By Doug Zaleski—
MUNCIE, IN — The Delaware County Athletic Hall of Fame has elected 14 new members who will be honored in July in its 2024 class.
Alex Daniel, Darcy Dorton, Heather Fierce, Carey (Amons) Fisher, Matt Gard, Erin (Jones) Halbert, Rick Linton, Todd Merickel, Mike Necessary, Chad Niccum, Marcus Rush, Jeff Weller, Kerry Williams, and Jon Young will be inducted July 19 at the Ball State Alumni Center. Steve Edwards will be honored at the banquet as this year’s James Lightbody Award of Excellence recipient.
A reception will begin at 5:30 p.m., the banquet is at 6 and induction will be at 7. Tickets can be purchased for $30 for adults and $15 for children 5-12 (4 and under are free) through the Hall’s web site at delcohof.org. The event is being underwritten by Larry New, CEO of Crown Pointe Communities, and wife Cheryl.
The 26th annual Hall of Fame golf tournament, sponsored by Pizza King, will be at 11:30 a.m. July 18 at Crestview Golf Club in Muncie. Four-player scramble team entries are $240 (individuals can be placed on a team for $60). To enter, contact Joey O’Connor (765-760-2830), Mike Bush (765-748-1042) or Jim Mansfield (765-284-9662).
The Delaware County Athletic Hall of Fame awarded five major academic scholarships this year. Ella Schmidt received the Francis Lafferty Hall of Fame Scholarship for $2,500, Nate Luce received the Hill Family Scholarship for $2,000, Ethan Kliner received the Tom Childs Family scholarship for $2,000, Delaney Dodd received the Schrecongost Family Scholarship for $2,000, Leilani Forshey received the Roberta “Tootie” Falls Memorial Scholarship for $1,000, Kaeb Stebbins received the Coach DeNeal Family Scholarship for $1,000, and Chase Flannery received the James Cartwright Scholarship for $750.
This year’s Hall of Fame honorees are:
Alex Daniel
Alex Daniel was a four-year varsity letter winner during his career as a basketball player at Central High School. His team was ranked No. 1 in the state in Class 4A and won the Hall of Fame Classic in 2005.
As a senior, his team posted a 27-2 record and a runner-up finish in the IHSAA state tournament as the Bearcats fell 62-52 to a powerful Lawrence North team that was led by two future NBA players.Central won three sectional titles and two North Central Conference crowns during his career.
Daniel scored 1,027 career points, one of only 12 Bearcats to reach the 1,000 plateau. He moved on to college and played at Lakeland Community College in Illinois and Taylor University. He led Taylor as a senior in scoring, assists and steals, and was second in rebounding as a senior.
He began his coaching career with two years as an assistant at Yorktown, two at Indiana University South Bend and seven at Bethel University. Daniel has been head coach at South Bend Riley for five seasons, winning 68 percent of his games.
Daniel also was the quarterback on Central’s football team, winning three letters. The Bearcats had a 23-3 record during his sophomore and junior seasons and had a No. 1 state ranking. During those two seasons he passed for 3,980 yards and 41 touchdowns.
Darcy Dorton
Darcy Dorton burst on the local volleyball scene in a big way as a middle school player. She played on the 2004 USA Volleyball national champion team and earned accolades as an AAU All-American in the 18 open division from 2007-09.
The Delta graduate competed for USA Volleyball in the World Championship in 2007 and captained the USA Volleyball Junior national team that won the NORSECA championship in 2008. Her senior season with Delta culminated in the IHSAA Class 3A state championship,
The same season she was the IHSAA 3A Mental Attitude winner, the Indiana Volleyball Gatorade player of the year and PrepVolleyball and Volleyball Magazine player of the year.
Dorton played collegiately at Penn State, helping the Nittany Lions win a national championship in 2009 and 2010. She was the Big Ten freshman of the year in 2009 and earned honorable mention on the 2009, 2012 and 2013 All-America teams. She went on to play at College of Charleston. She was the first All-American in Charleston history.
She ended her career by playing professionally in Austria. She served as an assistant coach at Eastern Michigan University before becoming the head coach 2019-2022. Dorton currently is an assistant coach at Ball State.
Heather Fierce
Heather Fierce was part of a team at Central High School that earned a state runner-up finish in the IHSAA volleyball tournament twice. She was a three-time honoree on the all-North Central Conference team.
The Bearcats won sectional, regional and semistate championships in 2000 and 2003 before finishing second in the IHSAA state tournament. Fierce was selected to the Indiana all-state first team in 2003.
In 2002, her Central team won a state championship. She went on to play collegiately at Louisiana State University in the Southeastern Conference. As a Tiger her team won the 2005 SEC West crown and she played in the NCAA Tournament in 2005.
She finished her career at LSU with 2,134 assists in 268 games.
Carey (Amos) Fisher
Carey (Amos) Fisher was a four-year member of the Burris volleyball team, winning two state championships during her career.
After her successful high school career, she received a scholarship to play at Bowling Green State University. Fisher was a three-year starter and helped the Falcons to Mid-American Conference championships in 1989, 1991 1992, including a berth in the 1991 NCAA Tournament.
Fisher’s teams had a 105-31 record during her career, and the 1989 team posted the only unbeaten MAC season in school history. She holds several Bowling Green records including an .867 attack percentage in a match against Texas-Arlington and 1,588 assists in a season. She was second team all-MAC as a junior and first team as a senior.
Fisher returned to Muncie and coached in various roles at Central, Wes-Del, Yorktown and Munciana. In February of this season, she was named head coach at Burris. She has served on several boards of directors locally. Fisher, and her husband, Jud, have two sons, Colton and Carter.
Matt Gard
Matt Gard’s name is spread throughout the Central High School baseball program’s record book, playing three years on the varsity team.
He ranks third in his career in batting average (.406), fifth in hits (102) and doubles (27), sixth in triples (6). Gard’s 47 hits in 2001 is the most in school history.
Gard helped the Bearcats to a 7-0 record and the North Central Conference championship in 2001 and was a starter in 2000 when they won a sectional title. He earned all-state honorable mention in 2002 as a senior, was all-NCC twice and was Central’s MVP once.
He went on to win four letters in baseball at Ball State, and was team captain in 2007. Gard was a starter on the 2006 squad that won the Mid-American Conference tournament championship for the first time in school history and advance to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1969.
Erin (Jones) Halbert
Halbert was a key figure in helping Daleville High School to its first sectional championship in a girls sport when the Broncos captured the single class Wes-Del Sectional during her junior and senior seasons.
She broke school records during that time for passing percentage, service aces, stuff blocks and hitting percentage. Halbert was named to the 1987 singe-class all-state team, becoming the first Bronco named all-state in any sport. Daleville had a 77-18 record during her final three seasons of varsity play.
Halbert, who graduated top five in her 1988 senior class, also excelled in basketball. She started all four years and was team MVP as a junior. She led the Broncos in rebounding all four years and captained the Broncos as a junior and senior.
She received a volleyball scholarship at IPFW and played two seasons for the Mastodons. Halbert graduated with a bachelor’s degree in nursing in 1994. Halbert and husband, Ron Jr., have two adult daughters.
Rick Linton
Rick Linton, a graduate of Central High School, is being inducted as a baseball player. He was awarded athletic and academic scholarships at Murray State University.
He was a four-year varsity player for the Bearcats with action at catcher, pitcher and shortstop. Linton’s first varsity hit was a three-run homer, and his final varsity hit as a college player was a home run. Linton was a nominee for Indiana Mr. Baseball and played on the San Francisco Giants’ scout team in Westfield, Ind.
Linton holds the Bearcats’ career records for hits with 144, runs with 116 and at-bats with 354, and is the single-season home run leader with 11. He’s second in career homers (17), career batting average (.408), doubles (34), and fifth in career stolen bases (42).
He was selected as a first-team member on the all-North Central Conference teams three times. Linton also was a two-year starter for the Muncie Chiefs American Legion team.
Todd Merickel
Todd Merickel moved to Muncie from Ohio as an elementary school student. He graduated from Northside High School in 1984 and attended Ball State before graduating from Wesleyan University in 2016. He is being inducted as a coach-contributor.
He began officiating IHSAA events in 1994, and worked state championship action in 2008, 2009, 2013, 2016, 2020, and 2023. Merickel was assigned to officiate 21 sectionals, 16 regionals and 10 semistates.
Merickel became an IHSAA certification clinician in 2014, and was a Florida high school referee. He was a US Soccer Federation referee before becoming a national intercollegiate official.
He officiated NAIA men’s and women’s regular season and the postseason matches, NCAA Division II men’s and women’s matches, NCAA Division III men’s and women’s regular season and postseason matches, and NCAA Division I regular-season matches.
Mike Necessary
Necessary got his start in athletics when he played multiple sports, lettering in six, at Centerville High School and then went on to attend Ball State. As a student at Ball State, he caught the coaching bug while guiding a Pony League Baseball team in Centerville.
He was an assistant coach in multiple sports in New Washington and Lincoln High School. Necessary moved to Delaware County in 1974 to assist with the football, basketball and track programs at Yorktown,
The experience he gained under Mike Kelly and Bob Harold led to his first head coaching position, being named the basketball coach at Wes-Del in 1979. Necessary coached the Warriors to a sectional title in 1982.
He returned to Yorktown as the head basketball coach in 1984. Two years later, Necessary’s team won the 1986 Muncie Sectional. He won two sectional championships and had 103 victories in 10 years as a head basketball coach in Delaware County,
Necessary entered the administration field in 1989 as assistant principal at Yorktown High School, then became principal at Winchester in 1994. He was picked as superintendent at Randolph Southern in 2004. He also served on the IHSAA board of directors from 1996-2002.
Necessary retired in 2011. He and his wife, Pam, moved to Greenwood to be closer to children Nicole and John and four grandchildren.
Chad Niccum
Niccum, being honored in the coaches-contributors category, has received numerous awards and honors as an announcer. He is a graduate of Delta High School.
The most notable for Niccum was being named the National Sports Public, Address Announcer of the year in 2010. In 2006, he was named the Indiana High School Public Address Announcer of the year.
Niccum also has been the PA for IHSAA state finals in boys basketball, girls basketball, volleyball, wrestling, and football along with the Indiana-Kentucky basketball series. He was on the PA for 23 years at the famed New Castle Fieldhouse as well as games for the Indiana Fever, Ball State and Earlham College.
Niccum’s artistic schools allow him to do paintings for the Indiana Pacers, Fever and several other universities and high schools throughout the Midwest.
Marcus Rush
Marcus Rush grew up in Muncie and began his football career as an eighth-grader at Northside Middle School. He made an immediate impact on the Central High School team. He helped his freshman team to a 7-1 record as a do-it-all player.
As a three-year varsity player, he helped the Bearcats to a strong run of success. They won seven games in 2000 and 2001 as Rush started as a defensive lineman and running back. As a senior, in 2002 Rush helped Central to historical success. They went 9-0 and won the North Central Conference championship for the first time since 1954. Central also won a sectional title and finished with a 12-1 record.
After claiming all-state recognition as a defensive lineman, Rush went on to play at Harper Junior College in Chicago and St. Rancis University in Fort Wayne.
Rush resides in Fort Wayne and is the athletic director at a local elementary school.
Jeff Weller
Jeff Weller came to Ball State in 1973 after graduating from Richmond High School and has spent the rest of his life in Muncie. He was heard on WLBC from 1981 through 2021, spending much of that time teaming with legendary Morry Mannies to bring listeners high school football and basketball along with Ball State sports.
He created the WLBC Scoreboard Show that aired 10 p.m. to midnight during the high school basketball season. The 400-plus broadcasts featured scores from around the state plus local scores and live phone interviews from local coaches to discuss their games that evening.
Weller started the Coaches Corner show on Saturday mornings to provide live interviews with local coaches and administrators. He also did the Ball State coaches show with Paul Schudel, Al Brown, Bill Lynch, Ray McCallum and Tim Buckley from 1984-2000, and the weekly TV coaches show with Bill Lynch from 1996-2002.
He joined Mannies to broadcast six Ball State bowl games (1989, 1993, 1996, 2007, 2008, 2012) and five Ball State games in the NCAA Tournament (1989, 1990, 1993, 1995, 2000). Weller and Mannies won the Mid-American Conference award for the best league radio broadcast in 1996, 1997 and 1998. Weller won the IHSAA Media Award in 1993-94.
Weller and his wife, Karen, have two daughters, Erin Hickey and Amy Allgood.
Kerry Williams
Kerry Williams was a dominant baseball player while competing at Yorktown and Burris high schools. He also enjoyed success in track and basketball.
Williams was arguably the best pitcher in Delaware County his last two seasons. He defeated every city and county team he faced while building an 18-0 record. He beat No. 15 Southside in the Yorktown Sectional final and threw a no-hitter against Blue River in the Richmond Regional semifinal before claiming the win against No. 5 Richmond in the title game.
His tournament results as a senior were a 5-0 record with wins against ranked teams Southside, Richmond and No 2 Columbus East. Williams played third base when not pitching and batted .432 with 39 RBIs. Williams turned down offers from local schools to play baseball at Gulf Coast Community College. He was batting .400 as a freshman before a hand injury ended his career.
Williams was the Mid-Eastern Conference champion in the discus as a junior and senior, setting the Burris school record in 1982.
Williams and his wife, Kelly, live in Rifle, Colo. They have two children, Brycce and Brielle.
Jon Young
Jon Young played six sports as a student at Delta, but had his most success after graduating there in 1973 as a volleyball player and coach.
He played four years of men’s volleyball at Ball State, helping the Cardinals to a 99-19 record during his career. Young led the eighth-ranked Cardinals in hitting percentage and helped them win 21 consecutive games in his junior season. He also played on two NCAA Final Four teams at Ball State.
Young coached Cowan for two seasons, turning a 2-15 team into a squad that later posted the first winning record in school history. The Blackhawks then went on to a winning record in 30 consecutive years. He founded the Midwest Volleyball clinics, teaching players in more than 200 clinics for 15 years before merging with Munciana Volleyball Clinics.
He officiated volleyball at the collegiate and high school levels for 37 years. Young also was a volunteer head coach for 55 Delaware County youth teams during a 15-year span.
Lightbody Award winner, Steve Edwards
Steve Edwards retired as superintendent of Marion Community Schools in 2013 after a career of 45 years in public education. After retiring he returned to Muncie Community Schools to serve as emergency manager in 2017 and interim superintendent in 2018.
He worked in many other positions in Muncie for 35 years, including assistant superintendent, director of adult community education and recreation, high school principal, high school athletic director, and high school teacher and coach.
Edwards coached track and cross county at Northside High School from 1974-81. His cross country teams won five sectional championships, two regional titles, four city crowns and three Olympic Conference titles. The Titans advanced to the state meet four times with a best finish of second place in 1979.
His track teams won two conference titles, one sectional crown, three city championships and placed sixth in the state meet in 1975 and 1976. Edwards coached three individual state champs. Edwards was inducted into the Indiana Association Track and Cross Country Coaches Hall of Fame in 2102.
He and his wife, Penny, have been married 56 years and have two sons and four grandsons.
