Center Grove Magazine November 2022

SPECIALIZING in EVERY CANCER TYPE

Compassion. Dedication. Innovation. Experience.

And at Franciscan Health, our team of experts work together to treat your cancer by giving you our best – with advanced treatments, clinical trials, supportive services, personalized nurse navigators and compassionate specialists experienced in every type of cancer.

Conveniently located across Indiana and northern Illinois, when you’re our patient, we keep you close to home and close to our hearts.

Find the care you need for every cancer type.

MAKE AN APPOINTMENT

FranciscanHealth.org/CancerCare

TOWNE

FREDDA KOVACS fredda@townepost.com 317.402.3051

tom@townepost.com 317.496.3599

JEANNE BRITT jeanne@townepost.com 317.810.0011

TOWNE

40TH ANNUAL CENTER GROVE CRAFT FAIR

Saturday, 5th | 8 a.m. - 4 p.m.

Center Grove High School

398 exhibitors will feature arts, crafts, handmade gifts, and more. Support student-athletes while supporting small businesses. $5 admission for 10 years and older. Free parking.

SOUTHSIDE ART LEAGUE, INC. (SALI) OFF

BROADWAY GALLERY

Wed. – Sat., 2nd – 26th | 11 a.m.- 3 p.m.

299 E. Broadway St. – Downtown Greenwood

A One-Artist-Show by professional Artist Mary Clouse exhibiting a collection of original watercolor paintings, some prints and an assortment of other items.

DOWNTOWN FRANKLIN

HOLIDAY OPEN HOUSE

Fri. – Sun., 4th – 6th | 10 a.m. - 4 p.m.

Downtown Franklin

More than 40 downtown retailers, restaurants, and businesses will be rolling out the holiday red carpet for visitors. Special prices, super prizes, and plenty of holiday cheer await you as you stroll from location to location.

WARRIOR 110’S 4TH

110 MILE RUCK

Jeffersonville, IN to American Legion Post 252, Greenwood Warrior 110 and the Ruck March raises awareness and funds for veterans suffering from physical and emotional ailments such as post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, anxiety, suicide and traumatic brain injury. Opportunities to participate and/or donate are available.

VETERANS DAY

Friday, 11th

CHRISTMAS GATHERING OPEN HOUSE

Fri. - Sun., 11th – 13th | 10 a.m. - 5 p.m.

Take Root Country Store – 202 N. Madison Ave. Come see a winter wonderland with lots of handmade snowmen, Santas and gingerbread men for sale, and sample dips and cheeseballs. Also, draw for instant prizes.

DISCOVER OLD TOWN GREENWOOD HOLIDAY OPEN HOUSE

Fri/Sat, 18th – 19th | 10 a.m. - 8 p.m. Old Town Greenwood Old Town Greenwood will be kicking off the 2022 Holiday Season with their annual Holiday Open House. Shop, sip and create with many of the small local businesses. 10a to 8p Friday and 10a to 5p Saturday. The kids event will be 5p to 8p Friday including photos with Santa.

A NIGHT OF HOPE

Join Kids in Crisis – Intervention Team (KIC-IT) for a dinner with live music and a live auction to raise money for homeless youth. A pair of tickets can be purchased for $100.

HOLIDAY CRAFT SHOW

Saturday, 19th | 9 a.m. - 2 p.m.

Greenwood Community High School – 615 Smith Valley Rd. The Social of Greenwood is proud to host their annual craft show with more than 140 vendors placed throughout the school. Find homemade gifts, crafts, home décor, baked goods, jewelry, clothing, candles and more. Entry is $1. Kids 12 and younger are free.

THANKSGIVING

Thursday, 24th TURKEY BURN THANKSGIVING 5K RUN/ WALK

Thursday, 24th | 9 a.m. - 12 p.m.

Craig Park – 10 E. Smith Valley Rd.

Start the day by burning calories at the 5K Run/Walk and Kids Run. All proceeds raised will go to local schools throughout the community to help fight kids‘ hunger.

THANKSGIVING BANQUET

Thursday, 24th | 11 a.m. - 1 p.m.

Johnson County Fairground/Scott Hall – 250 Fairground St., Franklin

MARCH

Tues. – Sat., 8th – 12th | 6 a.m. - 12 p.m.

With factory

models.

Friday, 18th | 6:30 p.m. - 11 p.m.

The Barn at Bay Horse Inn – 1468 W. Stones Crossing Rd.

repair

The Thanksgiving Banquet Board is providing free Thanksgiving meals to Johnson County residents. This event is drive-through only. As in past years, delivery will be offered to homebound individuals.

& LIBATIONS

After nearly a decade of opening restaurants as an extension of their brewing company, Nathan and Leah Huelsebusch, owners of Taxman Brewing Company, are pleased to open their latest restaurant venture, Pizza & Libations (P&L). This new dining concept is located at 75 North Baldwin Street in Bargersville, near Taxman Brewing Company, and will add modern Italian fare to the southside dining scene.

The family-friendly restaurant will feature Neapolitan-style pizzas, authentic, handmade pasta, seasonal salads, fresh-baked breads, house-made gelato, and delectable libations including craft cocktails, globally sourced wines and local craft beer.

Nathan and Leah Huelsebusch

The spacious building includes indoor seating for more than 200 guests, a full-service bar, and large-scale art installations from local and European artists. The expansive outdoor patio features a linear fireplace, shade trees and seating for 72 guests.

The food and beverage offerings will change seasonally, combining classic Italian techniques and recipes with locally sourced ingredients.

“Our passion for travel and cultural cuisine has definitely been a driving force in all of our ventures, and creating a new restaurant with a Mediterranean focus is very exciting,” says COO Leah Huelsebusch. “With every new restaurant, it is important to us to develop concepts that focus on farm-to-table food. Italian food relies heavily on sourcing high-quality ingredients, so it’s a great opportunity for us to showcase the local produce, dairy and locally milled grain.”

The building that is home to Pizza & Libations was purchased in November of 2021, and a complete, transformative remodel began in January of 2022.

“Bringing new life and redevelopment to the rapidly growing Town of Bargersville is something we strongly value,” says CEO Nathan Huelsebusch. “The Bargersville community has supported Taxman for more than eight years, and we are excited to invest in the continued growth and development of old-town Bargersville. We hope that P&L will be a celebrated addition to the neighborhood and that our investment in Bargersville will encourage continued revitalization of the area, with more local businesses opening downtown.”

Visit Pizza & Libations at 75 North Baldwin Street in Bargersville, and follow them on social media @pizzaandlibations.

Taxman Brewing Company is the culmination of a passion for beer, food, travel and friendship, alongside a desire to be actively involved in the local community. In 2014, Nathan and Leah Huelsebusch left their corporate jobs to embark on a journey to share their love for Belgian-style beers and sustainable food with others. Taxman’s success has grown tremendously - they now distribute their beer throughout Indiana and have expanded into three farm-to-table gastropubs, with additional locations on the horizon. For more information, visit taxmanbrewing.com.

Working together.

We think that’s the key to better health care for you and your family. And that’s why the providers and specialists at JMH and Mayo Clinic are joining forces. We will work together to resolve your hard-to-solve medical problems and help find better answers. Giving you access to the finest medical knowledge, right here at home. For you, that means peace of mind.

Great care starts here.

Johnson Memorial Health and Mayo Clinic. Working together. Working for you.

MAKING GOOD TIME

VISITOR WATCH COMPANY OWNER CRAFTS DISTINCTIVE TIMEPIECES

Writer / Melissa Gibson Photography Provided

Phil Rodenbeck has always had a passion for engineering and creativity.

The Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology grad recalls the first time he learned about mechanical watches and fell in love with the intricate details.

“In a modern quartz watch, the movement is made with a battery and circuit,” Rodenbeck says. In a mechanical watch, there are well over 100 different metal pieces that all fit together to create a time signal that is accurate, plus or minus a few seconds every day. Think of it as the engine of the watch.”

Watches have long been a staple for men and women. There are

Phil Rodenbeck

even collectors of the popular jewelry.

“Time has always been important,” Rodenbeck says. “In the beginning you had sundials, water clocks and things like that, but eventually they worked out how to measure time with metal and a vibrating spring. This complex system of springs and gears has existed for over 400 years, and the history of the product is part of the reason it sucked me in.”

After graduating from college, Rodenbeck began working as an engineer but found the job lacked a creative outlet, prompting him to look for a change.

That love for mechanical watches resurfaced, and he began looking for a unique and creative way to create his vision for a timepiece.

He founded Visitor Watch Company in 2013 and his first watch, the Duneshore, launched on Kickstarter in 2014.

Why “Visitor” in the name?

Rodenbeck says the word implies going out of your norm or comfort zone, or being viewed as different in some way.

“For me, leaving my engineering job to start a watch company was being a visitor or starting a new phase,” he says. “I want my designs to look different in that way - something out of the norm.”

This isn’t just any watch.

For example, the Duneshore is inspired by his childhood, and visiting Indiana Dunes. “Going to the dunes was a large part of my childhood,” he says. “The dial and hands are inspired by calligraphy and writing - another hobby of mine. The case backs are curved and comfortable on the wrist, but the geometry is a reference to the dunes. There are a lot of personal elements going into this watch.”

He has since introduced the Duneshore Shallows series, featuring Iron Jade, Seal Teal and Tangerine Fission, offering a variety of color and comfort in the overall designs.

Rodenbeck says every watch he designs begins with a blank sheet of paper and he allows his creativity to take over, working through each step, down to the strap and buckle. He offers a variety of options from rubber straps and steel bracelets to deerskin and ostrich straps.

“I don’t prescribe hard and fast rules when it comes to what pairs with what,” Rodenbeck says. “I think a watch should be fun and a chance for self-expression. I tend to be more adventurous with my designs. Watch enthusiasts would regard it as a wildcard watch.”

As his online company flourished, almost half of which is International, Rodenbeck decided to take the next step. Earlier this year he opened his first showroom above Revery restaurant in downtown Greenwood.

With a physical space to display his watches comes an opportunity to share with the community on a new level.

“It allows me to do things with the brand that I haven’t been able to do before,” he says. “I’ve hosted a watch enthusiast group. I’ve started a miniature art gallery space for Visitor clients, and I’m interested in hosting book readings and other small groups.”

The Visitor Watch Company Creative Collective, or gallery space, promotes visual and literary artwork of Visitor clients, publishing work in a periodic journal and displaying the work in the showroom. Most of all, Rodenbeck is looking forward to sharing new designs.

“There’s no rational reason for mechanical watches to exist anymore,” Rodenbeck says. “Functionally, they’ve been replaced by battery power, but it’s a tie-in to human ingenuity, art and engineering. That’s what keeps them around. It’s a fun thing, to have that callback to the past.”

The Visitor Watch Company showroom is located at 205 South Madison Avenue, Suite 205 in Greenwood. Schedule a showroom visit to see all Rodenbeck has in store at visitorwatchco.com.

PROVEN EXPERTISE for uncertain markets.

Jess & Sandra Carrasquillo

It’s time to find the right Medicare Advantage plan for you.

(TTY/TDD 711). You may receive assistance through alternate technology after hours, on weekends and holidays; or visit iuhealthplans.org.

Indiana University Health Plans is a Medicare Advantage organization with a Medicare contract. Enrollment in an HMO or HMO POS plan from Indiana University Health Plans depends on the plan’s contract renewal with Medicare. This information is not a complete description of benefits. Contact the plan for more information. You must continue to pay your Medicare Part B premium. Limitations, copayments and restrictions may apply. Benefits, formulary, pharmacy network, provider network, premium and/or copayments/coinsurance may change

on Jan. 1 of each year. For language assistance, call 800.455.9776 (TTY/TDD 711).

IU Health does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, age, disability, genetic information, veteran status, national origin, gender identity and/or expression, marital status, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local law.

The Silver&Fit program is provided by American Specialty Health Fitness, Inc., a subsidiary of American Specialty Health Incorporated (ASH).

is a federally registered trademark of

THE JOURNEY TO BETTER HEALTH Journey Health + Wellness Opens in Greenwood

Writer / Christy Heitger-Ewing

Photography Provided by Leah Rife with Leah Rife Photo

As a former personal trainer, fitness instructor and Indiana Pacemate cheerleader, Natalie Slater has always had a passion for health and wellness. She noticed, however, that although a lot of her clients were working out, eating good foods and living healthy lifestyles, when they expressed to their doctors of not feeling well, the doctors shrugged it off if their lab work came back normal, blaming perimenopause or clinical depression.

“These were women in their mid-30s,” Slater says. One topic that Slater found was often omitted in conversations with physicians was nutrition, and that bothered her. These interactions prompted Slater to go back to school in 2016 to become a board-certified naturopath.

Naturopathy addresses the unique aspects of each client and promotes wellness by employing nontoxic, natural therapies, to restore the patient to physiological, psychological and structural balance. Slater began working with clients three years ago, but just recently partnered with two other women to launch Journey Health + Wellness, a naturopathic wellness center specializing in immune enhancement and detoxification therapies. The goal is to restore and

maintain the balance in the body that’s necessary for optimal health, using client-centered education, root-cause analysis, functional nutrition, and natural detoxification resources and therapies.

Kristie Geitner met Slater when her son was dealing with mold toxicity and Lyme disease. At one point, Geitner and her husband took their son to Arizona for treatment because western states are typically several steps ahead of the Midwest when it comes to offering alternative and traditional medical treatments. While there, he received colon hydrotherapy, lymphatic enhancement therapy, hyperbaric oxygen therapy, and microcurrent therapy.

They learned that their son, like most people in their family, cannot rid his body of toxins through normal physiological means. When the Geitners returned home, they had a hard time finding these therapies. “One day Natalie told me that her dream was to start a wellness center that offered detoxification and immune enhancing therapies,” Geitner says. “I immediately said ‘I want to help bring these therapies to our community.”

Geitner got trained on several therapies and began working beside Slater. Geitner’s daughter, Jessie Kennell, also found her passion within health and wellness and decided to change her career. Kennell is now one of few certified microcurrent therapists in Indiana that assists clients in detoxification and pain management.

The center officially opens to the public on November 7 and offers a number of services (see sidebar). Clients can receive these therapies without having a diagnosis or preexisting condition, and they can bolster anyone’s immunity, regardless of their level of health.

“We see people who are in good health that just want to level up their current health situation or boost their immunity, to those that have had chronic issues or a history of being on medications,” Slater says.

It’s also common for an exasperated client to come in after having been told by a doctor that their tests are within a normal range, despite the fact that they do not feel normal.

At Journey Health + Wellness, they start with the basics, which is what natural health is all about.

“We’re not quick to jump on a symptom and suggest supplements or even a therapy,” Slater says. “We really strip it back to the foundations.”

It all starts with a one-hour consultation called a Ur Story session, in which they gather the facts. They do not diagnose, treat or cure, but rather look at the fundamentals, asking clients about their nutrition, energy level, quality of sleep, movement routine and gut health. It goes beyond sharing symptoms, family health, and medical history, and gets into the nitty-gritty of the client’s day-to-day life.

“It’s amazing how much people will open up when you sit down with them, knee-to-knee, and give them your undivided attention. It’s important to provide an environment where clients not only feel heard, but where they know we are allies in their health journey.”

They do this by assessing the signs and symptoms a client may

be experiencing and through shared decision-making, develop a “roadmap” of restoration and enhancement.

“It’s about taking back ownership of your own health,” Slater says.

When it comes to health, nutrition is a vital but often missing piece of the equation in the conventional medical world. Just because you eat clean food doesn’t mean your body is utilizing, absorbing, digesting and eliminating it properly.

“If you’re not addressing the pathways of elimination first and foremost, then the body’s ability to adapt to stress and rid itself of toxins is like pumping air into a tire that always has a tiny hole in it,” Slater says.

This is why people might get frustrated when they feel like they’re doing everything right (like cutting out sugar, dairy or gluten from their diet) and yet still feel awful. At Journey Health + Wellness, they do nutritional assessments and testing to see if the body is nutrient deficient. They also offer state-of-the-art testing to determine toxicity and digestive function.

“A lot of people don’t use the restroom often enough. Waste can build up over time,” Geitner says. “After several days, toxins can weaken the bowel wall and cause a “leaky gut” which can go on to affect the health of other organs.”

She notes that humans should have at least two bowel movements per day, which often shocks people who are perhaps used to only once or twice per week.

“They say, ‘That’s been the case my whole life,’ so they think it’s normal,” Geitner says. “Just because it’s common doesn’t mean it’s normal.”

Your gut is like your second brain, so when it is off, your brain is stressed.

“Your gut is what produces and regulates neurotransmitters, so it must be attended to for optimal health,” Geitner says. Journey offers colon hydrotherapy, which is an irrigation of the large intestine in order to restore the body’s natural cleansing process.

Even the things you put on your skin can affect your health. Kennell first got interested in naturopathy when she was experiencing some depression, brain fog, painful periods, acne, and thinking of family planning. These days, however, many of her symptoms have dissipated thanks to these therapies.

In today’s world, we’re often quick to pop a pill when we experience a symptom we don’t like. According to Slater, a symptom is a lesson our body is trying to teach us. For instance, perhaps you grew up having constant headaches, so for years you never left the house without Advil. Once you start paying attention to what you put in your mouth and what you put on your skin, the headaches can vanish.

“When you really pay attention to how something makes you feel, it’s a game changer,” Kennell says.

When a client fully commits to the process, they often notice a change in how they feel within the first few weeks.

These days an increasing number of people are experiencing gut related problems, partly because food isn’t exactly food anymore. A lot of nutrients, vitamins and enzymes are taken out of food to improve its shelf life.

“By the time food gets to your table, who knows how many hands have touched it?” Slater says. “From chemical processing of the seed to what was put on the soil, to the way it was prepared, to the additives and food dyes.”

When a food is heavily adulterated, our bodies become stressed. The body perceives the food as a chemical and doesn’t have the proper enzymes present to break it down, so it has to up-regulate the immune system.

“That’s robbing Peter to pay Paul,” Slater says. “Eventually the immune system is going to say, ‘I can’t do this anymore,’ and that’s when symptoms present themselves.

Again, it all goes back to the foundations of nutrition and how your body is responding to what you’re putting in it.

“This isn’t rocket science,” Slater says. “People are aware of what they should be doing, but for some reason they’ve let go of ownership of it, so we’re here to help them regain that ownership and feel confident in their daily health decisions. Like any worthy journey, it requires knowledge and proceeds step-by-step.”

Journey Health + Wellness is located at 622 North Madison Avenue, Suites 1 and 2 in Greenwood. For more information, call 463-300-4345 or visit journeyhw.com.

Services and Therapies Offered:

• Ur Story sessions

• Functional nutrition consulting

• Digestive enhancement

• Enzyme nutrition therapy

• Advance laboratory testing

• Colon hydrotherapy

• Microcurrent therapy

• Lymphatic enhancement therapy

• Emotional breathing technique release

• Hyperbaric oxygen therapy

• Infrared sauna therapy

• State-of-the-art testing

• Wellness workshops

• Professional-grade supplements and products

STEEPED IN CHARM

CAFÉ EUCLID OPENS IN DOWNTOWN GREENWOOD

Story & Photography Provided

Paul and Laura Jacquin are no strangers to great business ideas and repurposing existing structures. As creators and owners of downtown Greenwood’s Vino Villa since 2011, they could write the playbook on both. So when the property just behind Vino Villa became available in 2014, they purchased it, without a firm plan, but confident that the right idea would develop at the right time.

Patience paid off and a vision came into focus as they opened Café Euclid this summer on July 13.

The residence-turned-coffeehouse is steeped in charm. The large front and back porches provide plenty of outdoor seating overlooking the pleasant neighborhood. Paying homage to the location on Euclid Avenue, a large mural of Greek mathematician Euclid greets you as you enter. Each room offers cozy seating areas with custom-made tables by craftsman Brian Kuchaes of Top Tier Tables. Locally created artwork, available for purchase, adorns the walls.

Just beyond is where you’ll find Café Euclid’s specialties. A variety of tempting pastries and desserts are available, and all are made fresh in-house daily. Pastry

Chef Jourdan Wilhoit changes the menu weekly and seasonally. Recent treats include cherry pastries, pumpkin and white-chocolate scones with a maple glaze, and carrot cake. Scholars Inn Bakehouse provides the bagels, with which five unique sandwiches are created.

Most notable is the coffee. Tennessee-based roaster Frothy Monkey provides the coffee beans for the fresh drips.

Customize your coffee, espressos or teas

any of the many syrups including Pumpkin Spice, White Chocolate and Toffee Nut, just to name a few.

Café Euclid is on the go, too. They’ve just begun taking preorders for office parties and holiday gatherings.

Visit Café Euclid at 357 Euclid Avenue in Greenwood, on the web at cafe-euclid.com, and on Facebook and Instagram.

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Left to Right: Christina McFarland, Téa Bowman and Kristen Law

WALKING THE WALK

THE WARRIOR 110 NONPROFIT IS STILL LEADING THE WAY FOR VETERANS

Story & Photos Provided

Local veteran Brian Alvey is still leading the way for his fellow military veterans in need of help, with the fourth annual Warrior 110 road march in November.

Alvey, a retired U.S. Army combat veteran who served in the Afghan war, started The Warrior 110 nonprofit organization in 2019. He created the program to help raise awareness and funds for veterans suffering from physical and emotional ailments such as post-traumatic stress and traumatic brain injury, both of which are leading contributors to veteran suicide.

The Warrior 110 has been raising awareness and funds through ruck marches (weighted walks often used in military training) that stretch for more than 100 miles, as well as 50-kilometer extreme marathons, fundraising events at local establishments like Tried & True Alehouse and The Mint in Franklin, and donations, which are accepted at thewarrior110.org.

The upcoming Warrior 110 ruck march will start on November 8 in Louisville, Kentucky, on the banks of the Ohio River, and conclude on November 12, the day after Veterans Day, at the Greenwood American Legion Post 252.

During their first ruck march in July of 2019, the team raised more than $50,000 while ruck marching 110 miles from New Albany to Franklin. This year Alvey will walk once again with his friend and fellow veteran, The Warrior 110 Vice President Darrin Tissandier, who has been a vital member of the organization.

The funds raised have been used to help veterans through various programs around the nation provided by Warriors Heart, Helping Veterans And Families, and the Brian Bill

Foundation. Moving forward, the team is developing their own programs here in Indiana, which will assist veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress (PTS) and traumatic brain injury.

Alvey served in a variety of capacities in his military career. He was a drill sergeant for nearly a decade with the 151st Infantry Detachment Long Range Surveillance unit in Indiana.

“We do this for our fellow veterans, but veterans obviously don’t have a monopoly on things such as PTS,” Alvey says. “So

many others are affected and we hope that our efforts will help everyone in need.”

Alvey also says many veterans struggle with depression after they come home from combat deployments.

“The transition back to their old lives can really be rough for a lot of veterans,” he says.

Alvey is a busy man these days. Besides running The Warrior

Brian Alvey is a guest on WIBC’s The Hammer and Nigel Show

Darrin Tissandier, Adam Smith and Brian Alvey at the first-ever ruck march in 2019

Darrin Tissandier and Brian Alvey at the start of 2021’s ruck march

110 organization, he also runs both his business consulting firm and private investigation firm out of his offices in downtown Franklin.

Alvey says the November ruck marches have been highly successful and he intends to continue with them in the years to come.

“We were able to accomplish what we set out to do, which is to spread awareness about some important issues, and hopefully we’re able to inspire more of our fellow veterans to seek out the help they may need,” Alvey says. “They need to know that people care about them and acknowledge all of the great things they did.”

“We invite the public to walk the last day of our trek on November 12, departing at noon from The Mint in downtown Franklin to the Greenwood American Legion Post 252, where there will be a family-friendly celebration open to the public that will include drinks and a steak dinner that everyone is encouraged to attend,” he adds.

For more info on The Warrior 110 organization, visit thewarrior110.org and facebook.com/warr110r.

THE VOICE OF THE HOOSIERS DON FISCHER EMBARKS ON 50TH YEAR AS RADIO VOICE OF IU

Writer / Ryan Kennedy Photography Provided

Legendary radio braodcaster, and Center Grove resident, Don Fischer begins his 50th year as the radio voice of Indiana University football and basketball this season, but he almost didn’t make it through his first game.

“To tell you how much of a fool I was the first game that I did for IU, because I was from Illinois and I’d always heard ‘the University of Illinois’ - I wasn’t even thinking about Indiana University, and that would be the only thing you could call it because obviously that’s what Indiana University is,” Fischer says. “They don’t want to be called University of Indiana three times in the first half of the first game that I did for IU. I called them the University of Indiana, and the phones at our radio station lit up like a Christmas tree. It was that bad. I thought, ‘There’s a chance I might get fired after my first gig here.’”

A native of Rochelle, Illinois, Fischer, by his own admission, wasn’t a great student. It’s not that he wasn’t smart - he just didn’t like school. College was out of the question. After he graduated from high school, Fischer wasn’t sure what he wanted to do with his life. He had several jobs. In the eight months after graduation, Fischer says he worked five different jobs. Finally, he got a job as a ticket clerk for the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad in Mendota, Illinois. He worked the night shift.

One night, about seven months into working for the railroad, Fischer was

flipping through a sport magazine during a break at the depot when he saw a full-page ad for a home correspondence course from a broadcast school out of Wisconsin. “I looked at that and I went, ‘You know what? I may not have been a great athlete, but I got to play a lot of sports from the time I was about 8 years old on up, and I think I can become a sportscaster,’” Fischer says.

He signed up. Records of the lessons, a workbook and a tape recorder arrived in the mail, and Fischer’s journey to becoming a legendary play-by-play announcer began.

Fischer got his first job in radio at a small station in Butte, Montana. Fischer heard from a friend who’d already gone out there that the station was hiring. Despite being only halfway through his correspondence course, Fischer sent the station one of his tapes. The station called him a week later. “They said, ‘If you can get to Butte, Montana, for an interview, there’s a good chance we can hire you,’” Fischer says. He took a 48-hour train ride to interview for the position. A week later they hired him.

In Butte, Fischer worked the night shift as both a radio DJ and the station’s janitor. He worked there for about 15 months. Fischer returned to his home state, where he got his first shot at doing play-by-play, calling games for local high schools in Ottawa, Illinois. From there, he got a job at a radio station in Terre Haute, Indiana. Fischer says he called 175 games per year at every level of sport. “We did football, basketball, baseball, Babe Ruth baseball,” he says. “We did softball games. I was doing play-by-play almost every night of the week.” He was even calling junior football games out of the back of a pickup truck, with a blind color analyst. “It got me rolling as far as my play-by-play career was concerned, and I just had a great time with it,” he says.

When Indiana University granted exclusive broadcast rights to WIRE radio station in Indianapolis, Fischer got a call from a friend telling him that the station was looking for someone to call play-by-play for IU football and basketball games. Fischer, along with 270 other hopefuls, sent the station a tape and a resume. A few weeks later he got a call to interview for the job. Soon after, he was named the first official voice of Indiana University football and basketball, a title he still holds five decades later.

Fischer has broadcast more than 2,100 Indiana University games. Included in that number are 12 bowl games, five NCAA basketball Final Fours, four NCAA championship games and two NIT championship games. He’s won Indiana Sportscaster of the Year 27 times by the National Sports Media Association, and four times by the Indiana Sportswriters and Sportscasters Association. He was inducted into the Indiana Broadcast Pioneers Hall of Fame in 2010. Indiana University awarded him the J.W. Bill Orwig Medal, an award given to non-alumni

for distinguished service to the university. When Fischer started calling IU games, they were broadcast over a telephone line. Now, everything sounds like it’s recorded in a studio. “It’s just a totally different business than when I started out, but the truth of the matter is, the games haven’t changed that much,” he says. “Style plays and things like that change a lot over the years, but the game itself is still football. The game itself is still basketball, and from that perspective, that much has not changed. That’s why I love doing what I do, because I’ve been able to do my style of football and basketball broadcasts for the last 50 years.”

Fischer says he developed his style listening to the likes of the Chicago Cubs’ Harry Caray and the St. Louis Blues’ Dan Kelly. Much like an athlete watching tape of a previous game, Fischer listens to his broadcasts, noting what he did well and what needs improving. He pays special attention to make sure he’s not repeating himself. Play-by-play is spontaneous. Fischer doesn’t think about what he’s saying while he’s saying it, but he takes care to avoid using the same terminology for certain types of plays.

Preparation is key. Fischer reads everything he can get his hands on leading up to a game. He learns about storylines and stats, as well as stars for opposing teams and how they’re playing. He talks

to sports information directors to get the correct pronunciations of players’ names. All of this is in the service of providing the audience with an objective, informative and entertaining listening experience. “It boils down to just knowing your product, being prepared to utilize the experience that you have, and you get into a groove with it,” he says. “Once you get into it, it’s not that difficult at all, but it takes a while.”

Fischer’s voice is the soundtrack to some major moments, not just in Indiana University history, but also in the history of college sports. Fischer says he doesn’t have a favorite call, but the 1976 national championship basketball game, when Indiana University won the title to finish the season undefeated, holds a special place in his heart. “It was emotional for me,” he says.

“I was 29 years old at the time, getting the job when I was 26 here. I had tears running down my cheeks. It was so emotional in that sense. I don’t think you could tell that I was bubbling up with tears on the radio, but it was just a fun thing to be a part of. It’s always been a vivid memory for me.”

Fischer claims his memory isn’t as good as it used to be, as he breaks down Keith Smart’s famous game-winning jump shot with six seconds to go in the 1987 NCAA national title basketball game, and recalls the wind changing directions in the third quarter of IU football’s win over the University of Michigan that same year. “I’ve had so many opportunities to call some broadcasts that turned out to be kind of historical performances, so I can’t pick out just one,” he says.

Even after 2,100 games, Fischer says he still gets nervous before the season starts. He compares it to the butterflies athletes get before they play in a game. He says he goes into every season optimistic, even if a team is coming off a disappointing year. “That’s certainly the way I feel this year too,” he says. “So my 50th year doesn’t feel a great deal different than it did back in 1973 when I started in Indiana.”