Two men who cast giant shadows across the Indianapolis sports scene left us the same day from the same disease. Myles Brand, stepping from academia into sports when he stood up to Bob Knight with his zero tolerance policy at IU, then taking a strong academic platform to the NCAA in his fight for reform is a terrible loss. I met him a few times, always cordial, asking about my background, smiling, friendly, pleased to get his message out. He was comfortable with the media, and helped take the NCAA into the new, more open age of blogs, internet and television. His stamp on the collegiate landscape will be that the NCAA is more than victories and big money..its about academics and student athletes.

Mel Simon kept pro basketball from leaving the cradle of the game when he and his brother bought the Pacers in 1983. The Pacers, Conseco, and his Circle Center mall rejuvenated a dead downtown, and even though he did very few interviews and public appearances, I’ll never forget the night he and his brother presented Reggie Miller with a Bentley when his number was raised to the rafters. Herb has come front and center, sitting down with me for an extended interview when he went “hands-on,” but he always spoke of his brother and what the Pacers meant to them. I salute the duo, without them, the Indianapolis sports landscape would look very different.