Sports

Living with disappointment has become the new way of life this year for all members of the Class of 2020. Everyone lost something, and some lost more than others. If not for the coronavirus pandemic, Cloverdale senior Kassie Wade would be in Atlanta right now for the America Family High School Slam Dunk and 3-point Championship...

South Putnam seniors Brandon Demoret and Jackson Wood aren’t related by blood, but are as close as most brothers who are. Demoret moved in with Wood’s family for his final three years of high school after transferring from Crawfordsville, and it’s only fitting that the two long-time teammates will be playing college baseball at NAIA schools just 30 minutes apart in northern Indiana...

Allison Stevens admittedly considered not playing basketball this year. The Greencastle senior was coming off a severe ankle sprain suffered during volleyball season, and realistically could have used more rest and rehabilitation in the short window between the two seasons...

Abby Simmerman is a senior at North Putnam and participated in golf. ——— Banner Graphic: How important are sports to you, and what have you learned from them? Abby Simmerman: “Sports have always been super important to me. I have played them since I was super little, and I have met all my friends through sports. It’s taught me how to work well with others.”...

The Indiana High School Athletic Association staunchly supports our Governor, our State Commissioner of Health and our State Superintendent of Public Instruction in their herculean efforts during the COVID-19 pandemic. We are extremely fortunate in Indiana to have these exemplary leaders providing guidance and care to all Hoosiers...

When you look up the word “coach” in the thesaurus, you get the words mentor and teacher as your first two options. Putnam County sports fans have been very fortunate over the years. This small rural community has been home to several of the finest athletic coaches that the state of Indiana has had. Several hall of fame coaches have ran programs in this county either for a short time or the majority of their careers...

“Jim Brothers is North Putnam.” That is the first sentence in the nomination of Brothers for this award by North Putnam girls’ basketball coach Lukas Haworth, and a review of Brothers’ life path shows that it is a statement of absolute truth. A teacher for 40 years at his alma mater, Brothers also has served as a coach and/or athletic administrator for 33 of those years for the school located in Roachdale. ...

South Putnam senior Abby Teipen was recently named as one of 13 senior student-athletes to receive a 2020 C. Eugene Cato Memorial Scholarship from the Indiana High School Athletic Association. Teipen has competed in volleyball, swimming, tennis and cheerleading at South Putnam while maintaining a 4.513 grade point average (weighted)...

Greencastle’s Conner Taylor was the individual runnerup in last year’s Attica boys’ golf sectional. With the winner having graduated, he was looking forward to having a good chance to be the sectional champ this year. The closure of schools due to the coronavirus has put this year’s spring sports in doubt. But, at least in a small consolation, Taylor is assured of being able to continue his golf career next year after signing earlier this month to play for Wabash College...

For high school seniors nationwide, the conclusion of the current school in whatever form it may take will result in a loss of the chance to make a final set of memories before life takes the graduates in different directions. Cloverdale senior Sammie Shrum is one of the many students caught up in the uncertainty. ...

By now you’ve likely heard that the IHSAA has canceled spring sports for this year due to the restrictions caused by the coronavirus. The official statement is included with this column, and it’s obviously painful for all the spring sports athletes — especially the seniors who thought they were going to have one more chance and now they don’t get one...

Coaching is a tough job, and as a result changes frequently occur. There’s no question that the increased demand on time with summer workouts and games/tournaments (at least, in normal years) contributes a lot to these changes. Our good friend Leigh Evans reports on his popular hickoryhusker.com website that 41 changes have taken place so far this off-season in both boys’ and girls’ varsity basketball — roughly a 10 percent turnover but only about half of last year’s combined total of 157 changes.. ...

I don’t remember exactly when I first met Steve Fields, but I’m sure it was in the late 1980s or early 1990s when I had moved back to Terre Haute from a three and-a-half-year stint as the sports editor at Greensburg. At that time, Steve was about halfway through a 19-year stint as sports editor of the Banner Graphic that spanned from 1978-1999, minus a two-year departure in the middle...

CLOVERDALE — Dan Moon has cut hair in a lot of Indiana cities, ranging from Lebanon to Noblesville to Indianapolis to Anderson His wife was a teacher, and her career took her to those various locations. Moon moved his shop along with her at every stop, with his final stop being at Cloverdale in 1980...

The Greencastle Youth Softball Association is officially 40 years old this year. The league was originally incorporated as the Greencastle Girls Softball Association on March 19, 1980, by Donna Mahoney, Wallace Estes and E. June Tilley. The league was originally founded by Barb Rader and Betty Yotes in 1975 so girls would have the same opportunities to play ball as boys. ...

Cloverdale graduate Jalen Moore was voted as a third-team selection on the National Junior College Athletic Association Division I All-American team, released on Monday. Moore had earlier been named to the all-Region 24 and all-Great Rivers Athletic Conference teams after starring for Olney Central College this winter. He surpassed the 1,000-point mark in career scoring in the second half of the season during his two-year career at Olney...

DePauw senior guard Sydney Kopp of Hinsdale South High School in Burr Ridge, Ill., has added to her long list of honors as she has been selected the 2020 Jostens Trophy winner which recognizes outstanding student-athletes in Division III basketball for excellence in the classroom, on the court, and in their respective communities...

The NCAA made more than $1 billion last year, almost $867 million from the men’s Division I basketball tournament, and most of that from a massive television rights deal with CBS and Turner that runs through the 2032 tournament. The cornonavirus not only wiped out the games, but it will create some unexpected red ink on the NCAA’s balance sheet this year. Exactly how much is to be determined...

The Indianapolis 500 has been postponed until August because of the coronavirus pandemic and won’t run on Memorial Day weekend for the first time since 1946. The race will instead be held Aug. 23, three months later than its May 24 scheduled date. “The month of May at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway is my favorite time of year, and like our fans, I am disappointed that we have had to reschedule the Indianapolis 500,” said motorsports giant Roger Penske, who finalized his purchase of IndyCar and Indianapolis Motor Speedway earlier this year.. ...

PHOENIX (AP) — It’s been another ideal week of March weather in central Arizona, with highs in the 70s and plenty of sunshine. Perfect for an opening day baseball game between the Arizona Diamondbacks and Atlanta Braves that isn’t happening as planned because of the coronavirus pandemic. That reality was starkly apparent on Thursday, as a nearly deserted Chase Field sat in strange silence...

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — DeForest Buckner found out the day before his 26th birthday he was being traded to Indianapolis. He celebrated the day after by becoming the second-highest paid defensive tackle in the NFL. Buckner couldn’t imagine a better or more fitting honor, joining by a team that wanted him badly enough it dealt away a first-round draft pick to get him...