Proud to be from Jay Co. (03/28/06)

To the editor:

Way back in a corner of the upstairs bedroom closet in an old plastic bag from a long gone dry-cleaner's establishment, hung an old JCHS class jacket that has been there for the better part of a quarter of a century. To be fair, mainly due to 6 years of the Southern California fitness lifestyle and working out to bulk up, and now more than 15 years of Central Indiana home cooking and a sedentary lifestyle, it no longer comes close to fitting me.

That old red white and blue jacket has had no reason to be taken out of "mothballs" until Saturday. After the little more than 100 mile trip to Lafayette, and the wonderful outcome there a week prior, I could not help but go to Conseco to see this season to it's conclusion.

We loaded up two vehicles and off we went to see a team that was not even mentioned on WIBC's Saturday Morning radio show. I attempted to call in to the host to rectify this, but after getting through to the host, I could not get on the air. I guess the 1070 AM host was overlooking our beloved JCHS Boys, however after witnessing them come from behind all post season, I did not.

My gal, who is much smaller than I, found that the old JCHS Class Jacket fit her rather well, and she looks better in it than I ever did anyway, so it made the trip on her. That old jacket has never been to any type of State level competition, so it was definitely fitting for it to make the trip to Conseco along with us.

The other teams showcased in this level of competition all had one thing in common. For the most part, they got where they were by having one or maybe even two star players. I am proud to say that with our team, that simply was not the case. They got where they were by playing as a team, and not by promoting one or two star players above the rest of the team, and in this day and age that is commendable indeed.

I could not be prouder of the boys on this team, and of our community as a whole. What a ride!! Where else but in Indiana would in excess of 32,000 fans show up for high school level basketball? They proved all of the so called experts wrong by leading the vast majority of the game, and have done us all proud. The final score may reflect a loss by a margin of 8 points, but rest assured, that does not reflect the game at all. The Trojans never led by any kind of margin like that in the whole game, and I'm confident that our boys gave them all they wanted.

All in all it was a great experience for us all here in Jay County, and I'm honored and proud to have been along for the ride. It sure was nice to have a reason to drag out that old class jacket and lets all hope that it is not another quarter of a century before it comes out of the plastic bag again.

Thanks for a wonderful season and for the memories JCHS Boys, I'll not soon forget, and I'm confident that the community will not either.

Sincerely and respectfully submitted,

James D. Fulks III

Dunkirk

Patriot proud

To the editor:

We wish to thank all the communities of Jay County for the wonderful support of the Jay County High School Patriot boys basketball team and gymnast Hannah Williams. Hannah made the school and county proud at the state gymnastics competition.

The boys basketball team is truly a team which led us to the state basketball finals. Coach Craig Teagle and all his coaches are true leaders of these fine young men. The cheerleaders provided the fantastic spirit for us all at the games and pep sessions.

Last week, we witnessed a county-wide show of support at the total district Jay School Corporation afternoon pep session. All students and staff from all 10 schools participated in the most awesome show of support for Jay County High School and the basketball team. We thank the 41 bus drivers who made the bus trips to make this happen.

We also thank Teresa Myers, transportation director, who organized the bus trips, and thank Mindy Weaver for organizing the pep session.

We thank the principals for assisting in organizing their students for the event. We thank Joni Penrod and Phil Ford for the endless hours in making sure thousands of tickets for the final game were sold for our fans. We thank the fans for their participating in the evening pep session.

Our students of all ages, our school staffs, and our fans from throughout the county made all of us very proud as we once again brought the whole county together for something positive. We have received phone calls, e-mails and letters from other individuals around the state who have told us what respectful students and adult fans we have and what positive young men and coaches we have at Jay County High School. All of us agree. Thanks Jay County for the great week.

We are proud Patriots of Jay County.

The Jay School Board of Trustees — Dr. Frank Vormohr, Greg Wellman, Bryan Alexander, Jay Halstead, Michael Shannon, Michael Masters and Doug Inman, along with Barb Downing, superintendent[[In-content Ad]]