Hoosier State Press Association - The Indiana Publisher - Better Newspaper Contest
Issue link: https://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/96748
Division 6 Best Sports Event Coverage/Category 11 First place Woolridge���s death hits ND family hard Tom Noie, South Bend Tribune Comments: A sad story told through the eyes of friends and teammates. Second place It���s gone in six seconds Tim Ethridge, Evansville Courier & Press Comments: If only ... Nice job of telling what could have been. Third place He���ll have a Derby win Randy Beard, Evansville Courier & Press Comments: None given. Best Sports News or Feature Coverage/ Category 12 First place Head games Mark Lazerus, Post-Tribune (Merrillville) Comments: An amazing amount of reporting. Very welldone. Every parent who has a child who plays football should read this. Second place Streets of dreams Phil Richards, The Indianapolis Star Comments: A fun look at how today���s pro football players got started playing on the streets. I���m sure a lot of readers can identify with this. Third place Stigma going up in smoke Steve T. Gorches, Post-Tribune (Merrillville) Comments: Nice piece of enterprise reporting. Looks at an interesting issue that���s relevant to readers. Best Sports Commentary/Category 13 First place Al Lesar, South Bend Tribune Comments: Columnist looks for stories in people who might not otherwise be profiled. Once he���s introduced you to them, you don���t want to stop reading. Story planning, vision and execution is well-crafted. Second place Mark Lazerus, Post-Tribune (Merrillville) Comments: Column on the Drews��� battle against cancer was well-done and helped separate this one from the rest of the entrants. A must-read. Third place Mike Hutton, Post-Tribune (Merrillville) Comments: Columnist���s connection to the sports players in this community is apparent. He translates this well to readers with interest and creativity. Best Editorial Cartoonist/Category 14 See Page 67 for all divisions. Page 62 Death hits ND family hard Tom Noie South Bend Tribune When life as a Notre Dame men���s basketball player became too cluttered and confused to the point where it seemed the four walls of his single dorm room were closing in, Stan Wilcox always knew where to turn. Wilcox would visit a teammate who also lived in a single right next door in Fisher Hall. It didn���t matter if Wilcox spent two minutes or two hours with someone he grew to consider a brother, he would return to his place with a smile on his face and a fresher perspective on life. Friday was one of those days when Wilcox wished he could go next door, step inside, listen to his friend laugh and have it all feel all right. Only on this day, there would have been no answer on that door. Wilcox���s buddy, former Irish forward Orlando Woolridge died late Thursday at age 52. ���He loved life,��� Wilcox said of Woolridge, whom he met as a fellow freshman in the fall of 1977 before Notre Dame made its lone Final Four appearance in their first season together. ���He was the one person in our group who kept you laughing. If we needed someone to cheer us up, he was the one to do it.��� ���We lost a great, great teammate and a great friend,��� said former Irish teammate Tracy Jackson, a constant companion of Wilcox and Woolridge. ���He was the battery amongst the three of us. He kept us going.��� Woolridge died at his parents��� home in Mansfield, La. Early reports indicate that Woolridge, who struggled through years of substance abuse during and after his National Basketball Association career after graduating Notre Dame in 1981, suffered from a chronic heart condition that recently required hospice care. Former teammates knew that Woolridge was nearing the end of what had become a battle to live a healthy life. Still, when the end arrived Thursday, it hit many of his former teammates hard. ���My heart is heavy,��� Jackson said from his home outside Washington. ���None of us wanted this day to come,��� Wilcox said Friday from Duke University where he serves as deputy director of athletics. ���It���s a shocker when it does.��� ���Terrible,��� said Kelly Tripucka. ���Terrible, terrible, For complete story, see www.hspafoundation.org. Click on ���Contests.��� Head games Mark Lazerus Post-Tribune (Merrillville) Routine drill, routine practice, routine August day in Northwest Indiana last summer. Another whistle, another snap of the ball, another testos��erone-charged t cacophony of plastic crackling, teenagers growling, coaches muttering. A hole opened up, a running back barreled through, and Lowell linebacker Austin Magley did what he���s done countless times before ��� he lined the guy up and he tackled him. Magley���s head was up, as it was supposed to be. The tailback���s head was up, as it was supposed to be. Everything went according to plan, according to coaching, according to the book. Then Magley tried to stand up. And he fell. Got back up. Took a few steps. Fell again. ���At least, that���s what other people told me,���Magley said. ���I don���t really remember any of it.��� This is a story about concussions. About children���s brains and their lives and their futures. About how one improper tackle ��� or even an unlucky proper tackle, or maybe a stray knee to the head, or maybe a head banging off a frozen field, or maybe the collective force of hundreds of daily collisions in the trenches ��� can cause lasting damage, seen and unseen. This is a story about the biggest issue in high school football today. And this is a story that Bob Parker���s not sure he wants you to read. ���I���m concerned about the future of football,��� the longtime IHSAA referee says. ���Because I think there are going to be a lot of parents out there who are reading these statistics and these published stories and these scientific reports. And they���re going to say, ���You know what? My kid can play soccer, or volleyball, or golf.��� ��� Indeed, that���s what makes concussions so scary ��� to kids, to parents, to coaches, to athletic trainers, to physicians, to administrators, to legislators, to anyone who���s heard the alarming results of Purdue���s long-term concussion study at Lafayette Jefferson High School, to anyone who���s read about former Bears great Dave Duerson���s recent death, to anyone who���s heard the plight of the countless former NFL players with myriad physical and mental maladies. For complete story, see www.hspafoundation.org. Click on ���Contests.��� Finding his element Al Lesar South Bend Tribune Life inside Mishawaka High School is based on energy. The halls are alive. Chaos for about five minutes, several times a day. Prom���s coming up. There���s a buzz. Walk into Room 124, it all changes. Lotta love here. Unconditional love. TJ Benner is in his element. Most folks know Benner as the slender 6-foot-2 senior marksman for the Caveman basketball team. A 3-point specialist; 317 career points. But in terms of defining Benner, basketball barely scratches the surface. The gym is a place where Benner has learned to excel. Room 124 is his comfort zone. Ever since kindergarten, Benner has been ���best buddies��� with Tyler Lefebvre. Tyler���s one of the stars of Mishawaka���s ���special needs��� program. ���Tyler���s the best 3-point shooter I know,��� said Benner, a pretty good one himself. ���Put him on the court in his backyard, you can���t beat him.��� Over the years, Benner has beaten a path over the 1.9 miles between his house and Tyler���s. The relationship flourished. The concept of full-inclusion, between ���special needs��� students and the general student population, was validated. And then some. That relationship forged over nine years didn���t stop at the high school doors. As a freshman and sophomore, Benner regularly stopped by to see special education teachers and to check on Tyler. By junior year, Benner decided to get some credit for those visits. The last two years he has worked as an aide with the ���special needs��� students. ���TJ���s freshman year, there would be a filled cafeteria, and TJ would come over for high-fives from Tyler and his friends,��� said Karen Keranen, who describes herself as TJ���s teacher of record and biggest fan. ���TJ���s so compassionate; so patient.��� ���I don���t have patience for anything else in my life,��� Benner said. ���I can���t sit still. It���s hard for me to just sit and do nothing. But once I come in here, it���s so different. I see so many friends who need help. You can���t be in a hurry.��� For complete story, see www.hspafoundation.org. Click on ���Contests.���