Pacers Sports and Entertainment, parent company of the NBA Indiana Pacers and WNBA Indiana Fever along with other entities, announced six upper level promotions around the first of the year. Of interest to us is that two of them are originally from the Sidney area. I just discovered this and wish I could have shared it sooner.
1990 Sidney grad Todd Taylor has been with the Pacers for 11 years including the prior two as Executive Vice-President of Marketing and Ticketing. He’s now the President and Chief Commercial Officer of those and other facets of the business. Taylor previously worked in major league hockey, basketball, and baseball before arriving in Indy.
1997 Lehman Catholic alum Andy Arnold is a facilities and event specialist who’s been with PS&E for about seven years. He’s now the Senior VP of Facilities Operations and Event Productions. In other words, when their home arena is converted overnight from basketball to rodeo, Andy is the “go to guy.” He was vitally involved with the NCAA basketball Final Four and the Super Bowl in Indianapolis before his Pacers tenure.
Full disclosure…I used to be in Cub Scouts with Andy’s late father, Scott.
Bassmasters
Weekly Thursday evening bass fishing tournaments remain a Lake Loramie tradition of the Shelby County Bassmasters. I like to attend their weigh-in at least once a year, pending nice weather, to see what’s happening. Eight days ago I made my visit to the western launch area of the lake, very close to the Shelby-Auglaize County line.
17 boats of one or two fishermen participated and 48 fish with a minimum “footlong” length were weighed in around 9pm. All were released alive. The largest was three pounds five ounces, and I was told that the tourney’s “big bass” is normally in the range of three to four pounds. That week’s biggest fish was caught by Tony Daniels who resides just north of Lake Loramie.
Me & TV
Television continues to help me learn about lots of things including but not exclusive to sports. However, the sports domain often remains front and center. Recently I viewed a documentary that enhanced the context of Jackie Robinson breaking baseball’s color barrier with the Brooklyn Dodgers back in 1947.
Robinson’s first major league tryout was actually with the Boston Red Sox in 1945 which is ironic since they were the last MLB team to integrate some 14 years later. In fact, the Boston Bruins hockey team had a Black player in 1958 before the baseball club finally added Pumpsie Green in 1959.
SHS baseball origin
Back in 1913 the Sidney High School “Reflector” (yearbook) talked about the school’s athletic program including the sport of baseball. However popular it was throughout the area and region, it didn’t gain traction at SHS for almost half a century thereafter.
Quoting the 1913 Reflector…”Base ball, it seems, does not interest the student body, and so they will not support it. There are several good players, enough to have a good team.”
Sidney High finally got baseball some 48 years later in 1961, once Custenborder Field was completed. Good talent was already in place and a district title was won in 1963 when the Yellow Jackets got to play the regional at Crosley Field, home of the Cincinnati Reds.
