Central will be honoring members of the 1974 and ’75 Northside volleyball teams, 40 years after the group won the first of two consecutive state titles and laid the foundation for Delaware County’s dominance of the sport in the IHSAA state tournament.
The ceremony will be held before the Bearcats boys basketball game Saturday against Yorktown, scheduled for 7:30 p.m. in Muncie Fieldhouse.
The IHSAA was offering its third volleyball state tournament in 1974, and Northside’s title was the first for a team from Delaware County. When Wes-Del won the Class A state title this month, it was the 42nd state championship for a team from the county.
Central athletic director Suzanne Crump said she and Central principal Tom Jarvis were approached by the coach of the 1974 and ’75 teams, Debbie Millbern Powers, during the summer about the idea of holding such a ceremony. She said she and Jarvis quickly agreed a ceremony was a good idea.
“Really that group of players was the ground-level group that started the volleyball, I would say, in Delaware County, and the success we’ve had in Delaware County,” Crump said. “So we just thought it would be a great opportunity to do that.”
The 1975 team defeated a South Bend Clay squad that included two male players before the IHSAA later prohibited boys from playing girls sports.
Following the consolidation of Central and Southside, Central is the only high school for Muncie Community Schools. Crump said that as efforts were made to honor past Southside accomplishments at Central, it made sense to shine a light on past Northside feats as well.
When Central had a ceremony with past boys basketball players during the last Central-Southside game, that event included former Northside players.
“It’s important that now that we’re one high school, that we recognize those former athletes, and some great athletes at Northside, Southside, as we’ve come together,” Crump said. “So I think it is an important thing, and we’ll look to try to do that more as we move forward.”
Contact prep sports reporter Sam Wilson at (765) 213-5807. Follow him on Twitter @SamWilsonTSP.