Another Leininger Leads Team To Indianapolis
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
She and her teammates certainly have enough material for a scrapbook of their own, and now Warsaw girls basketball standout Jaclyn Leininger says she wants to see her grandfather's.
Though time has probably taken its toll on Kermit Leininger's scrapbook, yellowing the pages and such, its content is as colorful as ever.
Seventy years ago, 20 years before Indiana legend Bobby Plump and tiny Milan High School won the boys basketball state championship, Kermit Leininger helped lead pint-sized Beaver Dam High School to back-to-back state finals appearances at Butler Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.
Jaclyn Leininger said Wednesday she didn't know exactly where Beaver Dam is, or that her grandfather's graduating class had but 12 students and the entire school just 50, but she certainly knows where her grandfather will be Saturday.
Like he has been so many times before, 87-year-old Kermit Leininger will be in the stands cheering for his granddaughter, who along with her Tiger teammates play fifth-ranked Indianapolis North Central, the school with the state's second-largest enrollment, for the Class 4A state championship at Conseco Fieldhouse.
The game follows the 3A contest between Indianapolis Brebeuf and Fort Wayne Luers and is slated to tip off around 8:30 p.m.
"It means so much," Jaclyn Leininger said when asked about her grandfather, who is legally blind, being at the games. "Not only because he comes to the games, but because you can tell how much he enjoys it."
While he's heard comments about how smooth his granddaughter is on the court, and how sweet her jump shot looks, being legally blind Kermit Leininger has trouble seeing his granddaughter play.
"I can't tell her from the rest of the kids," said Kermit Leininger, whose wife Maxine graduated two years behind him at Beaver Dam, in a phone conversation Wednesday afternoon. "My wife will say 'that's Jaclyn,' but I can't pick her out. So what I like to do is take my little walkman and listen to 107.3. They do a good job telling me what's going on."
What's going on is a magical season for Jaclyn Leininger and the second-ranked Tigers, who have set school records for number of games played in a season, games won in a season, and championships won in a season.
Warsaw enters Saturday's state title showdown with a 26-2 record and have already won seven team championships, including the Lady Tiger Tournament, Hall of Fame Classic, NLC Holiday Tournament, NLC regular season, Warsaw Sectional, Huntington Regional and the Warsaw Semistate.
Saturday the Tigers play for the biggest team championship, and Kermit Leininger's granddaughter is a big reason for that.
Jaclyn Leininger scored 23 points Saturday in the semistate championship game against a Valparaiso defense that gave up just 32 points per game. Her final four points came in overtime, where she hit two free throws with nine seconds left to lift Warsaw to a 53-51 victory.
"She's not a bad free throw shooter," said Kermit Leininger. "I had faith in her. We used to shoot free throws underhanded. When I played we didn't shoot as many free throws."
Times have certainly changed since Kermit Leininger suited up for coach Walter Kindy, the tournament is no longer winner-takes-all rather a four-class system.
No longer is there a jump ball after each score. And guards, the position that Kermit Leininger played and now the position his granddaughter plays, score more points.
A good game for a guard back then, Kermit Leininger said, was 10 points.
Entering Saturday's battle with No. 5 North Central, Jaclyn Leininger averages 25.5 points per game. The 6-foot, Miami of Ohio-bound Miss Basketball candidate shoots 55 percent from the field, 85 percent from the free throw line, and 56 percent from the three-point line - something that didn't exist in her grandpa's playing days.
"It's a lot faster and more wide open," said Kermit Leininger. "Back in my day we didn't have jump shots, we called them set shots. Now the game is faster and more complicated."
As different as the game is, the dream is the same.
And Kermit Leininger will be in Indianapolis again Saturday, in a fieldhouse with the state championship on the line.
The very school that 70 years ago he and his teammates beat for the sectional title, no doubt Kermit Leininger will be cheering for Warsaw Saturday.
*See Friday's edition for a game preview [[In-content Ad]]
She and her teammates certainly have enough material for a scrapbook of their own, and now Warsaw girls basketball standout Jaclyn Leininger says she wants to see her grandfather's.
Though time has probably taken its toll on Kermit Leininger's scrapbook, yellowing the pages and such, its content is as colorful as ever.
Seventy years ago, 20 years before Indiana legend Bobby Plump and tiny Milan High School won the boys basketball state championship, Kermit Leininger helped lead pint-sized Beaver Dam High School to back-to-back state finals appearances at Butler Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.
Jaclyn Leininger said Wednesday she didn't know exactly where Beaver Dam is, or that her grandfather's graduating class had but 12 students and the entire school just 50, but she certainly knows where her grandfather will be Saturday.
Like he has been so many times before, 87-year-old Kermit Leininger will be in the stands cheering for his granddaughter, who along with her Tiger teammates play fifth-ranked Indianapolis North Central, the school with the state's second-largest enrollment, for the Class 4A state championship at Conseco Fieldhouse.
The game follows the 3A contest between Indianapolis Brebeuf and Fort Wayne Luers and is slated to tip off around 8:30 p.m.
"It means so much," Jaclyn Leininger said when asked about her grandfather, who is legally blind, being at the games. "Not only because he comes to the games, but because you can tell how much he enjoys it."
While he's heard comments about how smooth his granddaughter is on the court, and how sweet her jump shot looks, being legally blind Kermit Leininger has trouble seeing his granddaughter play.
"I can't tell her from the rest of the kids," said Kermit Leininger, whose wife Maxine graduated two years behind him at Beaver Dam, in a phone conversation Wednesday afternoon. "My wife will say 'that's Jaclyn,' but I can't pick her out. So what I like to do is take my little walkman and listen to 107.3. They do a good job telling me what's going on."
What's going on is a magical season for Jaclyn Leininger and the second-ranked Tigers, who have set school records for number of games played in a season, games won in a season, and championships won in a season.
Warsaw enters Saturday's state title showdown with a 26-2 record and have already won seven team championships, including the Lady Tiger Tournament, Hall of Fame Classic, NLC Holiday Tournament, NLC regular season, Warsaw Sectional, Huntington Regional and the Warsaw Semistate.
Saturday the Tigers play for the biggest team championship, and Kermit Leininger's granddaughter is a big reason for that.
Jaclyn Leininger scored 23 points Saturday in the semistate championship game against a Valparaiso defense that gave up just 32 points per game. Her final four points came in overtime, where she hit two free throws with nine seconds left to lift Warsaw to a 53-51 victory.
"She's not a bad free throw shooter," said Kermit Leininger. "I had faith in her. We used to shoot free throws underhanded. When I played we didn't shoot as many free throws."
Times have certainly changed since Kermit Leininger suited up for coach Walter Kindy, the tournament is no longer winner-takes-all rather a four-class system.
No longer is there a jump ball after each score. And guards, the position that Kermit Leininger played and now the position his granddaughter plays, score more points.
A good game for a guard back then, Kermit Leininger said, was 10 points.
Entering Saturday's battle with No. 5 North Central, Jaclyn Leininger averages 25.5 points per game. The 6-foot, Miami of Ohio-bound Miss Basketball candidate shoots 55 percent from the field, 85 percent from the free throw line, and 56 percent from the three-point line - something that didn't exist in her grandpa's playing days.
"It's a lot faster and more wide open," said Kermit Leininger. "Back in my day we didn't have jump shots, we called them set shots. Now the game is faster and more complicated."
As different as the game is, the dream is the same.
And Kermit Leininger will be in Indianapolis again Saturday, in a fieldhouse with the state championship on the line.
The very school that 70 years ago he and his teammates beat for the sectional title, no doubt Kermit Leininger will be cheering for Warsaw Saturday.
*See Friday's edition for a game preview [[In-content Ad]]