Saturday, July 1, 2023

DOUBLE FEATURE

NIGHT LIGHT

Golden Bears Volleyball Set for Success

A trio of new coaches are bringing a wealth of experience to the Shelbyville High School volleyball program. And they all have Ball State Cardinal connections.

New head coach Sharon Burton is a Golden Bear alumnus and member of the Ball State Athletic Hall of Fame, where she was the first volleyball player in school history to be selected as the MAC Player of the Year. More recently, she coached the incoming freshmen group of girls for two successful seasons at Shelbyville Middle School.

“We had a strong team, but the level of competition is much higher now,” Burton said yesterday during a skills camp for incoming 7th and 8th grade boys and girls, hosted at Garrett Gymnasium.

Registration fees support the team, and the camp gives middle school students a chance to improve their passing, serving, setting and hitting skills, which can only help the program’s future.

“We’re teaching them how to study across the net, not just how to bump, set and spike,” Burton said.

She is joined by assistant coach Cassady Skipton, a 2016 SHS graduate who was on two sectional championship teams. She then became a manager for the Ball State volleyball team, where she regularly saw Burton’s picture hanging on the wall of the video room.

“She has a great perm in that picture,” Skipton said, laughing.

The two Shelbyville natives had another connection: Cassady’s father, Scott Skipton, retired from Knauf Insulation, where he worked with Burton.

“He used to tell me, ‘If you ever coach, Cassady said she’d coach with you,’” Burton recalls.

Fast forward to 2023, and Burton has been hired to take over the program with Skipton at her side.

The junior varsity coach also brings years of experience. Megan Deweese, another Ball State graduate, played at Columbus North and has coached at Jennings County Middle School and High School as well as club volleyball for several years.

Developing Golden Bears through the club system is a goal of the coaches. For now, though, they’re starting by building interest. Thirty participants worked on skills at last night’s camp, which is a follow-up to an elementary camp hosted in April. One middle school boy participated, a nod to the new SHS boys volleyball team coached by Vince Bradburn.

Assisting the three coaches last night and today are the current girls volleyball players, who expressed excitement about the coming year.

“I would like to be able to compete within the conference this year,” Burton, whose players are fairly evenly distributed between the grade levels, said. “And, of course, I am excited about hopefully turning the win-loss record around.”

NOTEBOOK

• Recent Shelbyville High School graduate Kylee Edwards was named to the USA TODAY ALL-USA Central Indiana softball Super Team. USA TODAY noted Edwards "reset her career-highs in average (.557), home runs (16), runs scored (47), walks (15) and steals (19), while also collecting 28 RBIs and pitching a scoreless inning. A two-sport standout and career .510 hitter, the Mississippi State commit helped the Golden Bears to back-to-back sectional championships. She totaled 92 RBIs, eight triples and 25 home runs in her career."
• Next month's Shelbyville Plan Commission, set for July 24, will include a petition for site development plan approval to construct the Julia and Nicholas Runnebohm Early Learning Center, a daycare and education facility, at 2400 Intelliplex Drive.
• STATE NEWS: By state law, the times on the following dates are protected in Indiana for consumer use of fireworks and may not be prohibited by local ordinance: June 29-July 3, from 5 p.m. until two hours after sunset; July 4, from 10 a.m. to midnight; July 5-9, from 5 p.m. until two hours after sunset; and Dec. 31, from 10 a.m. to 1 a.m. (IndyStar)

This Week in Shelby County History

2018: U.S. Sen. Joe Donnelly visited the Shelbyville Farmer's Market with Mayor Tom DeBaun. The Farmer's Market had recently moved from Public Square to the newly created West Washington Street Plaza.

2013: State and local officials discussed options for eliminating the Middletown Stone Arch Bridge. The four-arch bridge had spanned Conn's Creek for 110 years.

2008: A Shelbyville News feature article detailed life at home for Chris and Jennifer Wainscott, who had one-month-old quadruplets: Sean, Edith, Henry and Sophia.

2003: Triton Central won the Class 2A state baseball championship with a win over Frankton. It was the school's first state championship in any sport and just the second team championship for a school in Shelby County, the first since Shelbyville's 1947 boys basketball state title.

1998: Recent award winners at St. Joseph School had included the following. All A's: Lyndsey Creech, Dana Gardner, Noel Hawkins, Daniel Lewis, Julie Snuffer, Kylie Dickmann, Devin Huesman, Brittany Moorhead, Lincoln Gardner, Zane Meltzer, Sara Schoentrup, Megan Seeman, Nic Wagner, Ben Adams and Emily Gahimer. Lion's Pride award winners were Philip Mullen, Katie Rose Tolley and Josh Bringle. Patrol Person of the Year was Matt Mullen.

1993: Despite state politics at a stand-still due fighting between the Democrat governor and Republican legislature, Morristown Clerk-Treasurer Donald Roberts told The Shelbyville News he still had faith in the system. "I think the Republican Party and the Democratic Party will come to their senses," he said. "I think they'll quit thinking about what's good for the Republican Party or the Democrat Party. Someday, they'll think about what's good for the state of Indiana and come up with a budget."

1988: Both State Sen. Tom Hession, R-Shelbyville, and State Rep. Steve Moberly, R-Shelbyville, were honored for their 100 percent rating from the National Federation of Independent Business. The ratings were based on their voting records.

1983: Former Shelbyville resident Marion T. Ayers died. Ayers had been advertising director and later general manager at the Shelbyville Democrat newspaper. He stayed on as general manager after creation of The Shelbyville News. He later served as publisher of the Ft. Pierce News-Tribune in Florida. He had been born in St. Paul, Ind.

1978: Full-time Sheriff's deputy and part-time Ayr-Way Store security officer Neil Schonfeld arrested a man for shoplifting at the store. The man confessed that, not only did he know Schonfeld, but he had noticed him in the store before attempting to walk out with $24 worth of goods. The man was given a one-year sentence at the State Farm since he was already on probation.

1973: Several local players had big hits in a long night in Men's Softball League play at Kennedy Park, including Rick Joseph, Jack Ashcraft, Larry Browning, Rick Meyer, Mike Stephenson, Brad Eads, Phil Metzger, Charlie Craft and Tom Snyder.

1968: A consecration service was held at the new First United Methodist Church sanctuary on W. Washington St.

Kathy Gardner received the first athletic scholarship given to a Shelbyville girl by accepting a grant to attend Odessa Junior College in Texas. Gardner had been the outstanding senior in the Shelby High Girls Athletic Association.

1963: The Pilgrim Holiness Church purchased the former First Evangelical Reformed Church. The Holiness Church would have double the space it had at its former home on E. Pennsylvania St.

1958: A girls chorus had formed at the Rec. The chorus members were Lyndel Metz, Mary Ann Stadtmiller, Carmen Coers, Donna Allen, Pat Ryan, Mary Ellen Hall, Martha Jane Lockridge, Anne Brant, Kay Hatten, Sue Worland, Janet Hatfield, Judy Ray, Jane Ann Cord, Michele Dellekamp, Beverly Oldham, Pat Murphy, Margaret Ann Soller, Mary Jo Soller and Karen Rutherford. Chorus directors were Mrs. McNeely and Mrs. Stine.

Local boys Richard Bennett, Garrell Jessup, Don Hauk, Pat Wagner, Mark Ellery, Mike DeBusk and Don New planted flowers, which had been donated by Cossairt Co., around the Joseph Fountain.

1953: Emerson Bass, a Morristown High School graduate, was named principal of Shelbyville High School and Willard Day was named principal of the junior high. Day had started as a teacher in Hendricks Township before moving to Colescott school and then into the principal's position at Charles Major. He had taught history at the junior high school before becoming principal.

1948: Chamber of Commerce members met with New York Central Railroad Company officials to appeal for a new railroad depot. The company had previously announced upgrades for the 75-year-old local depot, but nothing had yet been done to the structure.

1943: Several Shelby County men received draft notices: George Coffin, Walter Shaner, Claude Lovitt, George Achenbach, Edward McCabe, Hugh Rice, Raymond McDonald, Noles Creed, Harry Shaw, Wilbur Sadler, Harold Arnold, Richard Conger and Edward Nolley.

1938: Richard Hill became the first Shelbyville High School student to perform in the national music contest. He was already a member of the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra.

1933: A woman filed for divorce in Circuit Court, claiming her husband had a bad temper and had written letters to a young woman. The husband denied the claim, but admitted to having arranged a photo to be taken of him and the young woman.

1928: Despite a recent ordinance approving Daylight Saving Time, local pastors told City Council members they would schedule services on "old time" so that members from the county, who were still on "old time," wouldn't be confused. Mayor James Emmert had opposed DST in Shelbyville.

1923: The local post office asked residents to "improve the appearance of their mailboxes" by painting them white. The Republican noted that many were rusty. Each box should have the family name in black, one-inch high lettering, officials said.