The Indiana All-Star series went through some exciting changes in 2012. Even though the series always has belonged to Indiana high school coaches because you have developed the great talent that has given us a competitive edge over Kentucky, the IBCA now is in charge of producing all aspects of the games.
We also added a home-and-home Junior All-Star series with Kentucky. Kentucky moved their game from Bellarmine to Freedom Hall and almost doubled their attendance.
Former All-Star Steve Downing has taken over as athletic director at Marian University, and that has solidified our partnership with Marian as our gracious hosts for the All-Star week.
Rob New, who has returned to the coaching ranks at Scecina High School, has put his company (Best Choice Home Health) behind the games as our title sponsor. This is absolutely critical to the financial well being of the series.
The Indianapolis Star has provided more than $150,000 of promotional space in the newspaper and online. The newspaper is very excited about the job Steve Witty and the IBCA did. It has signed on for next year and wants to discuss increased involvement.
We won our eighth straight boys game and our girls put up two strong efforts. Both teams represented Indiana with a lot of class both on and off the court.
The games raised more than $30,000 for the IBCA Scholarship Fund, the Indiana National Guard and the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame.
The All-Star Game Day Shootout had its fourth successful year at Ben Davis. Our crowd was just shy of 6,000 fans for the fourth year in a row.
I want to give a special thanks to Pat McKee and his wife, Lori. They jumped in with both feet and helped us through the first year without The Star’s direct involvement. Beth DeVinney was a great Junior All-Star liaison despite being right in the middle of a job change.
We were so lucky to have 12 great coaches AGAIN. Our senior staff of Craig Teagle, Tom Bradley and Chris Johnson along with Scott Kreiger, Alana Harrington and Karla Rieckers were totally selfless with their time and efforts.
Scott Heady, Marvin Rea, Stacy Meyer along with Eric Thornton, Jeff Knoy, and Greg Werner took on extra duty as our Junior All-Stars played four games for the first time ever. Also, Pat McKee assisted coach Thornton with the Junior girls when others could not be at the Junior games against Kentucky. Together, this group worked around their busy summer schedules and found time to guide our Juniors to a 3-1 start to our series with Kentucky.
Lastly, I want to thank Steve Witty and so many of the IBCA members who volunteered to help with the many facets of producing the games. The year went very well and I can’t wait until 2013!
Tentative dates for 2013 are Senior vs. Junior exhibitions on June 3 (site TBA) and 5 (site TBA), the Indiana-Kentucky Senior Games on June 7 (Freedom Hall) and June 8 (Bankers Life Fieldhouse), and the Indiana-Kentucky Junior Games on June 14 (site TBA) and June 15 (site TBA).
Thank you, coaches, for all you do!
Charlie Hall
