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August 27th, 2014

8/27/2014

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A few weeks ago I wrote about having wonderful season tickets to the Indiana Fever’s games. 
At a game last week my wife, Lyn, needed something to satisfy her sweet tooth, so she purchased a large hot fudge brownie sundae. Within a couple of minutes, several of the Bankers Life Fieldhouse staff, including a police officer, showed up with plastic spoons, but Lyn stood her ground and polished off the sundae without any assistance.


With the camaraderie that we have developed between the Fever staff, coaches and players, I thought it would be a great idea to arrange a visit (the proper journalism term is interview) with a couple of the players.
I arrived at the appointed time, was greeted and escorted to the court, where within a few minutes several television station crews arrived and started taping the practice.

 
As the activity on the court came to a close, Sydney Carter, whom I had written about in an earlier column, sat down with me. She and Maggie Lucas were who I had asked to interview.


Sydney, an outgoing person, and I talked and laughed as we exchanged stories. She told me how much she has enjoyed becoming a part of the Fever organization but stated that it has been a difficult season because of injuries that have sidelined teammates. Sydney, whose enthusiasm for the game is contagious, told me that she hasn’t yet signed a contract to play in an overseas league. She played collegiately for Texas A&M and won an NCAA title while there. 


I did let her know that when she was out of the game and standing on the sidelines, I couldn’t see any of the action.


When Sydney strolled off to do some promotional videos, Maggie sat down. Maggie, who played basketball at Penn State, told me about everything she learned in her first year of pro ball. She scored a season-high 17 points against the New York Liberty in an away game Aug. 17. 


I watched that contest on television as Chris Denari and former Fever player Tully Bevilaqua worked the game. It was so cool to hear Tully say she gets excited when Maggie enters the game; I think a lot of fans feel that way. Maggie is going to France to play in a basketball league shortly after the WNBA season comes to a close.
Sydney and Maggie have become good friends and enjoy working with the entire Fever organization. 


This was a wonderful experience for me. It was so much fun to watch all the media activities going on that afternoon. I even saw Freddy Fever wandering around on Delaware Street. 


Sydney sprained her ankle during the first game of the playoffs and didn’t get to play in the second, but the Fever won both contests and have advanced to the Eastern Conference Finals, which begin later this week. I hope she is recovering and will get to play.


Thank you No. 4 and No. 8. Thank you Fever staff. GO FEVER!


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. 
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August 19th, 2014

8/19/2014

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SOUTHSIDER VOICE PHOTOS BY FRED SHONK Fred and Lyn Shonk’s chickens have a nice “mobile home.”
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Jackie (front), Betty (back) and Alberta seem content in their home on wheels.
I was raised in a home that is now the Longacre Inn at 4813 Madison Ave. We had a one-car unattached garage, and behind it on our property was a small building. I was surprised when my father brought home a bunch of baby chickens, which were initially confined to a secured area in one of our extra bedrooms.
As the baby chickens grew, I discovered the purpose of that building behind the garage – it was a chicken house. Our chickens were moved to their own house and fenced-in yard. By then I had lost all interest in them, and because of my young age I wasn’t required to have any dealing with the birds other than to occasionally watch them through the fence.


Many of the houses along Madison had chicken houses at that time; our neighbors did. I remember Bob Herrmann of Herrmann Funeral Home telling me that when he lived on Madison that his father, George Herrmann, had chickens and some other small farm animals on their property. That property is now the site of their Madison Avenue facility. Back in the northeast corner of that property sits their original house. It was moved there from its original location when they built the funeral home.
Our family had chickens for a couple of years before the chicken house went empty until becoming a goat house (maybe a story for another day).


Many years later my daughter, Michelle, presented me with a rooster for my birthday. You may remember that I have written a couple of articles about my experiences with that wonderful rooster. His name was Jack, and he lived with us for several months before a petition was presented to me requesting that I find him another home. Jack was my second experience with learning about and raising fouls. I figured that would be my last.


Wrong! My wife, Lyn, decided she would enjoy being in the chicken business. She discovered a local business that sells hens and chicken houses on wheels so they can be moved every few days. 
We have three young hens, but they have not started laying eggs yet. Their names are Alberta, named after Lyn’s mother; Betty is named for my mother, and Jackie is named in memory of Jack the rooster. Sometimes Lyn and I sit near their mobile home and enjoy their company.


The chickens are friends with Stuart, our therapy dog. Sometimes when we are sitting near their house, we open the gate and they come out to wander throughout the yard.
We are really enjoying the newest members of our family.

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August 12th, 2014

8/12/2014

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My wife, Lyn, and I have been season ticket holders for the Indiana Fever for several years, and this year we upgraded our seats. We are now down low and close behind the team’s bench.

It is interesting and sometimes exciting to watch the players and coaches on the bench. It has been an exciting but difficult season for the Fever.


Veteran Tamika Catchings was unable to play the first half of the season as she was recovering from a back injury. Perry Meridian and Purdue graduate Katie Douglas had left the team and returned to the Connecticut Sun. I was sure it was going to take this year’s Fever team some time to get all the kinks worked out.


About the time the players were figuring things out understanding their roles on the team, Tamika returned. So, during the second half of the season most players had to adjust to the return of a special player.


The coaches have been working hard to expedite this process. During Friday’s home game against the Washington Mystics (Fever lost 74-61, but they rebounded Saturday against the Washington Liberty to bump their record to 14-17 to remain in playoff contention with three games remaining.), We watched five bench players on the court at the same time. The team is making progress and regaining its confidence. 


 I have enjoyed watching two-year veteran Sydney Carter and rookie Maggie Lucas as they learn to play on the Fever team, get comfortable and improve with each game. They play good defense, and I enjoy watching Maggie shoot her high arching long shots. During their time on the bench, both gals stay involved in the game and cheer on the teammates.


Friday was Breast Health Awareness Night, and Bankers Life Fieldhouse and the Fever and their coaches were decked out in pink. Many women were honored as breast cancer survivors during a halftime presentation; we recognized several as fieldhouse employees or season ticket holders.


One of the ladies has seats across from the Fever bench on the lower level. When a Fever sinks a three-pointer, she leaps out of her seat and runs up the stairs in her section and high-fives everyone that she can both on the way up and during the return to her seat.


GO FEVER!


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. 

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August 06th, 2014

8/6/2014

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Sometimes it takes a long time for my brain to gather all the pieces of a memory and place them in what I remember as the proper order. I think I have been working on this recollection for a couple of years. The story begins back in the early 1960s.

Our family operated the Sunoco service station on Madison Avenue just north of Epler Avenue. One evening in the early fall I had gone home from the station for dinner, during which I heard an explosion. 


Within a few minutes I heard the sirens of several emergency vehicles, and I could tell that they were stopping fairly close to our house. I finished my meal and headed toward where the vehicles seemed to have stopped.
In just a few minutes I was getting out of my car, which I had parked on Bryan Drive in the Perry Manor subdivision. I could see lots of emergency vehicles on Busy Bee Lane and started to walk in that direction.
I was about halfway across the area that had been blocked off from spectators when a lady came running up from behind me and grabbed my arm. She was screaming and said her husband had been working on a furnace in a house on Busy Bee. She was frightened that he was in the explosion.


Because she had a firm grip on my arm, we were ushered through and allowed to get close to the burning house. Her husband had indeed been working on home that blew up. He had not been hurt and was walking toward us. I recognized him as Mr. Albaugh, and I knew two of the couple’s sons. 


I also realized that William “Bill” Falvey, who was one of our longtime customers, owned the house. I was assured that no one was home and no one was injured.  


I was amazed that I had personal connections with almost everyone involved in the explosion. I was thinking about that when it occurred to me that I was supposed to be at work. 


It took a long time to get back to my car because I was asked hundreds of questions by friends and stranger.
I finally got back to the service station and had to tell my story. 


The next day my good friend and fellow worker George Frye came to work and had an interesting story to share. He explained that on the evening before he had been mowing his yard when all of a sudden William Falvey’s cancelled checks came floating down from the sky onto his freshly mowed yard, which was about six blocks from the Falveys. George didn’t hear the explosion because of the noise from his mower; he had learned about it later that evening. 


I had recalled this incident after the home explosion in the Richmond Hill subdivision in November 2012. I was reminded of it again as I watched the news concerning a change of venue for one of the upcoming trials. 
Then a couple of days ago I drove past Busy Bee Lane. 

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    Picture

    Fred Shonk

    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. 

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