spunk and her 3-point shot to Vincennes University, the Warriors still have loads of talent. They’ll be a pretty good bet to go far in the tournament anyway. But the fact that all their postseason tournament sites are so far from Terre Haute only enhances their chances, in the Murphy’s Law theory of sports coverage. And the fact that their game at Fort Wayne would be the Saturday morning opener (I figure I can set my alarm for 4 a.m., after working until past midnight on Friday, and get there in plenty of time) would appear to be the clincher.
I’ve already been to Sharpsville twice with the Warriors. So what’s wrong with another weekend in South Bend or Plymouth or Warsaw or someplace like that, followed by the Fort Wayne excursion? My northeast Indiana geography needs a little work, and they really are a great bunch of girls to cover.
And who knows? By that time, maybe the economy will have turned around so that the Tribune-Star can buy that company plane.
• • •
Other stuff:
• Good news from IHSAA — In the same press release announcing the one-year (I hope) girls state finals at Fort Wayne came a new format for softball tournaments.
Next spring there will be a midweek one-game regional and a four-team semistate. No longer will there be four Friday night doubleheaders in the Indianapolis area to set up the Saturday state championship games.
No longer, therefore, will we have to go to Hamilton Southeastern to see Riverton Parke or North Central or North Vermillion or Clay City or Rockville or Union or Shakamak or any of our other teams compete in the Class A semifinals.
Now if they move all four championship games to Hamilton Southeastern, there is no good news at all.
• Of course, that could mean … that I wouldn’t run into a former Terre Haute South cheerleader at the Friday semifinals, which I did this year when Janet (Cristee) Clark was one of the hostesses at North Central for the Class 2A games. Her youngest daughter was a senior softball player for the Panthers.
• More Turkey Run news — Warrior golfer Nathan Smith was an honorable-mention selection to the Academic All-State team. He’ll be playing golf in the HCAC for Franklin next year.
Haven’t heard if any other Wabash Valley players are on the list, and can’t access the coaches’ Web site.
• More famous kids of former Sycamores — Courtney Kupets, a former U.S. Olympic gymnast who is currently at Georgia, was named winner of the Honda-Broderick Cup on Monday, presented to the NCAA’s top female athlete. Her father Mark was a defensive end/outside linebacker for Tom Harp’s ISU teams back in the 1970s.
And former basketball player Steve Ruckman has two sons and a daughter who are getting noticed. His 11-year-old son was mentioned recently in Sports Illustrated for Kids.
• Vote for Steph — The Indiana Fever is choosing its all-decade team, with voting continuing through the end of July.
Fans can vote as often as they’d like to at Conseco Fieldhouse or by visiting FeverBasketball.com. Voters are eligible for sweepstakes prizes, including a 50-inch HDTV.
• Gatorade Awards — Ellie McCardwell of Pendleton Heights and Corey Shank of Fort Wayne Northrop, both state pole vault champions, are the Gatorade Athletes of the Year for girls and boys track.
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.
Amey Takes Aim
Amey Takes Aim: Fort Wayne here we come …maybe
- Amey Takes Aim
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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.
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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 . . .
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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.
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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.
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AMEY TAKES AIM: Even 2 of state’s best once had doubts
Look at them now.
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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: Huntsville’s Stars, Havoc take back seat to GGS
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