Dear Editor:
Many things have been said and shared about Don Jellison over the past several days. A lot of people knew him for various reasons, but most I would have to say knew him because of his ability to report about sports like no other.
I knew Don for nearly 50 years. You see, I was one of those kids who spent most of my summers at a baseball field. In grade school, it was the little league fields around North and Conner elementary schools, and in my junior high and high school days, it was the high school baseball field on 16th Street where the Ivy Tech parking lot is now.
But in the summers, my time was mostly spent at the Babe Ruth diamonds at Forest Park. I have a lot of lifelong friends from those days, but unfortunately, like Don, many have now passed away. I also remember a lot about the days of the Chas. L. Howard Babe Ruth baseball teams. There were some great teams and great players. The state tournaments were fun when teams would come to Noblesville from all over the state. These are the stories that I hope my husband Perry will share for many years to come.
Don was a great friend and mentor to my husband, Perry. Their days go back to when Don was the coach and Perry was a little leaguer. They have been friends throughout the years, but really had the opportunity to spend a lot of time together since Perry moved back from Tennessee. Don and his son, Jeff, have been an important part of Perry’s life.
To me, Don was Hamilton County’s sports historian. Upon hearing that, he would probably say something like, “That’s because I’m old and have been around forever.” I wish I knew the number of games he watched and covered over his lifetime, from his days at Noblesville High School working on the Mill Stream, to his days of having his own paper with his son Jeff. I have often said I wish Don would write a book because he had so many memories of Hamilton County sports he could have shared. He loved the Millers but he believed in covering all the county teams. He highlighted many great athletes throughout his years, covering and supporting Hamilton County sports.
I loved listening to Don and Perry banter back and forth when they did shows for Hamilton County Television. My favorite was when he would work with Perry announcing baseball games. Now, anyone who knows my husband knows he can be very soft spoken and hard to hear, but when they were working together on the broadcast, it was Don who I couldn’t hear. I would send Perry a text and say I can’t hear Don when he is talking. Perry would send a note back: Don won’t talk into the microphone.
Don was one of those guys where you always knew where he was coming from, no beating around the bush. If the Millers had a bad game, Don would generally let them have it the next day, no sugar coating, no filters. He expected great things from his teams and coaches.
In the last few years while Don was writing for the Reporter on topics that might have been out of his general knowledge of expertise, he would always surprise me with how he could be at a meeting and take no notes and then write a complete story with all the facts. When Don started covering elections, he would often call to make sure he understood the process and what was going on in the election world.
He was a very humble man. In 2016, Don was named the Noblesville High School Alumnus of the Year. He didn’t want and he didn’t feel that he deserved any recognition, including the honors and placements in the Hall of Fame for many organizations from the newspaper and sports world.
Perry and I both have talked about when this day would come, and Don would not be able to share his stories with us anymore. I have to say it is going to be pretty hard on us. We are going to miss his friendship, his reporting and his dry sense of humor. The one good thing about a writer is their words are preserved and archived. I am sure there will be many times Perry and I will do some research to remember a great event Don covered, thankful for the opportunity to read the words of our good friend Don.
The crazy part of growing up and getting older is for a short time, you lose your friends. In our case, I am not going to say goodbye, I am going to say, “See you later my friend, I look forward to meeting up with you for a ballgame, a hot dog and a bag of popcorn.”
Thanks, Don, for all of your years of service to this community with your words and dedication.
Kathy Richardson
Noblesville