The Southsider Voice is gathering stories for a special edition on May 25 to commemorate the 100th running of the Indianapolis 500.

A couple of years ago the Perry Township/Southport Historical Society held a program on the Southside’s contribution to the race. I hope to get some stories from several of the folks who participated in that wonderful event.

Now that the UIndy and Marian University basketball seasons are over, I am thinking about writing short race-related articles leading up to the Indy 500. 

When I was in junior high I became friends with a classmate, Nancy Wilcox. I remember getting off our school bus at her bus stop and walking home. As we became better friends I recall being inside her house. One day I saw the most impressive plaque hanging on the wall. I studied it closely and then asked her some questions.
The plaque honored Indy 500 driver Howdy Wilcox II for being a charter member the Champion Spark Plug 100 Mile an Hour Club. I learned that Howdy was the father of my friend Nancy. He finished second in the 1935 Indy 500. 

A couple of weeks ago I was thinking about the club and Howdy finishing second. All of a sudden I began seeing similarities to something from my past racing experiences. Back in the mid 1960s some of my buddies and I put together a car that we raced in the Midwest and earned enough points to qualify for the national championships in Indianapolis.

I was the driver. This type of racing put the cars in many classes to ensure close competition. These vehicles were raced two at a time until a winner was crowned. 

Now ... here is where my thoughts led me to see some similarities to Nancy’s dad and his second-place finish in a race also held in Indianapolis and having a connection to 100 mph. I was competing in the NHRA Nationals, which are held annually at Lucas Raceway Park. 

In my first round of competition I came in second, which eliminated me from any further competition. My speed was 102 mph. So, here is the deal. We both were racing in Indianapolis; we both finished second; and we both were recognized for exceeding 100 mph.

The only discrepancy in all of this could be found in the length of our competition. Wilcox traveled 500 miles at a speed of more than 100 mph; I, on the other hand, accelerated to a little over 100 mph in a quarter-mile. I don’t see a big problem with this.

I just can’t believe that I hadn’t made this connection before ... maybe that’s why no one else has ever compared me to any Indy 500 driver. 

Along the same line of thinking, I’m fairly certain that Wilcox’s daughters, Donna, Nancy and Sandy, never made the cool connection.

This has been a special basketball season for me, and I enjoyed attending games at Beech Grove, Southport, UIndy and Marian University. Sitting here at my keyboard, I’m realizing that all of those players will have many wonderful memories to cherish.

It was exciting to watch Southport win its first sectional and regional titles in 16 years. Senior Joey Brunk will be fun to follow during his career at Butler. 

Southport lost to New Albany 82-64 in Saturday’s semistate game in Richmond. Brunk paced the Cards with 22 points. The Bulldogs were led by Romeo Langford, who lit up the scoreboard for 46 points, many of which came on long-range 3-pointers.

The Marian University women’s team played so strongly throughout the season that it hosted the Crossroads League tournament. The lady Knights had a great run in the tourney but lost to Indiana Wesleyan in the championship game.

The week after that they won five games in seven days to win the NAIA Division II championship March 15 by defeating Southern Oregon 59-48 in Sioux City, Iowa. 

There are some strong Southside ties to the team, which is coached by Beech Grove High School graduate Katie Douglas. She played on the Hornets’ 2003 3A state championship team and was named Miss Basketball that year. She played four years at Purdue and in the WNBA and overseas before being named the Knights’ coach in July 2013.  

Assistant coach Mark Parker also has a Southside connection as he was the girls basketball coach at Beech Grove High for several years. He is a Beech Grove police officer and works with his drug-sniffing police dog, Wyatt, who is a friend of my therapy dog, Stuart. 

Two of Marian’s players, Jessica Almeida and Joana Soeiro, are from Portugal, having met Katie when she played there. After being named coach, Katie reconnected with these gals. 

The team traveled by charter bus to Iowa. The driver, Homer, told me that he has driven the team since Katie was named coach. It was easy to see that he was a vital part of the team.

The Knights qualified for the tournament last year (also in Sioux City) and were paired with Hunt Elementary School, which they reconnected with again this year. The team ensured that many of these children, their parents and staff members were able to see the games.

The final two games of the tournament were aired on ESPN3, which – as far as I know – can only be seen on a computer. My wife, Lynn, and I tried to watch, but the screen frequently froze up for 30 seconds or so, and the same commercial was repeatedly shown.

Lakan Hasser-Smith scored 16 points in the championship game to finish her college career with 2,000 points. Roncalli graduate Kellie Kirkhoff also scored 16 points.

From all of the Facebook postings after the game, I knew everyone was really excited. I figured the team would head home early the next morning, but I was wrong. The ladies returned to Hunt Elementary the following day because they had promised to show their trophy to their young friends. 

I was standing with friends and family members of the team as it arrived back to Marian on March 17. It was a special honor to see the team greeted by its many fans.

Adding a bunch of basketball tournament games to my already-busy schedule can be a challenge.

I’ve been following the Beech Grove and Southport high school teams, and the University of Indianapolis and Marian University men’s and women’s teams have also been fun to watch. Besides those teams, there are some good tournament games on television.

Last week I attended three sessions of the Southport Sectional and one session at Beech Grove. I enjoy watching these games. It is a blast to visit with good friends and sometimes reconnect with those whom I haven’t seen for a long time. It doesn’t matter whether it is a smile and wave or sitting down and chatting for a while.

Saturday afternoon I attended the opening two games of the Southport Regional. I walked in behind Dr. Marvin Christie, who’s a good friend of mine, and we visited for a minute. He quickly pointed out that he was wearing his Southport letter sweater, which he earned while playing on the basketball team that won its sectional title 69 years ago. I was so shocked by the time frame that I didn’t catch anything else that was said until he explained that it took him about two hours to wiggle into that sweater.

We found ourselves some seats in the area that is set aside for alumni during the regular-season games. The first contest between Terre Haute South and North Central was a high-scoring contest, which Terre Haute won 94-82. Southport’s game with Connersville was a low-scoring struggle, and the Cards prevailed 42-35.
Dr. Christie introduced me to several of his friends, and I had the pleasure of reconnecting with some former classmates and neighbors.

My wife, Lyn, and I were informed about a Southport alumni group getting together at the Longacre Bar and Grill after the game. We met up with some of my former high school classmates and several other people and had a wonderful afternoon.

Our good friend Ted Lobdell along with the ladies operating the bar did a wonderful job putting together a special afternoon. Judy Tout-Snyder, Sharon Darko-David and Jack Hammond-Leathers and hubby Gary sat with Lyn and me. We really enjoyed the afternoon at my “old house.” (The building was my house when I was growing up.)

When I got home I checked the score of the lady Knights’ game and was surprised to see that they had knocked off the defending NAIA champion and No. 1 Morningside College 76-69 in quarterfinals of the national tournament. Marian continued its winning ways Monday night in the semifinals and advanced to play Southern Oregon in Tuesday’s championship game. 

The men’s team from UIndy also won, defeating Ashland 77-60, and the Greyhounds played Ferris State Tuesday night. The results of both games were unavailable at press time.  

Later, Lyn and I decided that we would stay home and watch the final game of the Southport Regional on TV. A while back we wired a couple of our TVs to an air antenna. We found that we could watch the game using that antenna. 

What a game it was as the Cardinals pummeled Terre Haute South 74-44. Next up for No. 9 Southport is No. 1 New Albany in semistate action at 3 p.m. Saturday in Richmond.
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And with the NCAA tournament getting underway, this is going to be a special week in basketball.  

My wife, Lynn, and I attended a Liza Minnelli concert at the State Fairgrounds Coliseum in the mid-1970s. While walking toward our seats I heard my name being called from the crowd. I looked around and saw Ron Keller, whom I hadn’t seen for years. 

I had known him for many years as he lived in the neighborhood of my first newspaper route. He also lived down the street from the Graffs, who were friends of our family. Bob Graff and Ron Keller were in the same class. Their families lived on Mathews Avenue between Epler Avenue and Thompson Road.

Ron explained to me that evening in the coliseum that he was playing in Minnelli’s orchestra. The show was wonderful and something I’ll never forget. It seemed more special knowing a friend was performing. 
It’s now been about 40 years and on occasion I still am reminded of seeing Ron at the coliseum. I finally decided to track him down. 

I have a former high school classmate – Judy Tout-Snyder – who can find anyone. We often joke that she probably worked for some secret government agency. Judy is the “agent” in charge of our class reunion committee. 

I sat and thought to myself, “What would Judy do?” I then leaped into action. I called the Los Angeles Musicians Union and told them about Ron and asked if they had any information. A nice fellow explained that while Minnelli lived in Southern California, her musical work was based out of New York City.

I then called the New York Musicians Union and once again told my story. The fellow there checked some records and discovered that Ron had resigned from the union in 1987. I asked if there was any forwarding information, and he provided the name of a city in Tennessee. I did some searching on the computer and came up with a couple of telephone numbers.

After a few attempts a fellow answered one of the calls. I gave him my name and asked if he had any connections with Indianapolis. He asked what did I mean, and I said, “Did you ever live on Mathews Avenue and go to Southport High School?” 

He did. I had found Ron Keller. Besides working with Minnelli, he also did other gigs, including television, movies and Guy Lombardo’s New Year’s Eve specials.

I told him about the Longacre Pool & Park program that was put on by the Southport/Perry Township Historical Society a few years ago. Ron told me that he worked at Longacre for about five years. He and Bob cut locker keys for the men’s locker room. I had forgotten that they got me that same job. We had some great laughs. 

Ron and his wife of 56 years met at Longacre. 

I remember going out Halloween night with Ron and Bob and some of their other friends. They were all four years my senior, and shortly into that evening I told myself that I was not ready for some of the pranks that I was experiencing.

Ron and his wife are coming up in July for a class reunion and to visit his brother, who lives south of Indianapolis. I told him that I have a DVD of the Longacre program with his name on it. I’m looking forward to getting together with him.
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Shonk is a 1960 graduate of Southport High School, a ’63 grad of Indiana Central College (now the University of Indianapolis) and a retired bus driver from Beech Grove Schools.