Former Indiana University Diving Coach Hobie Billingsley passes away at age 94
Indiana University Athletics and its swimming and diving program is saddened to share the passing of legendary IU and USA Diving coach Hobie Billingsley on Saturday (July 16) morning. He was 94. Billingsley’s legacy is that of one of the most important and influential personalities to grace the sport of diving while earning the reputation as one of the sport’s greatest ever coaches. Billingsley coached at Indiana from 1959-89, winning six NCAA and 23 Big Ten team championships in that span. He coached individuals that combined for 115 national titles, 22 Big Ten Championships, and six Olympic medalists. For Team USA, Billingsley coached the 1968, 1972, 1976, and 1980 Olympic teams. He returned to the games in 1992 and 1996 as a diving judge, and in 1996 also had the honor of reciting the Olympic Oath.
An outstanding diver himself, Billingsley earned All-America honors at Ohio State in 1945 and then again from 1948-50. As a freshman, Billingsley won NCAA titles on both the 1-meter and 3-meter springboards. As a Buckeye, Billingsley competed alongside teammate Doc Counsilman, who would later become his swimming counterpart at IU. The coaching duo shares the namesake of the current IU swimming and diving facility, the Counsilman-Billingsley Aquatics Center. Following his freshman season at Ohio State, Billingsley joined the Armed Forces and served in Japan during World War II. Billingsley is a member or the International Swimming Hall of Fame (1983), Indiana University Athletics Hall of Fame (1994) and in 1994 was presented the Sammy Lee Award, the most prestigious award in the world for the sport of diving.
2022 Monroe County Sports Hall Fame Class inducted at Monroe Convention Center
The 2022 Monroe County Sports Hall of Fame Class was inducted Friday Night at the Monroe Convention Center in Downtown Bloomington. The first class was inducted in 2011 and a total of 127 representing 16 Sports have been inducted into the hall of fame as Athletes, Coaches, Contributors and Humanitarians. 75 Scholar Athletes have been honored with 1 female and 1 male from Bloomington North, Bloomington South and Edgewood getting a $ 1,000 Scholarship since 2011. There is a plaque respresenting each class of the Monroe County Sports Hall of Fame located in Fountian Square Mall in Downtown Bloomington.
This year’s class Included Jerry Blackwell, Ron Brinegar, Amy Crozier Chris Lawson, Ike Martin, and Clarie Schaffer as athletes. Coaches Bob Jones and Grier Warner, along with Contributors Al Gallo and Jim Jackson. Brinegar who passed away in 2019 at age 78 was represented by two of his sons along with his wife talked about how humble he was and did not talk about his athletic achievements. They read letters from his teammates who talked about what a great teammate he was and read letter from Brinegar himself before he passed away about what a great life he has had and thankful for that have been in it.
The rest of inductees spoke about opportunity, surrounding yourself with great people to help you succeed and thanked their family and friends for all the love and support. Al Gallo who turned 92 on Saturday was given a toast by crowd before he spoke and a standing ovation. There were 20 pervious inductees on hand to help escort the new inductees to the stage. President David Hays welcomed the crowd and officially declared the 10-member class hall of famers at the end of the night. 50 Year Radio play by play voice of Monroe County Joe Smith was the master of ceremonies. Over three hundred attended the banquet and it was another successful night and memorable evening for the Monroe County Sports Hall of Fame.
Indiana Cutters beat Southern Ohio Blaze 9-7 on a hail mary touchdown pass
The Indiana Cutters Semi Pro Football team beat the Southern Ohio Blaze 9-7 at Martinsville HS Saturday night in one of the wildest finishes you will ever see. The Cutters led 3-0 with 3:59 left before halftime when Dre Adkins hit a 36-yard field goal. The score would remain 3-0 until 18.9 seconds left in the game when the Blaze scored on a 6-yard touchdown pass and added the extra point to make 7-3. Marcus Dunbar returned a kick 13 yards from the Blaze 45-yard line to the 32 giving the Cutters a chance to win the game. Travis Griffey threw an incompletion to Isaiah Moore and Cutters called their final timeout with 6.2 seconds left. Griffey rolled to his left and took off running and was able to get space to throw a bomb to the back of the end zone where Bloomington South Grad Luke Elgar jumped up and was able to catch and come down with it with both feet in bounds with no time left. Once the official signaled the touchdown the Cutters Bench ran to the end zone to celebrate with Elgar as the Cutters improved to 3-3 on the season while the Blaze fall to 4-1 and these two teams meet July 30, in Cincinnati.
The Cutters ran the ball 49 times for 199 yards. Marquise Holt had 19 carries for 76 while Torrell Williamson had 13 carries for 49 yards. Travis Griffey had 10 Carries for 48 yards, Noah Ponce had five carries for 15 yards. Isaiah Moore had 1 carry for 10 yards and Terrell Anderson had 1 carry for 1 yard. Turnovers where an issue for the Cutters has had 3 fumbles an interception along with 2 turnovers on downs and a missed field goal. Griffey was 5-10 passing for 40 yards as 32 of those went to Eglar on the final play. Isaiah Moore had 3 receptions for 11 yards. The Cutters had negative four passing yards at half but ran for 116 rushing yards going into the locker room.
Tay Wells had a fumble recovery and a sack. Dan Ricksy had his first fumble recovery of the season and DJ Clayton got his first interception of the season for the Cutters. The Blaze had 16 carries for 66 yards rushing and two fumbles, 12-29 passing for 127 yards with a touchdown and interception. The Cutters will host there rivals the Indiana Tornados in the final regular season home game at Martinsville HS this Saturday at 6 pm.
Indiana University Women’s Basketball Freshman Yarden Garzon leads Israel to 3rd place in U20 European Championships
Indiana University Women’s Basketball Freshman Yarden Garzon scored 25 points and pulled down 14 rebounds as Israel beat Slovenia 84-62 in the 3rd place game of the FIBA Under 20 European Division B Championships in Skopje North Macedonia Sunday. Israel finished 5-1 losing in the Semifinals to Montenegro 81-71. Garzon scored double figures in all six games. Garzon played 186 Minutes, scored 120 points for a 20 points per game average. She pulled down 44 rebounds, dished out 23 assists, 16 steals and 3 blocks.
Fellow Freshman Henna Sandvik scored 13 points and pulled down 10 rebounds in 34 minutes as Finland beat Latvia 70-64 for ninth place in the FIBA Under 20 European Division A Championships in Sopron Hungary on Saturday. Sandvik played a total of 217 minutes in all 7 games. Sandvik scored 92 points for 13.1 points per game average. Sandvik pulled down 61 rebounds, dished out 9 assists, 5 blocks and 3 steals along with two double-doubles. Finland finished with a 3-4 record in the tournament.
Sophomore Mona Zaric scored 4 points in 18 minutes as Serbia fell to Poland 70-57 in the 7th place game Saturday. Zaric played 142 minutes in all seven games scoring 58 points for 8.3 points per game average. Zaric pulled down 20 rebounds, 6 steals and 5 blocks. Serbia finished with a 3-4 record in the tournament.
Indianapolis Indians Coverage
Indians Lose Two at Columbus Rained out Sunday
The Indianapolis Indians lost to the Columbus Clippers 9-7 Friday Night and 4-2 Saturday evening. The Indians lose the series 4-2 as Columbus won the final four games of the series to improve to 51-38 on the season while the Indians fell to 41-46. The series finale Sunday evening was postponed due to inclement weather. The game will be made up as part of a doubleheader at Huntington Park on Tuesday, Sept. 27.
The Indians will begin the All-Star break tomorrow before returning to Victory Field on Friday, July 22 at 7:05pm to begin a three-game series vs. the St. Paul Saints. Friday Fireworks, MARVEL Super Hero™ Night with Thanos and Kids Eat Free Sunday highlight the July 22-24 homestand.
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