Still Having A Ball

This feature is titled, "Where Are They Now?" With Mildred Ball - the first woman to be inducted into the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame - you don't to ask. All you have to do is look. She's everywhere. In magazines. In newspapers. On billboards. Her smiling face is being featured in a campaign promoting women's heart health and awareness by Indianapolis-based Clarian Health. That came about because someone from the American Heart Association asked Ball's daughter, Judith Thomas, if she knew of any women who had had heart problems recently. "Yeah, my Mom," Thomas replied. Just last May, Ball required surgery to help alleviate issues related to high cholesterol and high blood pressure, in her case an inherited condition. Almost a year out from that surgery, Ball is doing well and has resumed the active lifestyle that has marked her career. For those who may not immediately recognize Ball's name, she was a groundbreaking assistant commissioner - the first African-American - in the Indiana High School Athletic Association (IHSAA), serving from 1977 to 1997 before retiring. Her IHSAA duties included no less than licensing and training of the 8,000 officials represented by 26 officials associations, in addition to overseeing boys and girls tennis, golf, soccer and girls gymnastics. "It was the IHSAA that gave me high blood pressure," Ball, 72, says with a chuckle. "That was hard work ... seven days a week many times, traveling all around the state." But that hard work was recognized by one and all. The National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) sought Ball's expertise. An official's manual she prepared became a much-copied model. In Indiana, she instituted clinics and other training aides, gaining statewide respect. That exceptional career with the IHSAA earned her induction into the Hall of Fame, the result of being awarded the Hall's 1998 Silver Medallion, which recognizes contributors to the game. Subsequently, Ball took charge and oversaw the implementation and selection of the first two classes of women players and coaches to be has taken into the Hall. It's been an amazing life's journey for Ball. The only girl in a family that included five brothers, Ball was an exceptional athlete, but was relegated to the Girls Athletic Association (she was president) while also being involved in cheerleading and dance at Gary Roosevelt, from where she was graduated in 1953. Ball attended Hampton Institute in Virginia after high school, but her father lost his job due to a steelworkers' strike, and she had to return home to work and support the family. Two years later, she arrived at IU-Bloomington, without transcripts and with very little money in her pocket, but nonetheless had the moxy to demand her admission into the University. John Endwright, an assistant dean in IU's school of Health, Physical Education and Recreation (HPER), was called in to tell Ball to return to Gary. Instead, he was so impressed with Ball's desire he instructed the admissions office to "let her in." Quickly, Ball was earning straight A's while working a variety of jobs to pay her way through school. She returned to Gary, all right, but with a degree which she parlayed into a teaching career, followed by a 10-year stint as coordinator of the Youth Corps. In 1977, she and her husband, Lionel, a former Gary policeman, came to Indianapolis, where Mildred began her career with the IHSAA. These days, she's retired - sort of. "I'd rather be doing something than sitting on my can being bored to death," she says. So she's chairperson of the HPER Alumni Board. She's involved with the American Heart Association. She serves on IU's Athletics Committee. She does speaking engagements and community work. And she and Lionel, her husband of 47 years, dote on their children and six grandchildren. Where is she now? Here, there and everywhere.