INDIANA STATE UNIVERSITY FOOTBALL ALUMNI NEWSLETTER NO. 18

INDIANA STATE UNIVERSITY FOOTBALL ALUMNI NEWSLETTER
Volume One, Number 18
July 3, 2008Editor: Tom James, TJames1475@aol.com;
ISU Football Alumni Blog Page: http://isufootballalumni.blogspot.com/

ISU football beefs up its offensive line with 6-foot-5, 310 pound tackle

By Todd GoldenTerre Haute Tribune-Star
TERRE HAUTE, Ind. — According to Matt Duke, one of the reasons he’s coming to play football at Indiana State is to give the Sycamores an infusion of something they’ve sorely lacked in recent seasons.“Coach [Trent] Miles cleaned house with some guys who didn’t have the right attitude and didn’t have the right effort. Which is good,” Duke said. “Coach Miles wants me to come in and bring some intensity, which is something the team needs.”ISU is giving Duke something in return … a second chance.Duke, a 6-foot-5, 310-pound tackle who played last fall at Arizona Western College, signed a letter of intent to play for the Sycamores. He will be eligible this fall. Duke will have three years of eligibility remaining. When Duke was recruited out of Jacksonville (Fla.) University Christian, he was ranked 79th nation in the nation among tackles by ESPN. ISU beat out BCS schools South Florida and Central Florida for Duke’s services.Duke ended up at Arizona Western, a junior college, by way of FCS power program Georgia Southern, where Duke was a redshirt for one season. Before he ever played a down for the Eagles, Duke was dismissed from the team in May 2007 after he was one of four Eagles’ players arrested after an incident in the parking lot of a Brad Paisley concert in Statesboro, Ga. in April 2007.“It’s great that I was given a second chance and I want to make the most of it. A lot of people don’t get a second chance,” Duke said. “I was with some wrong people and at the wrong time.”According to an article in the April 30 Statesboro (Ga.) Herald, two of Duke’s then-teammates, Benjamin Granitz and Kevin Michael Van Kirk, were seen by a Georgia Southern Police officer allegedly breaking into parked cars in the parking lot of the concert venue. The Georgia Southern officer confronted Van Kirk and he was arrested while allegedly looking through the glove compartment of a car. Granitz had walked away moments before.Additional Georgia Southern Police arrived and witnessed Granitz riding away in a pickup truck. The truck, driven by Georgia Southern player Charles DeCarlo, attempted to flee, but was stopped by a Georgia Southern officer. Duke was inside the truck at the time. When officers searched the truck, they found a Glock pistol underneath some clothing, though the article did not reference who the gun belonged to.Three days later, Georgia Southern coach Chris Hatcher dismissed Granitz, Van Kirk and Duke from the team. According to Duke, the only thing he was eventually charged with was trespassing.Miles steadfastly defended Duke and believes that he was a victim of circumstance.“[Duke] isn’t someone who should have a dark cloud over him, he was around some kids who did something wrong,” Miles said. “We do our research, we do our homework. [Duke] was around something when it happened, and if you’re around it, you’re going to get labeled with it, but this is a fine young fine man.”Duke’s signing comes a week after ISU inked quarterback Calvin Schmidtke, who was dismissed from Washington State after legal issues involving a DUI and other traffic violations.Miles said Duke has had no legal troubles since and also praised Duke’s academic commitment.Duke played right tackle at Arizona Western, but Duke said he was a left tackle in high school and at Georgia Southern. Miles liked Duke’s flexibility and said he could play on either side.“He plays hard from the time the ball is snapped to the whistle he’s got good feet and he’s big,” Miles said. “He can move around well and he plays the game with a passion.”His presence is a boost for an ISU offensive line that was depleted to the bone during a winless 2007 season and that will have plenty of new faces in 2008.“I enjoyed the town and I like what coach Miles is doing with the team. I think he’s really going to get it going there,” said Duke, who noted that he chose ISU over South Florida and Central Florida due to the prospect of more potential playing time.


Sycamore Recruits Play in Wabash Valley All-Star Football Game

South rallies to win All-Star game

By Andy Amey
Terre Haute Tribune-Star
TERRE HAUTE, Ind. — The play that probably determined the outcome of Saturday night’s Wabash Valley Football Coaches Association All-Star Game in Memorial Stadium will never show up on any stat sheet.But a block by Terre Haute South’s Brock Lough to spring his former high school teammate and future Indiana State University teammate Koby Kraemer on a punt return early in the third quarter — a hit that had to be heard by every one of the approximately 3,000 people in the stands — was cited by many people afterward as a big key in the first-ever victory by the South all-stars, who eventually made their second comeback for a 32-27 decision.The first two quarters couldn’t have gone much worse for South, which trailed 14-0 and didn’t have a first down until the final minute of the second quarter. Then, when South put together a last-minute drive to the 1-yard line, its bid for a touchdown to end the half was thwarted when Casey’s Luc Yates ripped the ball out of the hands of the South ball carrier inches short of the goal line.“What a heartbreaker,” South coach Steve Weber of Linton said after the game when looking back at that play. “We had a lot of plays [in the first half] that could’ve went [for big gains], but we just weren’t connecting. We were dropping the ball on the carpet, or it was going off our fingertips. But then we just started to make plays.”The South comeback started with a three-and-out defensive series, and it also included a crucial injury from North’s standpoint.Marshall quarterback Travis Johnson, whose running and throwing had keyed North’s first-half offensive dominance, has been described as a quarterback with linebacker tendencies, and on the first play of the second half those instincts proved costly.“We had a little run to the left,” Johnson explained after the game, his left arm wrapped. “I tried to help move the pile … and I looked down and my arm was hanging there. Some bad karma, I guess.”“We played extremely well the first half,” said North coach Chris Barrett of Terre Haute North. “Offensively we had about three turnovers that stopped ourselves, and then in the third quarter the wheels fell off … and our quarterback gets [what was thought to be] a broken wrist.”The North punt went to Kraemer, who immediately had a potential tackler near him. But so was Lough.“I was trying to stiff-arm that guy. He had a hold of me, but I saw Brock coming out of the corner of my eye,” Kraemer said.“I missed a sack right before that,” recalled Lough, “and I was pretty upset. I saw the guy had a hold of Koby, and that he wasn’t looking at me.“Koby always says I don’t hit anybody, so I made sure he saw that.”“I felt bad for that kid [trying to tackle me], because he didn’t see [Lough’s block] coming,” Kraemer said.Kraemer wound up dancing his way 34 yards to the North 39-yard line. On the seventh play of that drive he got open for a 5-yard touchdown pass from Red Hill’s Chris Wampler, and South was on its way.After another three-and-out series for North, Kraemer got free again, this time for a 35-yard bomb from Palestine-Hutsonville’s Ryan Roberts, and Roberts’ second straight 2-point conversion run put South ahead 16-14. Two plays after that, an interception by South Putnam’s Josh Sanders was one play ahead of a 35-yard strike from Wampler to his high school teammate Brad Padgett, and a third conversion by Roberts had South ahead 24-14 after less than nine minutes of the third quarter.That interception was thrown by Cumberland’s Kenny Flood, who was pressed into service as his team’s emergency quarterback. And then Flood became the story of the game for awhile.He took the North team 65 yards in nine plays, completing a 23-yard third-down throw to North Putnam’s Kyle Rooker and then getting a 27-yard touchdown pass when Terre Haute North’s Brandon Dorsett outmaneuvered a defender for a spectacular catch at the goal line. That cut the lead to 24-20.When North got the ball back again, Flood marched the team 66 yards in seven plays. A 34-yard completion to Northview’s Jered Timm was the big play, and Flood scrambled twice in a row — the last for 14 yards — to the touchdown that put North ahead 27-24 with 8:29 left in the game.“Travis came out hurting, and John [Garvin of Terre Haute North] couldn’t throw [long because of a shoulder injury]. So I was like ‘Oh, great’ [when I had to play quarterback]. I hadn’t thrown since the end of the [high school] season,” Flood said afterward.“We had no running plays [”He had like five reps all week in practice,” Barrett noted] because I didn’t know them, so I just passed on every down, or scrambled when nothing was open.”Flood had been Cumberland’s quarterback, but wasn’t going to play there for the all-star week. “[Receiver] was what they told me,” he said. “I went out and bought these gloves [to catch the ball] and everything, and then I didn’t get to use them in the second half.”“Kenny came in and did a great job,” Barrett said, “and when we got down, we showed a lot of character coming back.”South had one comeback left too, and this one was in Roberts’ hands. On the 75-yard, nine-play drive that gave the lead back to South, Roberts ran six times — including a 35-yarder — and occasionally lined up in an unorthodox backfield that offered little deception.“That was ‘snap it to him and let him run,’ ” cracked Sullivan offensive lineman Mike Market of that formation, which worked for the fourth-down touchdown run with 3:45 left. “That’s when the big guys show the way for me,” Roberts agreed.North picked up a pair of first downs, but then suffered an interception — by Kraemer — with less than a minute to play.“Coach [Mark] Raetz [of Terre Haute South] told me if the situation called for it, I might have to play some defense,” said Kraemer, who was just about as busy with the all-stars as he had been for the Braves, “and he signalled me in the very last series.”Kraemer’s finish to the game was a little better than his start. “It couldn’t have got any worse,” he said.He fumbled on the opening kickoff, thanks to a big hit by North Putnam’s J.T. Francies and a recovery by Casey kicker Josh Dunckel, and three plays later North was in the lead after a touchdown pass from Johnson to Timm.South got a pair of fumble recoveries by Lough — setting an all-star record — and another from North Central’s Jared Ross that kept North from taking more advantage of South’s early offensive woes. But between the two Lough recoveries, North also put together a 73-yard, 12-play drive capped by Rooker’s 2-yard touchdown run. And then there was the devastating end of the half for South.“[North] had all the momentum, but we felt like we could win if we just played our game,” Kraemer said later.“We started off kind of slow,” added Roberts. “But after Wampler hooked up with Koby in the end zone, everything opened up for us.”Lough’s block was vital, Weber said, adding, “There were a ton of plays that turned it around, but he was one of the playmakers … what a great effort. These guys could’ve gone in [at halftime] and folded up. They didn’t fold.”“A lot of kids made a lot of good plays,” said Barrett, who added that Lough’s block “definitely” helped fire up the South sideline. “And then there was Koby being Koby,” Barrett added.n Awards — Five different all-stars earned scholarships for their work during the week, one of them getting a second for his family.Roberts and Rooker were awarded the Hall of Fame Scholarships, selected by their teammates. Varda Scholarships, picked by the coaches, went to Kye Butler of Cumberland and Ethan Brewer of Linton; Brewer’s older brother Adam was a Hall of Fame winner two years ago. And Kyle Fahey of Rockville was the first winner of the Brett Eitel Memorial Scholarship for his academic work.Fahey’s high school teammate Zach Clapp, who suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament during the recent baseball season, was one of the North captains.South All-Stars 32, North All-Stars 27North 14 0 6 7 — 27South 0 0 24 8 — 32North — Jered Timm (Northview) 18 pass from Travis Johnson (Marshall), 10:51 1st; Josh Dunckel (Casey) kickNorth — Kyle Rooker (North Putnam) 2 run, 0:16 1st; Dunckel kickSouth — Koby Kraemer (Terre Haute South) 5 pass from Chris Wampler (Red Hill), 7:01 3rd; Ryan Roberts (Palestine-Hutsonville) runSouth — Kraemer 35 pass from Roberts, 3:32 3rd; Roberts runSouth — Brad Padgett (Red Hill) 35 pass from Wampler, 3:08 3rd; Roberts runNorth — Brandon Dorsett (Terre Haute North) 27 pass from Kenny Flood (Cumberland), 0:43 3rd; kick blockedNorth — Flood 14 run, 8:29 4th; Dunckel kickSouth — Roberts 1 run, 3:45 4th; Nick Straka (Red Hill) runNorth SouthFirst downs 16 13Rushes-yards 26-48 32-137Passing yards 260 148Comp-Att-Int 20-34-2 9-22-0Return yards 20 50Punts-avg 3-26 6-29Fumbles-lost 6-3 5-2Penalties-yards 2-19 2-10Individual statisticsRushing — North: Rooker 10-25, Flood 4-15, Jake Peters (Cumberland) 3-6, Grant Mitchell (Riverton Parke) 3-6, Johnson 4-4, John Garvin (Terre Haute North) 2-minus 8. South: Roberts 12-75, Wampler 6-22, Paul Miller (Olney) 5-15, Josh Kincaid (Robinson) 4-9, Straka 2-8, Kraemer 3-8.Passing — North: Flood 12-18-2, 146 yards; Johnson 8-14-0, 114; Garvin 0-1-0; Rooker 0-1-0. South: Wampler 8-17-0, 113; Roberts 1-5-0, 35.Receiving — North: Dorsett 6-56, Daniel Martin (Rockville) 4-54, Timm 3-71, Alan Wolter (Marshall) 3-31, Rooker 2-31, Kye Butler (Cumberland) 2-17. South: Kraemer 6-87, B.Padgett 1-35, Michael Woodsmall (North Central) 1-20, Zach McVaigh (Olney) 1-6.


GATEWAY CONFERENCE NOW MISSOURI VALLEY FOOTBALL CONFERENCE

ST. LOUIS — Presidents of the nine-member Gateway Football Conference and the 10-member Missouri Valley Conference have approved a rebranding initiative that changes the football conference name from the Gateway Football Conference to the Missouri Valley Football Conference. The change is effective immediately.It represents the second name change for the football league, which begins its 24th season this fall. Initially, the conference competed under the Gateway Collegiate Athletic Conference (1985-91) and the Gateway Football Conference (1992-2007).“This is going to allow the Missouri Valley Football Conference members to take advantage of year-long positive exposure received by the Missouri Valley Conference,” said Missouri Valley Football Conference commissioner Patty Viverito. “Both leagues have developed a tremendous brand name, but the timing for the name change is right. The league expands July 1 with two new members, and with this new, stronger lineup, rebranding now makes sense.”

Although the league will share the Missouri Valley name, the football-playing members will compete under a separate administrative umbrella, as the Missouri Valley Conference and the Missouri Valley Football Conference will remain separate entities.Members of the Missouri Valley Football Conference (and initial year of membership) include Illinois State University (1985), Indiana State University (1986), Missouri State University (1985), North Dakota State University (2008), the University of Northern Iowa (1985), South Dakota State University (2008), Southern Illinois University (1985), Western Illinois University (1985), and Youngstown State University (1997).Five Missouri Valley Football Conference members also compete in the Missouri Valley Conference (Illinois State, Indiana State, Missouri State, Northern Iowa, and Southern Illinois). Three league schools compete in the Summit League (North Dakota State, South Dakota State, and Western Illinois), while Youngstown State competes in the Horizon League for its other sports.


Indiana State selects Daniel Bradley as next president

By Sue LoughlinTerre Haute Tribune-Star
TERRE HAUTE, Ind. — Indiana State University has selected Daniel J. Bradley, president of Fairmont State University, as its 11th president pending board approval at an upcoming trustee meeting, the university announced late Tuesday afternoon.“I’m incredibly excited about the opportunity to be president of ISU and to live in Terre Haute,” said Bradley, 58, who was vacationing in Montana. “It’s going to be a lot of fun.”Michael J. Alley, president of the ISU board of trustees, described Bradley as someone “who brings a wealth of experience in many areas including institutional planning, fundraising and government relations. I am confident that Dan will lead Indiana State University to even greater heights.”Trustees will confirm the appointment at a special meeting at 9 a.m. July 9 in the State Room of Tirey Hall. Bradley expects to assume his responsibilities by early August. His salary will be $265,000, Alley said. None of his salary or benefits will come from the ISU Foundation.Bradley said he and his wife will live in Condit House, now used for some administrative offices including the university president’s. Richard Landini was the last ISU president to use Condit House as a residence.“I just think that a college campus without a president residing on it is kind of a hollow place,” Bradley said. “It makes campus a different place when the president lives there.”Trustees had told him they were interested in Condit House again becoming the president’s residence, he said.Some renovation will be required to convert it back to a residence, Alley said.Alley said that all three finalists were outstanding and presented themselves favorably on campus. After trustees deliberated for about 2 1/2 hours Thursday, they reached consensus that Bradley was the right person to lead ISU.Among the key attributes was the fact that Bradley is an experienced university president and has served as Fairmont State’s president for the past seven years. He has experience developing and implementing a university strategic plan, and he’s a proven fundraiser, Alley said. Bradley initiated Fairmont State’s first-ever capital campaign, which will be successfully completed this fiscal year.Bradley also has experience working with the West Virginia Legislature on funding and other issues, Alley said.Alley described Bradley as a strong communicator and consensus builder who will keep people on campus informed. Trustees also believed that Bradley and his wife, Cheri, “fit in well with the campus community as well as Terre Haute,” Alley said. The announcement was delayed until Tuesday because ISU and Bradley had to work out terms of his employment contract, which is substantially complete, although some items still must be finalized, Alley said. Bradley is on vacation with his family in Montana, where they own a home. “We had a bald eagle sitting outside our front window,” he said during a telephone interview.Bradley said part of the reason he wanted to come to ISU was because of its size, location and program mix. He especially is interested in ISU’s focus on experiential learning and student involvement in the community. “That is a real attraction” that can help differentiate ISU from other universities, he said.He has emphasized building a strong relationship between Fairmont State University and the Fairmont community. He recognizes that ISU, too, has placed a high priority on strengthening its relationship with Terre Haute.He describes his personal leadership style as straightforward and goal-oriented. ISU’s prospective 11th president said he is committed to open communication; he wants the campus to know what he is thinking, and he wants to know what is on the minds of faculty, staff and students. At Fairmont State, he’s accomplished that through providing regular reports to campus that serve as newsletters; posting his campus presentations on the university Web site; and having monthly breakfasts with randomly chosen faculty and staff and lunches with students. He hopes to continue those types of things at ISU.He said he has an open door policy and answers his own e-mail. If someone is in the outer office and he’s not busy with a meeting, “They are welcome to come in and talk to me,” he said previously.He places high priority on making decisions in a way that is inclusive and gives everyone an opportunity to provide feedback.Challenges in public higher education tend to focus on two issues, he said. “Where will the money come from, and who are the students going to be?” he said. He acknowledged that he still has a lot to learn about specific challenges faced at ISU.Bradley and his wife have three sons, John, 33, Joe, 31, and Clayton, 29. They also have three grandchildren.Bradley has served as the president of Fairmont State in Fairmont, W.Va., since 2001. He previously occupied a variety of positions at Montana Tech in Butte, including vice chancellor for academic affairs and research, dean of engineering and head of their petroleum engineering department. During Bradley’s tenure at Fairmont State, the institution has grown substantially, more than $100 million in construction projects have been completed, computing infrastructure has been upgraded, a strong distance education program has been developed, and graduate programs have been launched in education, business and social sciences.“Public higher education is in a state of great change. The need to respond effectively to this rapidly evolving landscape will require hard work, imagination and entrepreneurship. I am convinced ISU is up to that task,” he said.Bradley indicated his wife, Cheri, also is excited about this opportunity.“Cheri was impressed by the beauty of the campus and by the warm reception she received from community leaders and others who will soon be friends. She looks forward to building relationships both on and off campus,” Bradley said.Born in Portage La Prairie, Manitoba, Bradley immigrated with his parents to California when he was 7. A veteran of the U.S. Army, Bradley earned a doctorate in physical chemistry from Michigan State University, a master’s degree in petroleum engineering from the University of Tulsa and a bachelor’s degree in petroleum engineering from Montana College of Mineral Science and Technology.Bradley succeeds Lloyd W. Benjamin III, who will step down from the presidency June 30 at the end of eight years of service.


ISU’s presidential pick Bradley makes impressive decision to live in Condit House

By Mark BennettTerre Haute Tribune-Star
TERRE HAUTE, Ind. — Some evenings, students saw Richard Landini picking up a stray piece of trash off the lawn.He hated litter. He loved Indiana State University. The students knew that, because he lived there, literally. Landini’s home for all of his 17 years as the university’s president was the stately Condit House, right in the middle of campus. He let former President Gerald Ford sleep in the guest room, after delivering a lecture. A wake for Landini’s wife Phyllis was conducted inside the house.“The front door was open for students, and the back door was open for friends,” recalled John Newton, the long-time executive director of ISU Alumni Affairs.Landini, Newton explained, “was president 24 hours a day.”Landini retired in 1992, and died in 2004. But one segment of his collegiate lifestyle is about to be rekindled at a pivotal moment in its history. Daniel J. Bradley, who was selected last week to become ISU’s 11th president, intends for he and his wife, Cheri, to live in the Condit House. He’ll be the first ISU president to do so, on a full-time basis, since Landini.“I just think that a college campus without a president residing on it is kind of a hollow place,” Bradley told Tribune-Star education reporter Sue Loughlin. “It makes campus a different place when the president lives there.”Bradley hasn’t even officially taken office yet, with the board of trustees expected to approve his hiring on July 9, but he’s already made an impressive decision. It can’t be written off as merely symbolic. The Bradleys will actually be living on campus, along with the 3,000 resident students. When problems arise, President Bradley will be easy to find.The students will notice, said Newton, who emphasized his strong support for the past two presidents who chose to live off campus — John Moore, who succeeded Landini in 1992, and Lloyd Benjamin, whose eight-year stint officially ends Monday.“The students would see it more so than anyone else, that they’re in this thing together — not only within the campus community, but the community of Terre Haute,” said Newton, now in his 35th year as an ISU staffer.With a young family, Moore briefly lived in the Condit House when his presidency began, while their home south of Terre Haute was being built. The Condit House had its living quarters converted into administrative offices, while also maintaining a museum-like atmosphere. When Benjamin succeeded Moore in 2000, Condit House kept that mix of office space and artifacts as Benjamin also chose a house south of Terre Haute.Actually, only two other ISU presidents — Landini and his predecessor, Alan Rankin — ever resided in Condit House.The home was built in 1860, five years before ISU was founded, and contains historical items and furnishings left by Helen Condit. Today, it is registered as an Historic American Building with the U.S. Library of Congress and the Smithsonian Institution. Helen Condit called that Italianate structure home her entire life, from 1874 to 1962.“She basically lived her life here, and watched the campus grow up around her,” said Teresa Exline, university spokesperson.After Condit’s death, it was given to ISU, and became its Office of Alumni Affairs until 1966, when the university’s new president decided to live there. The rear portion of the building was expanded. The Rankins hosted teas for student groups, receptions for dignitaries, and distinguished alumni gatherings, Newton recalled.“It was their home,” he said.When Rankin retired and Landini and his family arrived in 1975, they also made that spot on campus their home.It’s significant that Bradley, currently the president of Fairmont State University in West Virginia, will revive that tradition. ISU is in the midst of regrouping itself after a tumultuous period as the school struggled to curb a declining enrollment, mend divisions between administration and faculty, and plot a new, distinct niche among the state’s public colleges.At the very least, Bradley’s plan to live on campus boosts morale. It begins a tighter bond between the president, the faculty, the students and Terre Haute.“It’s kind of reassuring the president trusts the city enough and the people on campus enough” to live there, said Charles Parker, an ISU junior from Youngstown, Ohio.“I think it allows the president to have a closer feel to the campus,” said Parker, a 25-year-old pre-pharmacy major.The building already has security equipment, which will be reassessed as it transforms back into a residence, Exline explained. Some other renovation will also be necessary as those administrative offices, including Exline’s, move to an undetermined location.On Wednesday afternoon last week, Benjamin sorted through papers in his Condit House office and wrapped up his last working day as president. He said Bradley’s plan to live in the Condit House “can be done. It’s certainly a grand place.”The incoming president’s choice to reside in that “grand place” enhances the possibility that more people will use that same phrase to describe ISU.


Indiana State Football Alumni Notes and Quotes

--The ISU football alumni feedback to the newsletter concerning the recent announcement that former Washington State quarterback signee Calvin Schmidtke had decided to play for the Sycamores has been decidedly positive. That type of response speaks very well for the alumni as much as it does for the faith that they have in new head coach Trent Miles and his coaching staff.

The suggestion of establishing a mentoring program for current players with help from former players is a positive step. Alums can offer their support by emailing, calling or writing the ISU football office or by emailing, calling or writing Athletic Director Ron Prettyman.

--Former Sycamores assistant football coach Doug Kay will not return as the head coach of the Arena Football League 2's Columbus Destoyers.

--Ex-ISU assistant coach Bruce Cowdrey is currently the head coach of the Peoria (Ill.) Pirates of the Arena Fotoball League 2. Cowdrey is the head coach and vice-president of football operations for the Pirates.

--James Banks, the son of former Indiana State running back James Banks, has signed a contract to play with the Calgary Stampeders of the Canadian Football League. The CFL's regular season began last week.

Banks was a standout prep quarterback at Ben Davis High School in Indianapolis, earning All-America honors, before matriculating to the University of Tennessee. He eventually concluded his collegiate career as a wide receiver at Carson-Newman College.

--Chris Kupets, the son of former ISU linebacker Mark Kupets, will be playing basketball atr East Carolina University. The younger Kupets, who's sisters Ashley and Courtney have competed on the University of Georgia's women gymnastics team, is a 5-foot-11, 170-pound point guard who played last season at the Patterson School in Lenoir, North Carolina.

Prior to that, he was a standout at Cedar Shoals High School in Georgia. Courtney Kuperts was a member of the United States' 2004 women's Olympic gymnastics team.

--And, finally, the home base of the Indiana State University Football Alumni Newsletter is finally set up in a different location. My family and I moved into a new house (new to us, but it was built in 1963) about three weeks ago. We still have plenty of unpacked boxes to go through and furniture to put away.

I have taken adavantage of the place with its spacious basement to build myself a complete office. So if any of you happen to be rolling through the area (I am now located very close to Ben Davis High School here on the west side of Indy), let me know.

One other thing. The Indianapolis Colts annual training camp will be at Rose-Hulman in Terre Haute from July 24 to August 15. I will be there in my job covering the Colts for the Terre Haute Tribune-Star. I'd like to invite as many of you as possible to stop by and watch the practices.

The camp is free to the public, although parking does cost (monies go to the Rose-Hulman athletic fund). If you do come by, look me up. A stop at the Bally would be a good nightly diversion.