News From Terre Haute, Indiana

Breaking News

High School

January 2, 2013

‘A labor of love’: Tournament organizers enjoy long hours to put on show

TERRE HAUTE — Brian Mancuso, athletic director at Terre Haute South High School, knew his 2012 Christmas with family might be interrupted by his involvement in helping plan the 13th annual Pizza Hut Wabash Valley Classic.

What he did not expect was a blizzard warning for the following day, Dec. 26, forcing the first postponement ever in the popular boys basketball tournament.

“I spent a lot of my Christmas on my phone calling people,” he told the Tribune-Star over the weekend. “All the ADs [athletic directors] are great to deal with, easy to communicate with. We just tried to gather as much [weather] info as we could about what was coming, what was out there.”

Mancuso said he still managed to eat too much and visit with family on Christmas, then he continued preparation for the rescheduled tournament, which started one day later (Thursday) and concluded New Year’s Eve night (Monday) with Rockville capturing the title.

“That was our first time [to postpone a scheduled day of games] in the 13 years,” tournament chairman Gary Fears mentioned. “Once we got to a blizzard warning, I felt like we needed to postpone the games, notify the teams and the fans so they could prepare accordingly … We get people who call us [in advance] and want to know the dates of the tournament so they can plan their vacations, so I said we needed to let these people know [about the postponement] as soon as we could.

“We tried to make a good decision. I just hope we did.”

Tournament organizers also ran into an unexpected issue for Thursday when Owen Valley couldn’t travel to Terre Haute for its opener against Shakamak because of the weather, but Fears praised the sportsmanship of the Patriots for agreeing to forfeit that day and not disrupting the flow of the tournament.

Fears said he appreciates the cooperation he’s received from Mancuso and South for the recently completed Classic and from the previous ADs at South and Terre Haute North over the years.

“We need a tremendous amount of help,” he emphasized. “This tournament would not have been successful without all the athletic directors [from the host schools] over the past years. Brian [Mancuso] probably worked 18 hours a day for four days. Prior to that, he spent the whole month preparing for the tournament. It’s a labor of love for him and the host school.”

Mancuso’s part in planning the recent Classic began with a meeting in January.

“The Pizza Hut Wabash Valley Classic Committee met and we went over the [2011] tournament – things we liked, things we could improve upon – and that’s when we started looking at this [2012] tournament,” he said.

Fears said preparation for the 2013 version at North will likely take place in a similar manner.

“We’ll review this [2012] tournament and all the finances in January,” he explained. “Then we’ll sit down and talk about what the next tournament looks like, then we’ll meet again in September.

“Now if there happens to be an opening for a team, then I usually go to work and talk to the different schools. We have a waiting list. It keeps growing every year. So we’d go to that waiting list and see who might be able to play in their first [Classic] tournament.”

That situation arose for Fears and the committee this past year when Bloomfield dropped out and eventual 2012 Classic runner-up Robinson, Ill., was chosen to replace the Greene County school.

“We knew Robinson had played in the old Wabash Valley Tournament for several years,” Fears said. “We knew they’d be competitive … We had been trying to get them for the last several years.”

“Robinson has a nice basketball tradition with several good players,” Mancuso added. “They’re a Wabash Valley school and they expressed interest. Obviously, they were a natural fit for us.”

From a personal viewpoint, Mancuso admitted that preparing for the Wabash Valley Classic is much more difficult than planning a regular-season event at South.

 “It’s definitely more time-intensive,” he said. “We put a lot of effort into planning all of our regular-season events, but this is 16 teams involving schools from several different counties. It’s a community event with much larger attendance. So there definitely is more pressure and more of a time commitment.

“There’s finding officials, finding hospitality, finding workers, getting our sports teams involved [as volunteer workers]. And we’re really lucky that we have a good Booster Club president [Leah Allman], a good Booster Club and a good coaching staff that want to help us out with that … Obviously, there are more members of the media here to accommodate – more radio stations, more [television] camera crews, things like that.”

As for game officials, Mancuso pointed out that none double-up during this four-day tournament, which means 84 different persons had to be booked in advance for the 28 games that took place.

Anyone who has spent much time at any of the past Classics knows there’s a flurry of activity in and around the gym from 10 a.m. until after the 8:30 p.m. game ends during the first three days of the tournament.

The host athletic director must make sure the scene doesn’t turn into total chaos at any point in the day.

“You have to have your concession people,” Mancuso noted. “You have to have your ticket takers. Throughout the week, we probably have 100-150 people coming through working for us. There’s security, medical people, our game-day workers, our timers, our scoreboard people, our announcers, our music coordinators, our check-in coordinators. So you have a wide variety of people with their own unique skill set, which helps make this a fun tournament for us.”

Mancuso also thanked the countless number of volunteers who help make the tournament successful.

“All of our athletic teams are represented at the concession stands at some point,” he mentioned. “And we have a lot of parents who care about Terre Haute South and they care about the entire Terre Haute South program.”

Fears and Mancuso seemed certain that 2012 Classic attendance figures would not be available until later this week, but both liked what they saw from looking around the gym all four days.

“This year, we broke a record for the number of pre-sale tickets we had,” Fears pointed out. “It was over 1,200. We’re looking at maybe setting the record this year.”

“I think our crowds have been good,” Mancuso assessed. “I think the play has been good. Sometimes coming off a layoff, you never know how teams are going to play … But I think the teams throughout this tournament have done a nice job with that.”

Looking into the distant future, the 70-year-old Fears said he would like to help organize the Classic “as long as my health stays good.”

So far, so good, he insisted.

“I don’t believe you’ll find another tournament that provides the kind of atmosphere we just saw out there,” Fears said, explaining why people such as himself and Mancuso don’t mind putting forth so much extra effort every year.

Text Only | Photo Reprints
High School
  • SPT 050413 TAPRING GOATEE.jpg Goatee, Bertoli ran away with Spring Athlete of the Year

    When honoring athletes after a season of excellence, the phrase “what might have been” doesn’t usually come up.

    But in the case of Terre Haute South’s Jackson Bertoli and Terre Haute North’s TaPring Goatee – the Tribune-Star’s Athletes of the Year for spring sports – there’s an air of unfinished business despite obvious recent successes.

    June 16, 2013 2 Photos

  • SPT061313legion johnson.jpg Post 346 opens tournament with two victories

    Preston Tofaute got on base enough to score three runs, Cody Thornton smashed a two-run triple in the first inning and pitcher Pete Lannoo scattered four hits over a seven-inning complete game.
    All of that helped Wayne Newton Post 346 down Lafayette Post 11 by a 7-2 score in the opener of the Terre Haute Inviatational tournament for American Legion baseball Thursday afternoon at Terre Haute North High School.

    June 14, 2013 3 Photos

  • North boys move up to 13th in golf state finals

    Early Wednesday morning, Terre Haute North senior Ryan Baker and coach Abe Nasser headed out to the Legends of Indiana Golf Course for a range session.
    Baker wasn’t happy with the 85 he shot in Tuesday’s first round of the IHSAA boys golf state finals.
    “He was frustrated,” Nasser said.
    Problem solved. Baker bounced back with a 2-over 74 Wednesday, helping the Patriots improve their team score by seven strokes.
    The Patriots shot 304 as a team Wednesday, giving them a two-day score of 615, good for 13th place in the 15-team field.

    June 13, 2013

  • SPT 061113 LAGRANGE DRIVE.jpg Big hill to climb for North golf

    Terre Haute North boys golf is 21 strokes behind leaders at IHSAA boys golf tourney.

    June 12, 2013 4 Photos

  • SPT060513caitlinnewton2.jpg Top of her game

    There are a lot of surprising facts about blossoming volleyball prodigy Caitlyn Newton, including that shape-shifting thing she can apparently do, but maybe one of them stands out the most. She may only be scratching the surface.

    June 8, 2013 1 Photo

  • Camp, Howe win, then lose in state tennis tourney

    Miranda Camp and Nicole Howe of Terre Haute South won their first match of high school tennis Friday at the state individual doubles finals, then won the first set against a powerful Park Tudor team before falling in three sets.

    June 8, 2013

  • SPT 060613 BAKER LAGRANGE.jpg Terre Haute North heading back to state finals in boys golf

    Terre Haute North is going back to the state finals in boys high school golf for the first time in more than 10 years. The Patriots qualified for a trip to The Legends Course next week by tying for third in the Washington Regional at Country Oaks Golf Club and advancing with the better fifth score.

    June 7, 2013 4 Photos

  • North, South, Sullivan to compete at golf regional

    Boys high school golf teams from the Wabash Valley will compete in the Washington Regional on Thursday, seeking a spot in the state finals to be played next week.

    June 6, 2013

  • SPT 060313 HANNUM THROW.jpg Terre Haute North falls 6-1 to Brownsburg in opening game of Class 4A Regional

    Terre Haute North coach Shawn Turner told the Patriots to raise their heads. He wanted to see their eyes at the close of their 24-7 high school baseball season.

    June 4, 2013 4 Photos

  • SPT 060113 SECOND LEG X800.jpg Terre Haute North girls shine on dreary day at track state finals

    Led by a record setting 3,200-meter relay team and Keirra Porter’s long jump, Terre Haute North turned in its best finish ever in the 40th annual IHSAA Girls Track & Field Championships on Saturday at Indiana University in Bloomington.

    June 2, 2013 8 Photos

  • Valley teams will have to wait until Monday for baseball regionals

    Rain and the threat of more rain caused postponements of high school baseball regionals involving Terre Haute North, West Vigo and Shakamak on Saturday.

    June 2, 2013

  • Rockville's season ends at Lafayette Central Catholic

    Lafayette Central Catholic ended Rockville’s tourney run in high school baseball Saturday, defeating the Rox 8-0 in the first game of the LCC Class A Regional.

    June 2, 2013

  • SPT 053113 LOGAN HAMBROCK.jpg IHSAA boys state track finals: Standing alone

    It hadn’t been a particularly good day for Wabash Valley track and field Friday, and it wasn’t looking like a good one for Jackson Bertoli either.

    June 1, 2013 5 Photos

  • Terre Haute North, West Vigo return to baseball regionals

    Terre Haute North’s baseball team hasn’t participated in an IHSAA regional since 2006. West Vigo’s wait hasn’t been as long, but it was 2010 when the Vikings last advanced from a sectional.

    June 1, 2013

  • Patriots girls take aim at state track title

    Terre Haute North’s girls have several potential state champions today at Indiana University.

    June 1, 2013

  • South, North track athletes looking for big performances at state finals

    Terre Haute South’s distance trio of Jackson Bertoli, Logan Hambrock and Riley Stohler appear to be the favorites to crack all-state status among Wabash Valley competitors today in the IHSAA boys track and field state finals at Indiana University.

    May 31, 2013

  • MET 052713 BRUSH RADIO.jpg Internet site keeps area prep teams on airwaves

    May 30, 2013 1 Photo

  • PREP ROUNDUP: Locals to take part in Hoosiers All-Star Game

    May 30, 2013

  • South Vermillion softball can't overcome errors, Tri-West

    Uncharacteristic errors led to eight unearned runs and hard-luck hitting made that impossible to overcome for South Vermillion, which fell 8-0 to Tri-West in Class 3A regional play.

    May 29, 2013

  • Clay City softball comes up short against Lutheran

    Clay City closed its high school softball season Tuesday night with the best record ever for the program at 21-9.

    The Eels wanted to add another win, the school’s first regional title, but they came up short.

    May 29, 2013

  • PREP ROUNDUP: Rockville wins baseball sectional

    Rockville won its own Class A sectional in high school baseball Tuesday, defeating Covington 10-4 in the rain-delayed championship game.

    May 29, 2013

  • SPT 052713 DRANS WIN.jpg Class 4A Terre Haute South Sectional:The wait is over

    Three minutes into an interview with various media members, Terre Haute North baseball coach Shawn Turner couldn’t react fast enough to avoid a bucket of ice water being dumped over his head from behind by his giddy players. The soaking-wet Turner could shake it off with a smile, however, because his Patriots had just won the IHSAA Class 4A Terre Haute South Sectional championship with a 13-3 six-inning triumph over Plainfield on Monday evening.

    May 28, 2013 3 Photos

  • SPT 052713 HICKS SLIDE.jpg Class 4A Terre Haute South Sectional: TH North, Plainfield win squeakers

    The high school baseball teams of Terre Haute North and Plainfield proved Monday that what a batter does early in the game is not necessarily indicative of what he will do in the late innings.

    May 28, 2013 2 Photos

  • Class 2A Linton Sectional: Eastern rains on Sullivan parade

    Mother Nature put Sullivan’s quest for a high school baseball sectional championship on hold Monday night at Linton-Stockton High School. Sullivan (14-15) and Eastern Greene (16-7) will resume play in the Class 2A Sectional 47 championship game at 5 p.m. Tuesday at Linton’s Roy Herndon Field.

    May 28, 2013

  • SPT 071512 REX GOTCHA.jpg Opening Day: Terre Haute Rex host Quincy

    In his first season at the helm, first-year Terre Haute Rex manager Ronnie Prettyman is going to be surrounded by men he knows and trusts.

    May 28, 2013 1 Photo

  • Class A Shakamak Sectional: Stout pitching leads Union, Shakamak to final

    Trey Bedwell and Patrick Green made sure their respective high school baseball teams would meet for the championship of the Class A Shakamak Sectional by pitching shutouts in semifinal contests Monday afternoon.

    May 28, 2013

  • Class A Rockville Sectional: Covington, Rockville title game postponed

    Rockville and Covington won semifinal high school baseball games Monday to advance to the championship game of the Rockville Class A Sectional. Due to rain, the championship game was postponed.  A decision was expected this morning whether the game will be played today or Wednesday.

    May 28, 2013

  • South Vermillion, Linton, Clay City look to stay alive in softball

    There might have been as many reasons to think they wouldn’t be winning sectionals this spring as evidence to show they would, but high school softball teams from South Vermillion, Linton and Clay City will be playing one-game regionals Tuesday with the chance to keep defying the odds.

    May 27, 2013

  • SPT 052513 LUCAS FAGG WV.jpg West Vigo back on top of Class 3A baseball sectional

    West Vigo won its sectional with a 6-4 victory over South Vermillion on a rainy night at Dick Ballinger Field.

    May 26, 2013 3 Photos

  • SPT 052513 HAMBROCK FORE.jpg South runs into ‘buzzsaw’ at girls tennis semistate

    Postmatch interviews don’t often begin with a coach and a reporter ready to blurt out the same word, but that was the case for Bill Blankenbaker and his interviewer Saturday morning after the Center Grove Semistate for girls high school tennis.
    Unfortunately for Blankenbaker’s Terre Haute South team, that word was “buzzsaw.”
    Greenwood’s Kawamoto twins made quick work of the top of the Braves’ singles lineup, so despite stellar efforts by both South doubles teams the Woodmen’s 3-2 victory didn’t seem all that close.
    Greenwood moves on to Fishers, where it plays Floyd Central or Jasper on Friday in the state quarterfinals.
    Also playing Friday, but at Park Tudor, will be South’s Miranda Camp and Nicole Howe, who reached the individual doubles finals for the second straight season by virtue of their 6-4, 6-2 win over the Greenwood team of Taylor Hudnall and Brittany Toney.
    “It’s really exciting,” said Howe of the prospect of a second straight finals trip, “but I wish our team could’ve gone with us.”
     

    May 26, 2013 2 Photos

Latest News
Community Calendar
Loading…
Events by eviesays.com
TribStar.com Poll
AP Video
Tiger on Sergio: 'It's Time to Move On' Robot Action Connected to Human Thought Rain Damages Brazil Soccer Stadium NYC 911 Call Lasts for 8 Hours RAW: NSA Director Says 50 Plots Foiled California Cops Cruise on Stand-up Paddle Patrol Falling Cable Hurts 10 NASCAR Fans Obama: US Has Helped Syrian Rebels Raw: 100K Protesters Flood Brazilian Streets Ex-NFL Star Chad Johnson Out of Jail Afghan Forces Take Afghanistan Security Lead Raw: First Lady, Daughters Enjoy Irish Sights Obama: NSA Secret Data Gathering 'Transparent' Transgender Candidate Running in NYC 3 Charged in Ohio With Enslaving Mom, Daughter Raw: 1 Dead in Shooting at Mo. Apartment Complex Man Who Disrupted Flight Ranted About CIA Oklahoma City Thunder Players Tour Moore Raw: Huge Fire Near Yosemite National Park Today in History June 18
NDN Video
Spurs' Popovich has no problem with Spurs' intensity Inside Kim Kardashian's Premature Labor Three Charged for Enslaving Mother and Daughter Raw: Huge Fire Near Yosemite National Park RAW: NSA Director Says 50 Plots Foiled Paige Butcher Scorches on Hawaii Beach Video: worst way to load cargo onto a plane Never-before-seen footage of '08 Times Square bomber Obama: NSA Secret Data Gathering 'Transparent' WATCH IT: Lil Wayne tramples American flag Mariah Carey Looks Beautiful in a Tiny Cut-Out Swimsuit Out of Control Boat Throws Passengers Overboard See Lindsay Lohan in Rehab Sofia Vergara Posts Perky Backside Pic in Thong Gaga Ditches Her Crazy Couture Caught on Tape: Teacher Accused of Beating Autistic Child "Stay Classy" Campaign Aims to Curb Binge Drinking Sesame Street Tackling Tough Topic Parents in Jail Miss Utah Fumbles Interview Question Deranged man claims Newark-bound flight was poisoned
Parade
Magazine

Click HERE to read all your Parade favorites including Hollywood Wire, Celebrity interviews and photo galleries, Food recipes and cooking tips, Games and lots more.
  • -

     

    March 12, 2010

activity
Real Estate News