Carol Johnson, Southern Indiana Business Report
BEDFORD – In a community and state known for basketball, four figures who elevated the sport, each in his own way, were together on stage for a rare joint appearance last week.
Damon Bailey, who for four years was the most watched high school player in Indiana and went on to play for Bob Knight’s Indiana Hoosiers, his coach at Bedford North Lawrence Danny Bush along with Bob Bridge and Bob Hammel, two award-winning sportswriters who chronicled their careers, regaled an audience with stories of great teams, great players and lessons learned along the way.
The 10th annual Becky Skillman Leadership Institute brought the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame members together for a luncheon and discussion of leadership.
More than 200 attended the event, a fundraiser for the Boys & Girls Club of Lawrence County.
Inspiring others to become leaders has been the goal of the Skillman Leadership Institute. Skillman said year after year, the committee hears feedback from attendees who were inspired to make life changes because of what they took away from the event.
“People have changed careers, gone back to school,” she said. “And that’s what it’s all about, to inspire you.”
Hall of Fame panel
Bridge served as moderator of the panel. The panelists were asked who were the early leaders in their lives and how leaders must learn to adapt to different situations, at times playing a new role to give the team the best chance of winning.
Parents and family were the first leaders that Bailey, Bridge and Bush recalled as influential. Bush’s father passed away when he was still at home and he said his mother “kept me walking a straight and narrow path.”
“I loved athletics and that kept me out of trouble,” he said.
Bailey said he grew up seeing his parents as strong leaders of his family and said he was fortunate to have grown up around great people.
Sports, he said, offers many lessons in leadership because it requires discipline that translates to everyday life, players must learn to accept their strengths and flaws, and, ultimately, put the team above themselves.
He told the crowd about adjustments he made after joining the IU team after high school.
“I could shoot when I wanted to shoot and at Indiana, I was playing with guys who were the best on their team and they got to shoot when they wanted to,” he said.
At IU, he took on a new role, creating scoring opportunities for Calbert Cheaney.
“My job was to do everything I could to put him in position to score. The things I expected my teammates to do for me in high school, I did for him,” he said.
“It’s great to be the star of the team, but putting the team and the greater good above yourself, that’s the most important thing.”
Bush was asked about how he introduced Bailey, a freshman who was already drawing national attention, to a team of seasoned veterans, all good players.
“We sat down the first day of practice and I told them Damon, a freshman, and another good player Brent Byrer, who was a sophomore, were going to play and if any of you seniors have a problem with that, you need to leave now. And not one of them left,” Bush said. “The beauty of it was he proved himself worthy. And I tell you what, he scored 3,000 some odd points, if he wanted to he could have scored 4,000, but we wouldn’t have been as good. So he made the other players better and the other players made him better because they knew he could count on him. If they were open, he’d get them the ball.”
Hammel was asked about great examples of leadership from IU players he covered as sports editor and columnist at the Bloomington Herald-Times. He said there were many strong leaders, but none came close to Quinn Buckner, a key member and captain of the 1976 team that won the national championship under coach Knight.
Not everyone remembers that Buckner played safety on the IU football team as a freshman. When he showed up for an intrasquad scrimmage at Assembly Hall the day after playing in the IU-Purdue Oaken Bucket game, he barely knew all his teammates.
Hammel said when Buckner was subbed in for Kim Pemberton, Buckner had to ask, “Who’s Kim?”
Hammel was soon surprised to see Buckner directing players on the floor, despite not having practiced with them. That, he said, was the mark of a true leader.
The panelists also shared a few lesser known stories. While it is widely known that Knight came to Shawswick School to watch Bailey play as an eighth-grader, few knew that Hammel accompanied Knight on the trip to Bedford.
He recalled watching a young Bailey pick up the ball with one hand and later complete a play that he said most high school teams would have trouble making.
On the ride home, Knight was so impressed with Bailey’s abilities, he reminded him of legendary NBA player Jerry West.
“I really believe he was right,” he said. “Damon’s pro career was sabotaged by injuries.”
Bush was asked to explain how he met presidential candidate Bobby Kennedy in 1968 and was asked by Kennedy to shoot a basket for him.
In late April, ahead of the May primary, Kennedy made a sweep of Indiana. Bush’s coach, Bob Masterson, was an organizer for the Kennedy campaign and arranged for Kennedy to stop in Oolitic.
Bush recalled the gathering was on the steps of the school and a basketball goal was nearby. Newspapers were there covering the visit as the team presented Kennedy with a basketball.
“All the newspaper people were there and they wanted him to take a shot. He said, ‘No, I’m not doing that” and he turned and looked at me and gave me the ball and said, “Go down there and shoot one for me,’ So I did. You didn’t have to ask me twice.” he said with a laugh.