WABASH CO.— The actions of an overzealous father at his daughter’s history-making basketball game were understandable, but to the point of having to be escorted out by four police officers was a bit over the top.
Such a thing is usually reported by media in attendance and forgotten about as quickly as it happened.
However, in this case, the fact that no area media bothered to name the individual who was walked out of the game by cops, and only one even mentioned it happened at all, gave the story momentum.
The fact the father walked out of the game by four police officers happened to be not only the parent of the star player, but the Wabash County Superintendent of Schools, Tim Buss, actually has some furious at the appearance that the incident was hushed up.
“There was no word of this in any of the local newspapers or on the air at any of the area radio stations,” said one critic of how the incident was handled.
Where credit is due
The incident took place Saturday December 28 when the Mt. Carmel Lady Aces faced off with the Princeton Lady Tigers, in Fort Branch during the Toyota Teamwork Classic championship game.
Buss’ daughter Tyra, a senior and a basketball prodigy who had already signed with Indiana University in 2012 and had already broken the state record for free throws as a junior and was the state’s leading scorer, averaging 47.4 points a game, was playing to a packed house. Many were there to watch her break the high school career points record.
Buss was three points shy of making history.
Those present roared as early on in the game, she hit two from the line to tie her with Brittany Johnson’s 4,031 career points.
In no time, Buss hit a three-pointer and the cheers were deafening.
The entire gymnasium lit up.
Once the well-deserved celebration quieted down, the two teams got back into the game and it was a nail-biter down to the wire.
When the final buzzer blew it was Aces 82-Titans 84.
Depending on who you ask
Depending on who you ask, Supt. Tim Buss was seated just beneath the Tigers’ goal very near the Tigers’ bench.
Some say Tim Buss was “jawing the entire time” as in giving Lady Tigers lip every time they got close to the goal.
Others say Buss was merely coaching his daughter as was his habit throughout her career, and as most parents do.
Again, depending on who you ask, Buss was very displeased when his daughter was called for a technical foul.
Others say with as many ballgames as Buss has attended, of course he wasn’t happy and didn’t agree with the call, but had enough time courtside under his belt to know that’s just part of the game.
“But this wasn’t just any game,” argued one of Buss’ critics. “This was his daughter’s legacy and he was furious.”
There are reports that when the game was over, some of the players didn’t want to shake hands and that Princeton’s coach was taunting players.
Others say both teams lined up and shook hands without hesitation and that no coach was taunting anybody.
The pivot
There seems to be little debate that Princeton Coach Charlie Mair walked over to Buss following the game.
There is little debate that he said something.
What is unclear and a point of contention is that some say Mair taunted Buss into losing his temper and that the outcome of that was to be escorted out of the gym by four police officers.
There are no reports as to what exactly Buss did that would have necessitated such an escort.
What makes the entire incident spurious is not necessarily that Tim Buss did anything…but that there are no reports from any news media and members of the public who witnessed the event are asking why.
While it is understandable that nobody wants to tarnish a young person’s historic achievement, the perception of a cover-up because of someone’s station in life, like a coach or school superintendent, can do just that if gone unchecked.
Interestingly, when Disclosure contacted Ft. Branch police, who advised that they do indeed provide security and law enforcement presence at the games, no one knew of any incident wherein the superintendent was escorted out.
Disclosure reached out to both Coach Mair and Supt. Buss, but neither had returned communications as of press time.