Publisher
Hamilton County Reporter’s co-founder Don Jellison died this past Sunday at Harbor Manor Care Center. Don, in his nearly 60 years of newspaper reporting and coaching, touched so many lives. He impacted the community on a scale that is immeasurable.
I was recently asked, as the publisher of the Reporter, how do you describe Don in an article? Don was bigger than any newspaper. Don was a walking hard drive of sports history in Hamilton County, and from a news standpoint he challenged his community to be the best.
So how does a newspaper write an article on Don? You don’t. You let the people that he touched do all the talking.
Since Don’s passing the Reporter and the Jellison family have received hundreds of phone calls, emails and messages. Below are just a few from those that Don touched.
Former Hamilton Southeastern baseball coach Ken Seitz said, “Don was great ambassador of youth / high school sports in the county.”- Mark Resch, a former player for Don and an avid reader of Don stated, “If you do not know who Don Jellison was, you truly are not a Noblesvillian.”
- “Don helped lay the foundation for what Indiana baseball has become,” said Rob Barber, a long-time travel baseball coach.
- Noblesville Common Councilman Wil Hampton said, “A caring man who truly loved our community. This is an enormous loss for Noblesville.”
- Carmel High School Athletic Director Jim Inskeep was quoted in the Indianapolis Star: “Don had an institutional knowledge of everything in Hamilton County,”
- Former Noblesville Boys Basketball Coach Dave McCollough was also quoted in the Star, saying, “For a long, long time, he was there for everything. He was there for volleyball, baseball, softball, wrestling. And he wasn’t afraid to be opinionated.”
- Sheridan Football Coach Bud Wright was quoted saying, “If you got beat or got beat bad, he tried to see the brighter spots. He didn’t dwell on a lot of negativity.”
- Former Sheridan football player Brian Bragg stated, “Don was the guy everyone wanted to read after the big game.”
- One reader stated, “Noblesville’s legacy and history as told by Don will never be duplicated. Others from around Hamilton County described Don as a great reporter of the truth, a Hamilton County sports icon and a man that touched so many young men and women.
Don had a passion for sports and his community, but his love was family.
He was a committed husband who loved his wife Mattijane. The last week of Don’s life was a struggle with complications from pneumonia and Parkinson’s disease. During that time he never complained of feeling ill, but often said he was concerned that Mattijane had a cold.
Don was a father who taught his two sons the importance of work and family.
His granddaughter, Shelby, the only girl born to the Jellison family, was the apple of his eye. His grandsons, Drake, Zack, Vaughn, Matthew, Josh and Cameron adored him.
There is no replacing Don. No sports writer in Hamilton County will ever be more respected. No newspaper editor will ever have the ear of community leaders like Don did.
So, what does the publisher of the Hamilton County Reporter have to say about Don? Rest in peace Dad. I love you.