County tour of open houses

Myself and my wife Emily (left) pose for a photo with new Shakamak alumna JaLee Webb (middle).

I have been covering high school sports in our state for about a decade but Saturday was a little special for me. The class of 2023 was the first class of kids I felt close too.

At my previous newspapers, I had too many schools, too many kids I was watching play sports. In Indianapolis, most kids play one sport. In Greene County, you can see the same kid play three sports a season for four years.

The result was Saturday where I traveled to a few open houses for the first time locally for new graduates.

The first was JaLee Webb at Shakamak. Webb played basketball for the Lady Lakers and was always surprised when I found time to cover her team. In January, Webb asked me why I went to her game when Linton was playing a boys game 10 minutes away. I think about it every time someone thinks I have a Linton bias. She will go Indiana State and will probably end up being an athletic trainer helping Shakamak in the future.

Next was Jackie Smith at Dugger Union. Those who think Dugger students are kids who were troubled or were failing elsewhere have never met Smith. She was involved in everything at the school so I saw her in three sports plus color guard and dance team. I don’t know how she did all that. She is proof talented students graduate at Dugger.

I went to Linton to meet up with Nathan Frady. If I were to make a list of my top 10 friends in Greene County Nathan Frady would be in there. The number of high school students who have his maturity and composure has to be less than one percent. I have watched Frady play four different sports at this point. Seeing him go from the student section to suddenly playing football in the middle of the season was one the biggest surprises I have had in my time covering sports. Frady used to get nervous when interviewed by the media but has turned into a great quote.

Kylie Cooksey is another Linton athlete I have seen play so many different sports. She is going to play college softball but I still think volleyball is her best sport. One of my goals as sports editor is to try and cover the girls in their sports as much as the boys. People like Cooksey, Webb and Smith always let me know they appreciated the effort.

I saw Addi Pyne and Grace Habich of Linton’s cheer teams. Habich had a display of every net she cut down with the boys basketball team over the years. She could open up a Linton sports museum.

Finally, I saw Wrigley Franklin, another multisport star. His family appreciated my coverage and little brother, Tyler Franklin, kept telling me how much he enjoyed my videos and “Low Budget Sports Show” this past year. Wigley had all his football, basketball and track jerseys on display. If he ever opens a restaurant in town, Franklin will have no shortage of wall decor from his high school days to choose from.

As a cheapskate on a journalist budget, I printed out a collage of action photos for the recent grads I saw. My apologies to Campbell Holler at Shakamak as I could not get to her open house.

The day of open houses made me appreciate the hard work these grads did the past few years. It’s one thing to graduate, it’s another to do so while being busy with extra curriculars.

Nathan Pace is the Sports Editor at the Greene County Daily World and can be reached at npace@gcdailyworld.com. His “Low Budget Sports Show” airs weekly on Facebook Live.