Sunday, February 16, 2025
ADDISON TIMES MAJOR SPONSOR: STEPHENSON RIFE ATTORNEYS
Bears Back on Track with Win Over Beech Grove
ABOVE: Shelbyville High School students gather before Friday night’s game. BELOW: The SHS pep band plays a Taylor Swift song before Friday’s game. | photos by KRISTIAAN RAWLINGS
by KRISTIAAN RAWLINGS
Shelbyville’s 67-39 beat-down of Beech Grove (7-13) last night wasn’t personal.
“We just had a bunch of anger built up after (Friday night’s loss against New Palestine) and we took it out on them,” Caden Claxton, who scored a game-high 23 points, said. “It’s not their fault. They just happened to be on the schedule.”
The Golden Bears (16-5) couldn’t wait to get started. Literally. The opening jump was redone after a referee said Brody Runnebohm touched the ball too early. A few minutes later, Runnebohm grabbed a rebound after a missed free throw attempt and was ready to run, but play was halted because Beech Grove’s Bishop Moore was entitled to a third attempt. Despite the miscues, the message was clear: the Bears were not in hibernation against a team that had won their Friday night contest, beating Monrovia.
Damon Badgley had the hot hand early, hitting his first three shots, one a three-pointer.
“I was ready to get my own, make my own and guard my own,” Badgley said. “We talked in practice today about not letting someone on the other team punk us this game. We thought that happened a little bit too much (Friday) night, so we tried to clean that up.”
Claxton did plenty of clean-up duty, too. At one point, he grabbed his own rebound on a missed three, drove inside and was fouled. He hit both free throws. Near the end of the quarter, he drove inside and dished it out to Gavin Reed for a three. The Bears led 14-9 at the end of the first.
Beech Grove started the second quarter with a minute-long possession that ended with Mar Nicholson blocking the shot. Moments later, Reed rebounded and found Nicholson inside for an easy bucket. The Hornets answered with consecutive three-pointers, drawing within a point. But Claxton responded with a beautiful hesitation move inside the paint, and with the defender in the air, stepped in for a lay-up. That was followed by a Badgley three and buckets by Badgley and Nicholson. Runnebohm successfully faked out two Beech Grove defenders for a lay-in with 25 seconds remaining, and the Bears took a 27-16 lead into the half.
Shelbyville started the third quarter with more rebounding, crisp passes and hustle. The only somber moment in a quarter in which the Bears outscored the Hornets 23-11 was when Reed went down after a lay-up attempt. He was helped off the court with the Bears up, 48-24, and did not return.
The Golden Bears gave minutes to sophomore Cooper Thoman and junior Nick Fischer as they closed out the game. Three contests remain in the regular season.
“We’re trying to play our best basketball, trying to communicate, and just really come together as a team and finish it out,” Nicholson, who had another crowd-pleasing block and 16 points, said.
Badgley, who scored 12, said the team is still improving facets of their game.
“It’s not perfect, but we’ll get there,” he said.
Shelbyville honored alumnus Mark Drake at half-time, who was accompanied by his son Keaton Nolton Drake, his father Steve Drake and former SHS basketball coach John Heaton. Mark Drake was recently named to the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame’s Silver Anniversary Team based on his outstanding accomplishments as a senior basketball player 25 years ago. Drake totaled 1,145 points at SHS, averaging 21.2 points per game as a senior. He went on to play at the University of Alaska-Anchorage, where he scored 1,173 points and set a school record for free throw accuracy.
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NOTEBOOK:
The City of Shelbyville’s Monday trash route will be delayed a day due to tomorrow’s Presidents Day holiday. Monday’s recycling pick-up will be picked up next week. Shelby County offices, including the Commissioners meeting (re-scheduled for Tuesday) and the Shelby County Recycle Center and Transfer Station, will be closed tomorrow. Shelbyville Central Schools will be in session as a snow make-up day.
Editor’s Note: Thank you, readers, for the numerous comments following Tom Graham’s recent article on Bill Garrett. Graham shared the following with me in a follow-up conversation, which I thought was worth noting: In 1959, Bill Garrett was named Indiana’s Coach of the Year for coaching Crispus Attucks to the state championship. The speaker for the awards ceremony, at Shelbyville’s First Methodist Church, was Jesse Owens, who knew what it was like to be “the first.” (Owens, of course, won four gold medals - for 100 and 200 meter dashes, 4 x 100 meter relay, and long jump - at the 1936 Berlin Olympics. Famously and infamously, Hitler stormed out of the stadium to avoid shaking his hand.) Bill Garrett remains the only Indiana Mr. Basketball to play for a state championship team and coach one. One more note: yesterday’s History section mentioned Willard Kehrt, a Shelbyville High School graduate who was playing for Indiana University in 1935. Kehrt was the basketball coach of Terre Haute Garfield, the opponent Shelbyville beat in the 1947 state championship’s final game.
HOOSIER NEWS: For the first time, Hamilton Southeastern Schools will be accepting transfer students from outside the district. The HSE Board approved the move, which is necessary to make up for declining enrollment, at a meeting Wednesday. In Indiana, state education dollars follow the student, so decreasing enrollment means less funding. HSE Schools is Indiana’s third-largest school district, with more than 21,000 students across Fishers and parts of Noblesville. Mapes told IndyStar the district has 850 vacancies but doesn’t expect that all of them will be filled. Under the state’s current budget, the district receives $6,800 from the state for each student it educates, so it is short $5,780,000 that it would receive at full capacity. After 300 students, more teachers would be needed to maintain optimum class sizes. But Mapes said even if the district fills all student vacancies more teachers would not be hired immediately. (IndyStar)
NATIONAL NEWS: New data from New York City’s Economic Development Corporation reveals that a key fear of opponents to congestion pricing — that hiking tolls for cars in lower Manhattan would cause a sharp decline in foot traffic, jeopardizing businesses — has not come to pass. In fact, it’s the opposite: pedestrian traffic in Manhattan was up 4.6 percent compared to last year during the program’s operating period in January. This means an additional 1.5 million more people walking around. That remains true even as 7 percent fewer cars entered the congestion zone, which is pretty much exactly what the program hoped to accomplish. Pedestrian traffic was up 18.5 percent in Midtown. (Gothamist/Numlock)
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SHS Courier Archive Highlights
October 13, 1965
In the Spring, Marsha Thomas had become the first SHS girl to receive the Nina Lee Shull Award, which would be given annually to the most outstanding girl in the SHS Future Nurses Club. The class of 1954 made the award in memory of their classmate, Nina Shull. Her father, Floyd Shull, was a science teacher at JHS, and Mrs. Shull taught at Coulston. Nina had died in a car accident while a student at Ball State University.
Steve Keith, class of 1961, wrote a piece reflecting on a soldier’s returning home to Shelbyville from Vietnam. “Our eager Chamber of Commerce dubbed the town ‘City of Progress’ after its successful efforts in bringing a General Electric plant here. I wondered if the Easterners who came to Shelbyville with the plant were still as disenchanted with the town as they used to be.”
Mrs. Avonelle Branson, dietician for the SHS cafeteria, announced the names of those who would help cook and serve: Pauline LaBarbera, Celia Wendling, Helen Stillabower, Elizabeth Kohler, Evelyn Baxter, Mildred Coffey, Frieda Ray, Lucille Hedman, Artie Patterson, Hesper Mohr, Helen Roell, Helen Morris and Virginia Wicker. Student helpers would be Barbara Dixon, Ruth Foster, Mary Foster, Rachael Dixon, Janie Chance and Judy Losey.
Senior Literature teacher Mr. Phillips asked Phil Smith to read a section of Homer’s “Odyssey”. “Scylla has 12 flapping feet, and six necks, enormously long, and at the end of each neck a horrible head with three rows of teeth set thick and close, full of black death. And her name is Pete Sexton,” Smith said. Mr. Phillips simply responded, “Where are you, Phil? I don’t believe that’s in the text.”
This Day in Shelby County History
News around Shelbyville and the surrounding area as reported on or about this date in history. Selections are curated by The Addison Times from Shelby County Public Library Genealogy Department materials.
2005: FEMA opened a temporary office on the second floor of City Hall for local residents to request relief from recent storm damage. So far, FEMA had received 48 applications for help from Shelby County residents, and 33 of those had been approved for a total of $122,343 in aid.
1995: Verda Everhart and Bert Lawson had been named Valentine Queen and King at Heritage House.
Betsy Stephen and Paul Lockridge joined the Republican mayoral race, making seven candidates on the GOP side.
1985: Mt. Auburn was added as the newest bookmobile site offered by the public library. Gwynneville and St. Paul had been added in 1984.
1975: Dr. Lon Rogers opened the Shelbyville Home Veterinary Service to provide house calls and minor surgery for animals. Dr. Rogers had previously been associated with the Shelbyville Animal Clinic.
Scott Alvis and Mike Herndon were new full-time jailers, helping save other deputies considerable time.
1965: Gold-on-blue license plates heralding Indiana’s 1966 sesquicentennial celebration began to appear on autos in the area.
1955: A new piano and newly installed organ were dedicated at First Baptist Church. The piano was a memorial to Miss Gertrude Pearson, presented by her family. The organ had been designated as a memorial to Mrs. J.C. Voris by church officials. Both Pearson and Voris had been active in the church for more than 60 years.
1945: Norman Anderson, a senior at SHS, was named first place winner in the county essay contest sponsored by the Meloy Brothers. The essay subject was “What it Means to be an American.”
Lt. Charles Knoebel had been wounded in France and was in a hospital, his wife, Miriam (Weintraut), was told by the War Department.
1935: A bonfire started on the pavement on the east side of Public Square by over-enthusiastic fans celebrating Shelbyville’s victory over Technical of Indianapolis had damaged the pavement. The fire department had extinguished the blaze.
1925: Clarence Hawkins, of Flat Rock, was arrested for keeping a slot machine at his business.
The Big Four sent a gas-powered train through Shelbyville, an experiment to combat the rising costs of steam-powered trains, which were costing $1 per mile to operate.
1915: George Kirk had recently celebrated his 78th birthday. Kirk had been born on the lot where the office of the Union Building & Loan Association was located. He spent his career working in the building on the lot, first as owner of a shoe and boot store and later serving as secretary of the Association. The building had also once housed the offices of Stephen Major and Alfred Major and were the location in which Charles Major wrote all of his books.
ADDISON TIMES MAJOR SPONSOR: Freeman Family Funeral Homes & Crematory
OBITUARIES
Linda L. Cole, 85, of Shelbyville, passed away Thursday, February 13, 2025 at Willows of Shelbyville. She was born January 26, 1940 in Shelbyville, Ind., to William Stover and Dorothy (Bostic) Stover.
Linda had worked at Hendricks Elementary School for many years as a teacher’s aide before retiring. She loved spending time with her family, especially her grandchildren. She was a member of Lewis Creek Baptist Church.
She married Charles W. Cole on June 14, 1959, and he preceded her in death. Linda is survived by her son, Chuck Cole; her grandchildren, Lucas Cole, Charles Cole III, Michael Lovitt, Misti Mack and Grace Mockerman. She was preceded in death by her parents; her husband; her son, Craig Cole, her brothers, Joe Stover and Jack Stover, and her granddaughter, Monica Kucan.
A graveside service will be Monday, February 17, 2025 at 1 p.m. at Forest Hill Cemetery. Funeral Directors Greg Parks, Sheila Parks and Stuart Parks are honored to serve Linda’s family. Online condolences may be shared at www.murphyparks.com.
Emma E. “Tina” Branham, 82, of Shelbyville passed away Saturday, February 15, 2025, at Miller’s Merry Manor, Indianapolis, Ind. She was born November 5, 1942, in Logan, W. Va. to Mason Perry and Ruby (Burgess) Perry.
Tina was a homemaker. She enjoyed gardening and tending to her flowers. She was an avid animal lover and especially loved dogs. She enjoyed the times spent camping with her husband through the years. Her greatest joy came from spending time with her kids and watching her family grow. Tina also had a love for BBQ ribs and was known to devour them every chance she could.
She married Richard A. Branham on August 7, 1989, and he preceded her in death on September 26, 2011.
Tina is survived by her daughter, Patricia Jett of Shelbyville, her sons, Jimmy Darling (wife, Jeanell) of Acton, Tommy Darling (wife, Frances) of Indianapolis, Billy Darling (Julie Branson) of Wannamaker, and Randy Darling (wife, Penny) of Nineveh; 13 grandchildren, 23 great-grandchildren, three great-great-grandchildren, and her brother, Chester (wife, Cora) Perry of Logan, W. Va. She was preceded in death by her parents, her husband, her brothers, Bill and Mason, and her sisters, Georgia, Pauline, and Myrtle.
Visitation will be Friday, February 21, 2025 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Murphy-Parks Funeral Service, 703 S. Harrison Street, Shelbyville, Ind., 46176. Funeral services will follow at 1:00 pm at the funeral home with Reverend Eddie Haynes officiating. Burial will be in Whispering Hope Memorial Gardens and Crematory. Funeral Directors Greg Parks, Sheila Parks, and Stuart Parks are honored to serve Tina’s family. Online condolences may be shared at www.murphyparks.com.