A Little Pride In The ‘Memorials’Not long ago I was passing through Pierceton, waiting to turn left from Ind. 13 onto US?30 to head to Fort Wayne. I looked at the southwest corner of the intersection, and thought “that sign has been there a while.”
It was the sign commemorating Whitko’s 1986 2A football state championship.
Don’t get me wrong; I understand if I’d been standing next to a federal and state highway intersection, facing into the north wind in the winter and keeping my post in the summer sun, I’d look a lot worse than the sign.
Now, before I continue, may I say I made a point to look on my way to work Friday for the sign on Ind. 15 on the north side of town celebrating the girls basketball state champions of yesteryear. Warsaw won the first and third titles of the kind in 1976 and 1978, and the Tigers boys state title from 1984 was also on that sign.
It had stood twisted for several years, and Friday I noticed it was gone. I’d looked for it several times, but that whole “pay attention to what I’m doing” thing made me wonder if I had just missed it. Honestly, I wondered that a lot. I wouldn’t be surprised to learn it finally got knocked down while snow was plowed; it looked pretty fragile the last time I remember seeing it.
Finally, I’ll admit, I’ve not been to Akron but twice, just passing through both times, and one of those was because the road I wanted to take was closed because of a traffic accident. But I’ve been through Mentone several times from every direction, and I can’t tell you if there’s a sign celebrating Tippecanoe Valley’s 1980 1A football title or the 1978 runner-up. It might be out there someplace; I just can’t prove it.
Or Valley’s run to Indianapolis and the 3A title game just four years ago.
For that matter, I don’t see any signs around Syracuse, Milford or North Webster marking the 2005 4A football runner-up team; a squad many claim was the best public school team in 4A that year. In 2007, the Wawasee girls basketball team finished second. No proof of that around town.
Now, it’s possible some of those runner-up teams would, collectively, rather not celebrate finishing second. I get that. I disagree, but I understand. Anyone who’s done it knows how hard it is, and those of us who follow remember with huge smiles the magical time those runs through the tournament created. I was privileged enough to cover all but the state title game when Valley’s girls made their run four years ago; and I opted out of the trip to Indy to watch my own kids play ball.
After having said all that, I wouldn’t think it wise to spend taxpayer money to place, or replace, such signs. But those signs need to go up, or be updated, so they look good in perpetuity.
Last summer, I drove alone to my hometown (my family had flown in advance to help with wedding prep) and took a less-traveled road, Ind. 25 through Wingate, Indiana. The sign marking the 1913 and 1914 boys basketball state champions still looked pretty good, and I’m sure it had been updated at some point over the previous century.
Here’s hoping some civic or booster groups read this and think to themselves “some new signs would be pretty cool.” Here in the 21st century, there are a lot of possibilities for such things.
But it might be a good idea to hold off on placements for US 30 for a while, to see how that works around Warsaw.
And maybe add a little something about who Max Truex was. Having an Olympian from your town is a pretty big deal, and I hadf to ask.
On Memorial Day
Something else I believe worthwhile might be some sort of a memorial garden to honor a school’s alumni who gave the ultimate sacrifice in defense of our country. In addition to honoring that sacrifice, such a place at a high school could also serve to remind future generations, at a time in their lives when they tend to think they are invincible, that what they have before them is a gift that shouldn’t be squandered.
