Dear Editor:
Don and I were competitors in a sense, though we were always good friends. We had much respect for each other. Don even confided in me about starting an online newspaper. He used some of my ideas from the Hamilton County Sports Daily website I started in 2010. I even wrote for the newspaper when it was in newspaper form in an attempt to help promote the northern county newspaper with his son Jeff, the publisher. Don also wrote a column a time or two for my website.
We had a lot of common, in addition to our many years in the newspaper/website business.
- Don totaled 60 years, I believe, and I will be starting No. 55 in 2018. We started writing while we were in high school, by the way (Don at NHS, me at Kokomo HS). We even worked for the same paper – The Noblesville Times – at different times.
- Don was heavily involved in Babe Ruth Baseball. I played and coached Babe Ruth Baseball in my hometown. I also coached American Legion Baseball there and in Michigan City.
- We used to sit together at basketball games, and always found a lot to talk about. He always took notes; I upgraded to a tape recorder – something he would have nothing to do with it, he once told me. (Yeah, he was a tad more ‘old school’ than me, yet we REALLY had much in common.)
- Our paths often crossed on Sundays at Fishers United Methodist Church. Our wives – My Becky and Don’s Mattijane – are also very good friends.
- Don and I shared a love for our profession. I’m guessing that we were the oldest active sportswriters in Hamilton County and Central Indiana for that matter. Hopefully, I’ll be able to carry on for many more years.
But one very important thing people need to know about Don Jellison is that he was so pleased to be able to help Jeff in his new endeavor with the Hamilton County Reporter, where Don was a (sportswriting) Editor of the The Hamilton County Reporter. He was so determined to help make a difference and to give Hamilton County another ‘newsy’ voice.
Don once told me that he was proud, so very proud . . . to be able to help Jeff with the online newspaper.
Don had a way of letting you know if you were a friend, a true friend. We had some great conversations, and I don’t recall him ever saying anything BAD about anyone.
I always felt good about our friendship, and I miss him; I miss my friend!
Most should agree that Don Jellison was “Mr. Hamilton County!”
Mark Morrow
Fishers