The Home stands at Lawrence Central's Bruce Field
LAWRENCE – Maybe its me, probably is, but Lawrence Central’s Bruce Field doesn’t seem as big as it did some 25 years ago.
Friday night I went back to where all began - My sojourn into sports media. An event so much bigger than life, that it caused me to alter it. The 1981 IHSAA Class 1A state Championships.
I was an old man 13 years that frigid November night in 1981. Over there on the western sidelines, just to the right, no just about there, I sat huddled under plastic against the negative wind-chills, layered in winter clothing.
That night, my high school, Woodlan battled Hamilton Southeastern for the Class 1A title. The Warriors and Royals, an up and coming Indianapolis suburb against rural eastern Allen County that John Mellencamp may have been thinking of when he wrote his ballad“Small Town”
You see Woodlan was the type school that might have inspired John Mellencamp’s ballad “Small Town”. And to the Warriors they didn’t know they weren’t supposed to be good enough to be there. Mixing it all together a coach, Leland Etzler, who was a one-part common sense philosopher and one part football genius who just mixed the ingredients together to as Woodlan weaved together improbable wins over Tippecanoe Valley, Adams Central and North Judson.
It continued for a while, Barry Ehle, who’s now coaching at Woodlan, returned a punt for a touchdown.
There was the questionable placement of a intercepted pass in the endzone. Something about bringing the ball out of the endzone. The old timers still talk about it sometimes.
After battling for more than 44 minutes, normally accurate kicker, Matt Hirsch lined up and then in a moment frozen in time, the kick faded to the right. The kick would have gave Woodlan a 9-7 lead. It never happened. Woodlan lost 7-6 to Hamilton Southeastern.
NO, The game didn’t turn out like we thought it was going to be.
What did turn out, a young man, that was me come face to face with how sports can change your attitude, can give you a passion and give you a mission.
There was something magical. A special something that grabbed the attention of a community and a young man… Two weeks in November that exposed me and others like me to something bigger than I could ever dream.
An interesting note, during the broadcast I was teamed up with Mark Herrmann, the Carmel, Purdue and NFL quarterback. Then later Mark and I visited with Don Fisher, the now legendary voice of Indiana University sports. Both childhood heros of mine.
What a night, what a dream and what a great thing that sports can do to a man and his life.
