WHERE WERE YOU ON MARCH 17, 1962?

Some of us were in Indianapolis attending the IHSAA Boys Basketball State Championship game being played at Butler Fieldhouse (now Hinkle Fieldhouse) on the campus of Butler University.  Hopefully, the rest of us were listening to the game on radio.  I don’t remember if the championship game was televised in 1962.  I don’t remember seeing any TV cameras at the ballgame.  What a happening!  I suspect right now some of you are having memories of the game and events surrounding the game.

Since 1962, we’ve all gone our separate ways.  Thanks to Jackie Grimmer Crowley and her reunion planning committee (too numerous to list here), our class has had a reunion every five years starting with the summer of 1972.  Did you know that Gary Grieger was inducted into the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame in March 2007?  I didn’t.  Did you know that Jerry Southwood was also inducted into the Hall of Fame in March, 2011?  Neither did I know.

Because of the meetings, this summer, of the “Class of ’62, 50th Reunion Planning Committee” (50-RPC) to plan our 50th reunion for next October, our committee discovered that on March 21, 2012, the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame will hold its annual Hall of Fame Banquet (HOFB) at which time it will “introduce and recognize” the school and the team celebrating the Golden Jubilee Year of its State Basketball Championship!  Wow!!  Our reunion planning group did not want this event to go unannounced!!  We discovered that Gary was developing plans to get the members of the team, including the players, managers, coaches and cheerleaders, to come to Indy for this HOFB event on March 20th and 21st.

Jackie and I contacted Gary.  We stated that we wanted to come to Indy and “cheer for them” when they “get introduced, etc.”  Gary was appreciative of our interest but was cautious in wanting us to realize that the introduction of the team is only about a 2-3 minute event, that the main focus of the HOFB  is on the “new inductees for 2012 ”, who get to give speeches.  Our response to Gary was that we felt we needed to tell our class, and the Class of 1963 about this event.  We, our reunion planning committee, felt like our class would want to give our basketball team “one more cheer”!!  We offered to hold a reception for the team and any class members who wanted to attend.   On October 4th, I met Gary and his wife in Indianapolis.  We visited three hotels.  We discussed the pros and cons of various locations for a reception.

Finally, we asked Gary and the team to arrange their agenda so that we can participate in all or some of the events, per each individual’s choice, except not the team dinner on the evening of March 20th.  Our 50-RPC told Gary that the team dinner on the night of March 20th needed to be just for the team, that they need that time just for themselves.  So, read the attached AGENDA and decide what events you will attend.

You will find more attached documents which include (1) response INSTRUCTIONS for you to follow, and (2) a CHECK LIST of the events you will attend.  I will need for you to return the check-list to me ASAP so that Jackie and I can communicate with Gary and the Class of ’63 by December 1st.  We must be able to communicate with the hotel, by mid-December, that we will have enough people staying at the hotel to guarantee the minimum rate that they have offered (the $149 + taxes rate).  If our numbers are low, the daily room rate may increase.  So, please read the attached documents and join us if you can for a great time (again) in Indy….. 50 years later!!!!!  Do you believe that fifty years have passed since we were first celebrating this championship???

Thanks for taking time to read and consider all of this information.  We have tried to plan something special to capture the moment.  Please let me hear from you.

Jerry Liggett      jdliggett@frontier.com                                                                              
P.O. Box 266    Carlisle, IN  47838-0266