Death, Sports Cross Paths Again
September 20, 2017 at 3:40 p.m.
By Roger Grossman-
This week has been a hard reminder of that.
Triton is in the middle of one its best starts ever in football (4-1). Its only loss is to Marshall County rival Bremen.
Sunday, the Trojans lost something so much more valuable.
Word began to spread of a crash in northwest Kosciusko County, and we found out later that crash claimed the life of junior football player Cameron Scarberry.
The Triton community has been a special part of my life since I was born. The church my family attended in Tippecanoe while I was growing up was primarily made up of Triton families.
In high school, my best pal Bob and I used to hang out at DeNelli’s Pizza and Dairy Queen with our Triton friends (whose names I will not mention in case they would be embarrassed to be associated with us!). We went to their home football games on Friday nights and we got invited to their dances. We met for pizza in Plymouth after the Argos-Triton basketball games.
I like Triton people so much I married one!
Triton people are family, and that family is hurting SO very much right now.
There is not enough space on these pages or ink in the whole world to write words that will take that pain away. All I can offer are these: “I am so sorry. I love you all. My heart is broken for you,and I won’t stop praying for you.”
I will say this, though, for a school corporation spread out over three small towns, it’s pretty tight. Triton will mourn, but then it will dig in, lock arms and show us all what “community” really means.
And we will all be there alongside you, Triton, every step of the way.
Some 36 hours after that fatal crash, the Tippecanoe Valley School Board voted to officially rename their football field “Smith-Bibler Memorial Field—Home of Death Valley Football.”
It’s named after Charlie Smith, the founder of Valley football and coach of their state title team four decades ago; and Scott Bibler, who coached the Vikings to several very successful seasons after Smith, and who was beloved by the Valley community. Both were killed in a plane crash on their way to a Notre Dame football game at Clemson University two years ago.
That part of the new name is easy to explain.
But the second part requires a little history lesson.
When Tippecanoe Valley Schools formed in the 1970s, it experienced an unprecedented, immediate success in high school athletics. When you combine several small-town schools into one corporation like Valley did, it usually takes years to rid itself of old rivalries so it can start working together.
The Vikings’ football state championship came so quickly and with such force that it caught everyone off guard. They were tough, they were fast and they were well-coached.
So opposing teams went to Tippecanoe Valley with very little expectation of going home a winner. A lot of really good local football teams went to Valley and had their seasons ruined. And from that the “Death Valley” name started, and stuck.
It went away a few years ago after a series of deaths of students, faculty and administrators. It just didn’t seem appropriate to have that name on a sports venue in a place where they had dealt with so much grief and sorrow, and that sentiment was totally understandable.
But now here it is again.
I have struggled with this, I really have. Columns like these are supposed to be anchored on strong opinions and convincing arguments.
But I don’t have that.
I will not criticize anyone for bringing it back. The movement is less about the name “Death Valley” and more about the attitude the game was played with when it was called that. Valley people want that winning spirit and gritty determination to come back to their team and their school, and that makes total sense.
Does calling the field “Home of Death Valley Football” achieve that? I don’t have any idea.
The other side is this: what about my friend, my relative, my teacher who died? Doesn’t that matter anymore to anyone? The “Death Valley” sign was taken down and we were asked not to use it anymore in our coverage. That was done for a reason and it was a really good reason. Is that not relevant anymore?
Tippecanoe Valley, as a school corporation, has made a choice to use the name “Death Valley” as a bridge to span the gap between a previous era of excellence and an excellence they are striving for from this point forward.
I wish them well in that journey.
While the two stories I’ve touched on are unconnected events, they do have one thread that runs through the middle of all of them.
In most cases, we don’t know when the last time we see people will be. We must do everything in our power to, as the Bible puts it, “keep short accounts” with each other. We need to keep the most important things as our most important things. We must not let insignificant matters in our lives get in the way of our relationships with family and others.
This life is too short to waste any of it wishing you’d resolved a matter that now can never be resolved.
I wish our politicians would see that.
I wish our families would see that.
Hug people and tell them that you love them, and don’t ever pass up the chance.
E-Editions
This week has been a hard reminder of that.
Triton is in the middle of one its best starts ever in football (4-1). Its only loss is to Marshall County rival Bremen.
Sunday, the Trojans lost something so much more valuable.
Word began to spread of a crash in northwest Kosciusko County, and we found out later that crash claimed the life of junior football player Cameron Scarberry.
The Triton community has been a special part of my life since I was born. The church my family attended in Tippecanoe while I was growing up was primarily made up of Triton families.
In high school, my best pal Bob and I used to hang out at DeNelli’s Pizza and Dairy Queen with our Triton friends (whose names I will not mention in case they would be embarrassed to be associated with us!). We went to their home football games on Friday nights and we got invited to their dances. We met for pizza in Plymouth after the Argos-Triton basketball games.
I like Triton people so much I married one!
Triton people are family, and that family is hurting SO very much right now.
There is not enough space on these pages or ink in the whole world to write words that will take that pain away. All I can offer are these: “I am so sorry. I love you all. My heart is broken for you,and I won’t stop praying for you.”
I will say this, though, for a school corporation spread out over three small towns, it’s pretty tight. Triton will mourn, but then it will dig in, lock arms and show us all what “community” really means.
And we will all be there alongside you, Triton, every step of the way.
Some 36 hours after that fatal crash, the Tippecanoe Valley School Board voted to officially rename their football field “Smith-Bibler Memorial Field—Home of Death Valley Football.”
It’s named after Charlie Smith, the founder of Valley football and coach of their state title team four decades ago; and Scott Bibler, who coached the Vikings to several very successful seasons after Smith, and who was beloved by the Valley community. Both were killed in a plane crash on their way to a Notre Dame football game at Clemson University two years ago.
That part of the new name is easy to explain.
But the second part requires a little history lesson.
When Tippecanoe Valley Schools formed in the 1970s, it experienced an unprecedented, immediate success in high school athletics. When you combine several small-town schools into one corporation like Valley did, it usually takes years to rid itself of old rivalries so it can start working together.
The Vikings’ football state championship came so quickly and with such force that it caught everyone off guard. They were tough, they were fast and they were well-coached.
So opposing teams went to Tippecanoe Valley with very little expectation of going home a winner. A lot of really good local football teams went to Valley and had their seasons ruined. And from that the “Death Valley” name started, and stuck.
It went away a few years ago after a series of deaths of students, faculty and administrators. It just didn’t seem appropriate to have that name on a sports venue in a place where they had dealt with so much grief and sorrow, and that sentiment was totally understandable.
But now here it is again.
I have struggled with this, I really have. Columns like these are supposed to be anchored on strong opinions and convincing arguments.
But I don’t have that.
I will not criticize anyone for bringing it back. The movement is less about the name “Death Valley” and more about the attitude the game was played with when it was called that. Valley people want that winning spirit and gritty determination to come back to their team and their school, and that makes total sense.
Does calling the field “Home of Death Valley Football” achieve that? I don’t have any idea.
The other side is this: what about my friend, my relative, my teacher who died? Doesn’t that matter anymore to anyone? The “Death Valley” sign was taken down and we were asked not to use it anymore in our coverage. That was done for a reason and it was a really good reason. Is that not relevant anymore?
Tippecanoe Valley, as a school corporation, has made a choice to use the name “Death Valley” as a bridge to span the gap between a previous era of excellence and an excellence they are striving for from this point forward.
I wish them well in that journey.
While the two stories I’ve touched on are unconnected events, they do have one thread that runs through the middle of all of them.
In most cases, we don’t know when the last time we see people will be. We must do everything in our power to, as the Bible puts it, “keep short accounts” with each other. We need to keep the most important things as our most important things. We must not let insignificant matters in our lives get in the way of our relationships with family and others.
This life is too short to waste any of it wishing you’d resolved a matter that now can never be resolved.
I wish our politicians would see that.
I wish our families would see that.
Hug people and tell them that you love them, and don’t ever pass up the chance.
Have a news tip? Email [email protected] or Call/Text 360-922-3092