Members attending the 24th  Annual Membership Dinner of the Dubois County Museum. Inc. were aware
that the evening was going to be a sports themed evening with the tables decorated with baseball
memorabilia and pictures of county baseball players and teams from the past, but were surprised that
Chicago White Sox Double A player Colson Montgomery joined his family and planned to make a special
donation to the museum.

Colson, a standout baseball player from Holland, IN and Southridge High
School was recently drafted by the Chicago White Sox and will be reporting to spring training soon to
Double A ball. He spoke to the crowd gathered that he knows there is hard work ahead for him, that
going from high school baseball to professional baseball is tougher than he thought, but he is excited
about the future. He presented to the museum an autographed photo of joining the White Sox
organization holding his number 21 jersey, a bat that he used to hit his first home run in Double A ball
and a pair of baseball gloves that he wore during his streak of 50 games on base. The museum plans to
add these items to the sports collection exhibit at the museum.

After the presentation featured speakers Walt Ferber and Greg Eckerle took the microphone and shared stories. Ferber, the retired sports director at WITZ radio, spoke of watching Colson and a lad named Scott Rolen, play baseball in the area. Ferber spoke of seeing a lot of qualities he noticed with the recently elected National Baseball
Hall of Famer Rolen, with Colson’s father, former Forest Park athlete TJ Montgomery, and with Colson.
The greatest sports moment for Ferber, and he had many over his 43 years in broadcasting, was able to
call the Indiana State Final games in 2021 when the Montgomery led Southridge Raiders won the 3A
State title and the Jasper Wildcats won the 4A State Title. Greg Eckerle, local sports writer and the
Coordinator of the Sports Exhibit at the museum and recently the coordinator of the Jasper High School
Hall of Fame shared his stories of shared talks he had with Terry Gobert, coach of the Jasper Wildcats, of
individuals like baseball umpire Steve Fischer who was a tad nervous about going out to call a game with
Scott Rolen before such a large crowd gathered at Ruxer Field. Eckerle also shared more stories about
individual players and a special item from the 1934 Jasper Wildcat basketball banquet. The item is on
display in the Sports Exhibit at the museum.

Museum Board president Bruce Heeke thanked all for coming to the dinner. He also recognized Mary
Ellen Backer and Janet Kluemper for their many years of service as members of the board. Backer was a
member for almost sixteen years, served as vice-president for over eight years, and Kluemper was a
founding member of the museum and Board since 1999 and headed and oversaw many programs and
exhibits. Elections were held for several members of the member board. Being elected to the board for
a three year term were new member Jeff Schmitt from Haysville, Joe Shelton, Gary Eck, Vicki
Wiederkehr and Margaret “Peg” Wagner. They join members Bruce Heeke, Kathy Bachman, Vic Betz, Dr.

Ryan Flamion, Julia Flynn, Mary Ann Hayes, W. Jean Hoffman, Carrie Holdsworth, Sandy Miller, Cheryl
Sermersheim, Kurt Vonderheide and William Weikert as members of the Board of Directors. Also Heeke
announced that Stacy Buhr was recently hired as an Administrative Assistant to the museum. She will
begin February 6, 2023. Treasurer Julia Flynn spoke of upcoming improvements planned to the museum
of repairing more of the roof (that has been on hold by the roofing company due to a shortage of
supplies), painting the exterior of the building and remodeling the lobby area. A listing of 2023
programs was distributed and more programs will be added through the year as they become available.
Heeke also thanked the dinner committee of Vicki Wiederkehr, Cheryl Sermersheim and Julia Flynn. The
meeting was adjourned and members enjoyed visiting with Montgomery.
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