Eight years ago this week, I submitted my very first newspaper article to The Southsider Voice. I was encouraged to give it a try by Kelly Sawyers and Denise Summers. I was very surprised when I was asked to do a second one the following week.
Below is a copy of my very first article.

Hoopster standouts played at Edgewood
OK, here’s the deal. My name is Fred Shonk, and I grew up in Perry Township, attending Edgewood Grade School and Southport High. During my youth I lived on Madison Avenue in the house that is now the Longacre Inn.

My father opened a Sunoco service station on Madison when I was 14. Working there allowed me to meet many of the great people who lived and worked in Perry Township. A lot are still good friends.

Our service station was close to the grade school, which had (if memory serves me correctly) 11 outside basketball courts, making it the roundball capital of the Southside.

On nice weekends you might wait an hour to find a court that needed a player – but even they you had to be invited. Some of the courts had such talented players that I was relegated to tossing the ball in and nothing more.

Big-name high school players from Manual and Washington often played with Southport’s top guns. I remember Louie Dampier, Jesse Blackwell, Joe Simpson, twins Tom and Dick Van-Arsdale, George McGinnis, Morris Epler, Leland Richards and others playing for hours.

On weekends I would fill my pockets with the proceeds of my Indianapolis News route and ride my bicycle to the school. In between games, we would go to Roehl’s Drug Store or Kauskey’s Grocery for something to eat and drink.

Soon after my father opened the station, some of the players discovered that our shop had the closest pop machine. The drinks cost 10 cents, and there was supposed to be a 2 cent deposit charged if the bottles were taken off the premises; however, that rule never applied to the players.

About twice daily someone from our station climbed into the service truck and drove over to the courts, where there would always be two or three piles of empty bottles. Seldom did we ever come up short on empties when the delivery trucks came to restock.

Looking back, I took pride in my ability to toss the ball into play … it was a wonderful experience.
Inside, I still beam with pride whenever driving past the location on Epler Avenue.

I totally enjoy learning about friends or members of a friend’s family who grew up on the Southside that excelled in various stages of their lives. Whether it is their education, profession, family, sports or a combination of any or all of these, their stories are sometimes very amazing.

I have been acquainted with friends and members of the Krug family for a long time. Paula Krug attended Southport High School and graduated a couple of years behind me. We were friends for many years, and I have very fond memories of visiting with her and her husband. Paula now lives in Florida and I keep in touch with her by phone.

Edward Krug graduated from Southport High School in 1971. When he was 12 years old, his parents died. He then lived with his sister and brother-in-law. His brother and sisters affectionately nicknamed him “Little Eddie.” He has the last laugh on them because he grew to six feet, seven inches. He towers over his sisters but sees eye-to-eye with his brother.

Eddie has always been a hard worker. At age 14 years, he would ride his bicycle to Boyden’s Bakery at 3:30 a.m., where he worked during the summer. It was a miracle that he made it to and from work without being in an accident on busy Southside streets. Two years later, he went to work at the Thrifty Corner gas station until he graduated from high school.

After graduation he was a work-study student with Pillsbury in Terre Haute where he studied at Indiana State University and earned a Bachelor of Science degree. He later received a PhD in bio-chemistry at Purdue and did his post-doctoral studies in regenerative medicine at Texas Tech University.

Dr. Krug became a professor of regenerative medicine and cell biology at the Medical University of South Carolina. He also served there as Associate Dean of Postdoctoral Affairs with oversight of 200 scholars and staff scientists.

He also has served on numerous advisory boards, research committees and as a mentor. His office door was open to anyone who needed help, including immigrants who were having difficulty adapting to American ways. He is described as a true proponent of postdocs in transition from student to independence.

In April, Dr. Krug was awarded the NPA Garnett-Powers & Associates, Inc. National Mentor Award at the National Postdoctoral Association convention. The association is dedicated to supporting new researchers through innovative practices. The former Southsider who learned the value of hard work is very deserving of the national award.

He retired in May and travels with his wife Marilyn in a camper throughout the U.S. She took time to send me a copy of an article about her husband receiving the award that was very informative.

It just proves that getting started as a youth working in a bakery or gas station can begin a path to tremendous success.
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Congratulations to Dr. Krug on your tremendous career; now enjoy your retirement.

Last Saturday, we sure had quite a bit of wind and rain around the Southside.

It seemed to start and stop all through the night also. When I got up on Sunday morning and turned on the television news, I was shocked to hear that Beech Grove had been hit by very heavy rain and wind. Thoughts that it was even a tornado were confirmed later Sunday as an EF-1 tornado of 100 miles per hour by the National Weather Service.

That brought back many memories of the 2002 tornado that really messed up things in our neighborhood and several other places on the Southside. We were very lucky. We had tree damage but very little else. Plus, no one was injured.

As the reports continued through Sunday morning, I understood that quite a bit of damage happened to Beech Grove High School and Beech Meadow apartments. I learned that the community center was open to assist anyone.

Stuart (our therapy dog) and I got ready and soon we were on our way to Beech Grove.  We pulled into the parking lot at the Hornet Park Community Center. Looking around, there was lots of debris and downed trees to be cleaned up and repairs to be made at the apartments across the street.

We walked up to the center and the first person that we encountered was Beech Grove Mayor Dennis Buckley. We watched as he finished an interview and then had an opportunity to visit with him for a short while. He told me of the different areas that were damaged, but there were no known injuries. It was good to see the mayor out checking on everyone.

Stuart and I then went into the center and talked with Angel Calvert-McKenna. She works at the community center and is a Beech Grove resident. She was there with a lady from the Red Cross and they directed Stuart and me to a family that had spent the night at the community center.

The family seemed happy to visit with Stuart for a while. I told them a couple of Stuart stories and the younger kids really enjoyed petting him. Stuart was in full-therapy mode the entire time.

Later we drove around to the back side of the high school. I saw damage to electrical wires and destroyed trees, but the school bus fleet looked fine. Although, I was looking at that fleet from a distance because of downed electrical wires blocking our path.

We then drove around the city for a while. Downtown looked good. When we traveled south on 9th Street, we saw lots of activity near the South Grove Intermediate School. More trees were down and lots of power and light repair trucks were in the neighborhood, especially on nearby Elm Street.

In all the areas that damage was done to apartments or houses, we noticed that the Red Cross was there to provide aid.

It was great to see the Beech Grove community coming together so quickly to assist anyone in need. Stuart and I will probably stop by a few times in the next week or so to see everyone.
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I think we have had enough rain for a while...!!

I’ve been involved with the Southport/Perry Township Historical Society for about 12 years. We have semi-monthly meetingS and programs that provide wonderful memories and historical knowledge of our local Southside neighborhood.

In the spring of 2011, we began putting together a very special program about Longacre Pool and Park. We had connected with David Dodrill (son of Rufus Dodrill, owner of Longacre in the ‘50’s and ‘60’s). He provided us with over 100 photos of the entire facility that we were able to use in the program. David was also our main speaker for a wonderful evening with around 250 folks.

During the preparation for this program, the historical society was working with the staff at The Southsider Voice to promote the upcoming special evening. On one occasion, I was in their office and sharing some of the Longacre stories with the staff. After a few of those stories, publisher Kelly Sawyers said something about the possibility of me writing an article about some of my experiences growing up on the Southside.

On July 20, 2011, my first article was published in The Southsider Voice. It was about some of my memories of playing basketball on the numerous outside basketball courts on the property of Edgewood Grade School. I spoke of some of the memorable players from around Indianapolis who would venture down to Edgewood and play on those courts. They would welcome anyone to play there.

Now, let’s move forward eight years. On July 23, the historical society will open the Edgewood Basketball Hall of Fame, based on the basketball history in that two-block stretch of Epler Avenue with Madison Avenue in the middle.  The former Edgewood grade school and the Kautsky grocery store were located there.

The former principal the Edgewood grade school, Paul L. Bailey and Frank Kautsky were very good friends. Bailey taught Kautsky about basketball. Edgewood was centrally located, and the Edgewood school basketball teams were very strong. Several players from those teams continued to  excel in high school and college. A few moved on to play professional basketball.

At some point, Kautsky approached Bailey and explained that he had a great interest in developing and sponsoring a professional basketball team.  The team was formed in the mid-30’s and folded in 1949. Bailey was involved in the development of the team and played. The Kautsky’s became the very first professional basketball team in Indiana.

The list of great basketball players with connections to Edgewood and the Kautsky’s professional team is amazing. Several names have been nominated and approved for the dedication of the hall of fame on July 23.

I have become friends with a couple of great former Edgewood students that have been involved with several Edgewood school reunions. Ted Lobdell and Barry Hix have done so much to help honor the school and put together a special memorial on school property.

Ted and Barry also have met with union representatives in a building that is located on the former Edgewood school property. They have authorized an outdoor basketball goal to be placed on the same property.

So, anyone interested in Southside hoops, please mark your calendar for July 23 to attend the historical society’s meeting in the gymnasium of the Perry Township Education Center at the corner of Banta and Orinoco streets. The meeting begins at 7:00 p.m. And I am sure this will be one of our most special meetings.