Bishop removed as
PGA of America LEADER
On the evening of Oct. 23, PGA of America president Ted Bishop sent a tweet — followed by a Facebook post — that seemed innocent enough to him.
Within minutes, he realized how wrong he was.
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Less than 24 hours later, he was no longer the leader of the PGA of America.
In a stunning fall from grace that made global headlines, Bishop — the organization’s 38th president — was removed from office by the PGA on Oct. 24. The Franklin resident had only 29 days remaining in his two-year term.
Bishop, general manager and director of golf at The Legends Golf Club in Franklin, was voted out for social media comments directed at English pro golfer Ian Poulter that were widely regarded as sexist. The remarks were in response to Poulter’s criticism of 2014 U.S. Ryder Cup captain Tom Watson — hand-picked by Bishop — for his leadership during the Americans’ humbling loss against the Europeans in Gleneagles, Scotland, in September.
Poulter made disparaging remarks about Watson — a six-time majors champion — in a book, to which Bishop first responded in a tweet: “Yours vs. His? Lil Girl.” A short time later, he wrote on Facebook: “Sounds like a little school girl squealing during recess. C’MON MAN!”
Cognizant of his mistake, Bishop — the center of a roiling criticism storm — appealed to the PGA to allow him to issue a public apology, an appeal he said was ignored. Instead of trying to rehabilitate its president’s image and salvage his final month in office, the PGA voted to remove him — the first
time it has taken that dramatic step in its 98-year history.
With his removal, Bishop was stripped of all privileges afforded past presidents, including the title of honorary president and a voice in future PGA business.
Night to remember
for Franklin wrestling
On Feb. 22 at Bankers Life Fieldhouse, the Franklin Community High School wrestling team had the best-ever showing by a local school at the IHSAA State Meet.
By the time the night was over, the Grizzly Cubs had two state champions in D.J. Smith (113 pounds) and Jake Stevenson (170) and the Mental Attitude Award winner in Skyler Lykins.
But that wasn’t all. Connor Tolley finished third at 220 pounds; Lykins was sixth at 138; and the Cubs finished runner-up in the final team standings.
The second-place finish was the highest-ever by a Johnson County school.
FORMER LOCAL PLAYERS WELCOMED INTO HALL
On Dec. 2, the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame announced the enshrinement of not one, not two, but three local titans of the golden age of Hoosier Hysteria.
Those men are Greenwood’s John Bass, voted the state’s third Mr. Basketball in 1941; Edinburgh’s Bill Depp, a 1957 graduate who went on to star at Vanderbilt; and Franklin College’s Roger Schroder, a 1958 graduate who was a guard on the 1954 state championship Milan basketball team.
Bass, who declined offers to play professionally, was a four-year standout who helped the Woodmen end county rival Franklin’s phenomenal run of 22 straight sectional championships. Depp, who declined an offer to play for the Boston Celtics after being drafted in the third round, still holds the county record for highest-career scoring average at 25.7; and Schroder played basketball and baseball at Franklin before embarking on a successful 22-year coaching career.
All three men are part of the induction class
of 2015.
EDDS TRAVELS tough road back to CAREER IN NFL
His NFL career twice derailed by
knee injuries, and seemingly over two years ago, A.J. Edds did not give up on his dream.
Instead, the former Greenwood Community High School star continued, rehabbing, working and networking and began earning an NFL paycheck for the first time in two seasons when he made the New York Jets’ active roster in August.
In many ways an improbable achievement for a 27-year-old linebacker who hadn’t played in two years, Edds originally signed with the Jets in May.
Although he was released on the last day of training camp, he was re-signed within days and saw special teams action until he was released on Oct. 28.
Even then, he didn’t give up.
Signed by Jacksonville on Dec. 3, he finished the season with the Jaguars.
TROJAN EXPERIENCEs HIGH OF WINNING TITLE IN LOWS
On June 7, Center Grove senior Justin Veteto won the 300-meter intermediate hurdles title at the IHSAA Boys Track and Field State Finals.
He did so with a time of 36.85 seconds, the fourth-fastest time in state meet history.
On the same night, Veteto finished second in the 110 high hurdles and anchored the
final leg of the Trojans’ fourth-place
1,600 relay team.
Largely behind the strength of those performances, Center Grove finished third in the team standings.
Veteto, who’s continuing his career at Purdue, was selected the Daily Journal’s Male
Athlete of the Year for 2013-14.
Former BRAVES star sprints to NCAA finals
Katie Wise, a junior on the Indiana State University women’s track and field team, firmly established herself as one of the nation’s top sprinters at the 2014 NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships.
The former IHSAA state champion from Indian Creek earned All-American honors with a fifth-place finish in the 60 meters.
Wise was also the Missouri Valley Conference champion in the 60 and 200 sprints. Her personal-best time of 24.04 in the 200 is the third-fastest in school history.
Sister act: GREENWOOD TWINS TERRIFIC ON COURT
One year after her twin sister won the IHSAA state singles championship, Greenwood’s Jade Kawamoto finished runner-up at the June 14 state finals.
The Woodmen’s No. 2 singles player her junior year, she swapped positions with her sister Jackie and was undefeated heading into
the final.
Kawamoto lost a hard-fought 6-4, 6-4 match against unbeaten Denise Azcui from
Bloomington South.
Jade and Jackie are continuing their careers
at the University of Dayton.
FRANKLIN SOFTBALL TEAM ENJOYS DIAMOND SUCCESS
Unranked heading into postseason, the Franklin Community High School softball team established itself as one of the state’s best by the time it ended.
Overshadowed in a Class 4A sectional field that included No. 5 New Palestine, No. 6 Greenwood, No. 8 Franklin Central and four-time state champion Center Grove, the Grizzly Cubs vanquished Whiteland, Franklin Central and New Palestine en route to their first sectional title in 15 years.
Franklin then ran into Bloomington South at the Center Grove Regional, where it lost a 1-0 heartbreaker in a classic pitchers duel against the eventual state champion Panthers.
Franklin pitcher Olivia Paszek retired the first 14 Bloomington South batters, but the Panthers’ Olivia White wound up retiring 21 of 22 Cubs in picking up a one-hit victory.
The Cubs finished 17-10.
Back to semistate
For the fourth straight year, and for the sixth time in the past seven, the Class 6A Center Grove football team advanced to the semistate round of the state tournament.
Regrouping from an uncharacteristic 1-3 start, the Trojans rode an eight-game winning streak into the Nov. 14 showdown against Ben Davis.
Despite jumping to an early lead, the Trojans couldn’t weather a furious second-half rally by the eventual state champion Giants, who won a 49-45 thriller in the closing minutes.
Grizzlies roar again
Despite heavy graduation losses, the Franklin College football team — for an unprecedented fifth straight time — won the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference championship and advanced to the NCAA Division III playoffs.
The unranked Grizzles, who have reached the postseason seven times in past eight years, lost 33-14 at No. 14 Wabash in the first round.
Franklin’s senior quarterback Grant Welp, one the nation’s passing leaders, was voted the HCAC’s Most Valuable Offensive Player.
