I was sitting at my desk in our office Saturday night. No. 1-ranked Indiana’s game against Central Connecticut State was playing on the television, but I was focused on work and paying little attention to the game until I looked up and saw a player down on the floor, surrounded by medical personnel.
I was unable to immediately see which player was injured, but I had a bad feeling that it was Hamilton Heights product Austin Etherington.
Sure enough, it was the 6-foot-6 sophomore forward on the floor with what turned out to be a broken patella in his left knee.
I felt bad for Etherington, who was carving out a role on a team that will challenge for the national title. And I felt bad for the Etherington family, which has dealt with more than its fair share of injuries.
When Austin Etherington was removed from the Assembly Hall floor on a stretcher Saturday night, I immediately thought back to his brother Alex’s injury in Hamilton Heights’ 2010-11 regular-season finale at Peru. Alex went up for a dunk, was undercut by a Peru player, and took a frightening head-first fall to the floor. He briefly was knocked unconscious and also briefly lost feeling in his extremities. He was removed from the floor on a stretcher and transported by ambulance to a trauma center in Fort Wayne. He had a severe concussion.
The family’s injury history runs deeper. Austin had cartilage reconstruction surgery on his right knee in seventh grade and the same procedure on his left knee in high school. Alex had a stress fracture in his back the summer after his freshman season.
“Alex’s [head injury] was the hardest to deal with because you couldn’t see progress. You knew you just had to wait,” said the boys’ father, Brett, who is one of Western’s all-time greats and a former Butler player. “He sat out basically six months after that. It really took him another three months to be 100 percent.
“Austin’s first surgery was when he was a seventh grader. After that point, you learn there is nothing you can do but look forward and be positive. I think in the long run, it teaches you to cherish your health and your ability to play because of what you have been through. They truly appreciate what they get to do, I think, more than a lot of kids might only because of what they’ve had to go through.”
Brett’s youngest son, Aaron, recently added his name to the family’s injury report. A sixth-grader in the Hamilton Southeastern system and a promising player, he fractured a thumb a couple weeks ago. He had his cast removed Thursday, just in time for his birthday and for a game that night.
“He has been initiated. He can officially say he’s an Etherington now,” Brett joked.
Brett said Austin is doing well following surgery for his broken patella.
“He is prepared because he’s been through [surgeries] before. So in that regard, he is ahead of the game, but obviously disappointed. He made the comment to me in his hospital room Saturday night, ‘I finally felt like I had turned a corner,’” Brett recalled. “His strength in that leg ironically had really increased over the last few months and he finally was able to do some squats, which he had never been able to do because he had those cartilage issues in the past. He had finally gotten to the point where he was doing normal things with that leg and then this happens.
“That was probably the biggest bummer for him. In his mind, he was getting ready to get more quality minutes and his confidence was as high as it had been.”
Brett noted Austin is in good spirits.
“He has the best attitude and it shows when adversity sets in, because he is still such an upbeat kid,” he said.
The Hoosiers are a close-knit team and will offer Etherington their support on his road to recovery. He will need to keep the injured leg immobilized for eight weeks, but then will be able to jump right into rehab. He should be ready for summer workouts.
“It didn’t affect any of his cartilage or ligaments so I actually see him recuperating pretty quick from this,” Brett said. “If it had damaged the cartilage, I don’t know if he would have been able to come back from that. With this being a bone injury only, I don’t see any problem at all.”
Alex is now a senior at Hamilton Heights, which is off to a 2-0 start (1-0 Mid-Indiana Conference) heading into a game against Western tonight.
“We’re a much more balanced team so there’s a lot less pressure, I think, on Alex to carry the load,” Brett said. “I think this is as strong a team as Austin’s senior year and probably more athletic. We have good shooters, we have good athletes, we just don’t have any size.”
Alex is receiving Division-I interest and could follow Brett (1987) and Austin (2011) as an Indiana All-Star.
Bryan Gaskins is the Tribune’s sports editor. He may be reached at bryan.gaskins@kokomotribune.com or 765-454-8567.
Sports
GASKINS: Etherington remains positive
IU player’s family has a long history of injuries and comebacks.
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Northwestern takes down West Lafayette
Northwestern played a very solid game on both offense and defense in defeating West Lafayette 8-5 in the opening round of the IHSAA Class 3A Peru Baseball Sectional Thursday night.
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10 area athletes advance to boys track state finals
Austin Roark’s first season as the head boys track and field coach at Eastern High School just keeps getting better and better.
A week after guiding the Comets to their first sectional title since 1998, Roark will join six of his athletes at next weekend’s IHSAA state finals after advancing out of Thursday’s Kokomo Regional at Walter Cross Field. -
Eastern dominates Taylor in softball
GREENTOWN — The third time turned out not to be the charm for the Taylor softball squad as Eastern improved to 3-0 on the season over its backyard rival Wednesday night, ousting the Titans from the Class 2A Eastern Sectional 15-0 in five innings.
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Barnes sets Taylor's career hits record
Taylor baseball standout Logan Barnes made his final game at George Phares Field one to remember.
Barnes pitched four solid innings to lead Taylor past Monroe Central 9-3 Tuesday. In addition, he went 2 for 3 at the plate, pushing his career hits total to a school-record 142. -
Kats drop heartbreaker
When the postseason arrives, emotions surge like a roller-coaster. One minute, it’s a long uphill, then a wild series of events offer a barrage of frights and thrills. And then, for one team, the ride ends and there aren’t any more tickets for another go around.
After two days of chills and thrills, Kokomo’s softball team ran out of tickets Tuesday night in the Class 4A Harrison Sectional. The Kats dropped a 4-3 decision to Harrison in eight innings, giving up a run in the top of the extra frame, and having a runner tagged out at home in the bottom of the frame.
“It was a great game,” Harrison coach Dick Mitchell said. “It’s always nerve-wracking to coach in one of them, but both teams played their hearts out. Nobody deserved to lose that game, but unfortunately somebody does.” -
Comets turn heads at track regional
Heading into Tuesday’s IHSAA girls track and field regional at Fort Wayne Northrop High School’s Spuller Stadium, event workers alike weren’t sure of Eastern High School’s location.
After the dust settled, they may feel compelled to get a map out and find out where Greentown is located.
Led by seniors Sarah Wagner, Brittany Neeley and Bethany Neeley, the Comets qualified for the state finals in six separate events to finish fourth as a team with 55.5 points, behind host and champion Northrop (78), Bellmont (68) and Carroll (Allen) 66. -
GASKINS: Hibbert’s block was thing of beauty
For the better part of the NBA season, ESPN devoted all kinds of time on SportsCenter episodes to replays of two dunks. Anyone who watches any ESPN at all surely knows the two to which I’m referring: 6-foot-11 DeAndre Jordan of the Los Angeles Clippers posterizing 6-3 Brandon Knight of the Detroit Pistons, and 6-8 LeBron James of the Miami Heat hammering home a dunk over 6-2 Jason Terry of the Boston Celtics.
Day after day, ESPN commentators lavished endless praise, which quickly grew tiresome. The dunks were strong, but Jordan and James were much taller and heavier than Knight and Terry and the dunkers also caught perfect alley-oop passes with the defenders in poor positions to defend. Still, ESPN commentators loved these plays.
I kept wondering if a great defensive play would receive the same kind of love. -
Coons, Walker, Glassburn reach Victory Lane
When the dust settled Sunday evening at the Kokomo Speedway, a pair of drivers who have visited Victory Lane in the past at the local oval found themselves there once again while a talented up-and-comer hit the hallowed ground for the first time.
Jerry Coons Jr. had his way in the sprint car feature and Craig Walker seemed to get faster as the laps wound down to win the Street Stock main event, however Kokomo High School sophomore Kory Glassburn had to scratch and fight before scoring the first feature win of his career in the Thunder Car A-main. -
Field is set for Indianapolis 500
After being bumped from the starting field while sitting on the qualifying line on pole day, Josef Newgarden turned the fastest time on bump day, assuring himself a spot in the Indianapolis 500.
The field of 33 cars will have one final opportunity to practice on Friday before next Sunday’s 97th running of the 500.
One year ago the Sarah Fisher Racing Team withdrew Newgarden’s entry on the first day of qualifying and had to qualify on bump day. This year the team decided not to make another qualifying run and got bumped. -
Athlete of the week
Cole led the small-school Comets to the Kokomo Sectional title, their first title since 1998.
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