The Southsider Voice
Visit us at these places!
  • Home
  • News
    • Top Stories
    • Sports
    • Car Nutz
    • Stilley Goes Trackside
    • Southside Deaths
    • Personal Recollections
    • Reminiscing
  • About the Voice
  • Advertising
  • Newspaper Archive
  • Contact

Driving around Olympians

8/17/2016

0 Comments

 
The past several weeks I have been recalling my experiences as a bus driver for the 1996 men’s and women’s Olympic basketball teams, both of which spent a few days in Indianapolis before heading to Atlanta, Ga., for the Summer Games.

The 1992 men’s squad was better known as The Dream Team, with Michael Jordan heading the star-studded roster, but the 1996 team was also well represented by Reggie Miller, Charles Barkley, Scottie Pippen and Shaquille “Shaq” O’Neal.

During a practice I was cutting up with an Indiana Pacers ballboy who was helping with the scrimmage. We were standing under one of the baskets when I suddenly realized that Shaq was standing at the free-throw line, holding a basketball and staring at us. He had been attempting free throws and thought we were maybe laughing at his less-than-impressive abilities, but we had not been paying any attention to him.

I was sure that was the case when he fired the ball to me and said, “You think you can do better?”
I had been a basketball referee for several years and did have the ability to catch a fast-moving ball. Smiling, I said that maybe I could. Hence, a shooting contest was underway. 

At the point when I had made 2-of-4 and Shaq was 2-of-3, a coach ushered me off the court – game over.
I claimed a tie because we had  both made two baskets, but Shaq claimed a win by percentage.

While driving the team around I noticed that Barkley sat a couple of rows behind my seat. We often made eye contact when glancing in the inside rearview mirror at the same time, and that prompted him to initiate a funny monologue: “Look back there in the bus. Look at all those millionaires. Look, they all have on headsets, listening to that music. Boop-dee-boop … boop-dee-boop!”

After we had dropped off the teams to the airport for their flight to Atlanta and returned to the lot where the buses were parked, I found a large pair of high-top basketball shoes stuffed under a passenger seat in my bus.

I had telephone numbers for the coaches, and when I was sure that they were at their team compound in Atlanta I called. They assured me that the shoes were not going to be needed for the Olympic Games. They asked if I had any idea who might own the shoes, and I explained that Shaq had been sitting in that area. I was told to hang onto them and if I didn’t hear anything in a few days they were mine.

After a few months I took the shoes to a store that sold them and explained to the salesmen that they were a gift but the wrong size. He looked at them and was speechless after glancing at my feet. 

I exchanged them for a pair in my size, and there was enough credit left over for four shirts. After the transaction was completed I told the clerk how I happened across the shoes. He yelled ecstatically that he had Shaq’s shoes and that he was going to keep them. 
​
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.
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    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. 

    Archives

    January 2020
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    March 2019
    January 2019
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

 DROP OFF: The Toy Drop 6025 Madison Ave., Suite D
Indianapolis, IN  46227  |  317-781-0023
MAILING ADDRESS: P.O. Box 17187

ads@southsidervoice.com | news@southsidervoice.com
Website by IndyTeleData, Inc.