Around the country, even. 4 Floyd Central. He still lives and works in Bedford and has spent a lot of time coaching and helping his three kids during their athletic careers. Bailey plays a game uncommon for this summer basketball scene, a recruiting meat market attended by small-school college coaches in logod shirts as the states best underclassmen are thrown into a pot and assigned a team. In a game on December 4, 1993 in the IndianaKentucky rivalry, UK was ranked number one in the nation, but Indiana upset the Wildcats. 22. Wasnt afraid of the whispers, the taunts, the shadow that follows him around the state. October 21 Basketball Player #6. Nevertheless, Indiana's athletic offices got more requests for paraphernalia and autographs for Bailey than any of the team's other stars, including Cheaney.[5]. He became a cult figure during the late 1980s and early 1990s in Indiana. Smaller schools like Indiana Wesleyan are on him hardest, but Valparaiso is watching. Feel free to contact anyone of our team members for any questions or requests you may have! Bailey was selected with the 44th overall pick in the 1994 NBA Draft by his hometown team the Indiana Pacers. Dad and I arguing, and he calls me a hot dog nobody likes a hot dog, this and that and I say: I do, with mustard and ketchup. My mom says: Oh baby, you didnt just say that., We had a come-to-Jesus meeting with Dad. In 2005, Bailey began his coaching career as the boys basketball coach at his alma mater, where he remained for two seasons. Damon played, his daughters played, and then his son. It was some kind of game, the kind theyre used to seeing on Damon Bailey Court. That ship has sailed, Good Morning, Illini Nation: New 2024 offer out. Wendell Bailey was pronounced deceased at the scene. A good question, in 1994, but lets move ahead to 2018. This is a place where players are unfamiliar with their teammates, where some are trying to get theirs. Damon Bailey is an Indiana basketball legend, a one-name identity in a state with several of those but only two who played their way to first-name familiarity. In Bailey's first three seasons (199093), he and the Hoosiers posted 87 victories, the most by any Big Ten team in a three-year span, breaking the mark of 86 set by Knight's Indiana teams of 1974-76. filled the Hoosier Dome for his last high school game, better than any guard we have right now,. He was drafted by the Indiana Pacers, but never played in an NBA game. Learn How rich is He in this year and how He spends money? He retired in 2003 and later returned to Bedford North Lawrence for a short stint as head basketball coach. He chose No. Wendell tried to shield Damon from that, a process that started when Damon was a little bitty boy, just a toddler playing in the Boys & Girls Club of Bedford basketball league. His shoulders are not as broad, his chest not as thick, but hes just 17. He chose No. Well, true. Bailey's performance in the upset earned him a spot on the cover of Sports Illustrated, which has since become an iconic image among Indiana fans. I don't mean potentially better, I mean better today. Whether you shoot it as well as anyone else, are as athletic, as big, I want you to go out and compete as hard as you can, and whatever happens, Im going to be pretty happy as a parent.. Smaller schools like Indiana Wesleyan are on him hardest, but Valparaiso is watching. Alligator wrangler Mike Bailey holds Damon, a two-foot caiman that was caught in Harlem Meer in Central Park by Bailey's wife, Tina. Late in a close game,Brayton gets to the rim twice, draws contact, doesnt get the call, doesnt score. Once a college sees him play, the interest meter goes through the roof.. The third installment: Whatever happened to Indianas Damon Bailey. He began his career at Hoosier Parts, the local automotive and heavy-duty parts store, starting at an entry level position and quickly working his way up all the way to manager. Brayton Bailey doesnt play that game. Those two, he says, pointing past me, at his parents Im sitting between Damon and Beverly and now hes telling me a story. As a high school senior he was the USA Today and Naismith Prep High School Player of the Year, as well as Mr. Basketball USA. I was just born with it, Brayton Bailey says, and man is he smiling now. For years Ive heard Damon is humble like this, remarkable for someone so famous that a stranger once snuck onto his lawn to grab a few blades of grass, and it sure seems true. Phone: (812) 277-5244, Dan Ryle - Indianapolis, Terre Haute, Lafayette, Central/Northwest Indiana HBW Sales Representative. But hes good, very good, right now. I found this story on USA TODAY High School Sports and wanted to share it with you: Why, for a story about Wendell Bailey, am I talking so much about Damon? In April 2017, Bailey resigned as the Butler Bulldogs women's basketball assistant coach after three seasons. INDIANAPOLIS Football was an option. He found himself in the national spotlight when he was recruited to Indiana while still in 8th grade. He is popular for being a Basketball Player. Bailey rose to national prominence after being recruited by Indiana coach Bob Knight as an 8th grader, an unusual event at the time. Bailey played in the Continental Basketball Association (CBA) for a number of years. Low 31F. Im challenged every day with something, because Im Damons son., basketball, boys basketball, brayton bailey, Damon Bailey, indiana, News, Clemson gets commitment from 4-star North Cobb RB David Eziomume, Vermont HS girls basketball team forfeits rather than face transgender opponent, USA TODAY Sports Super 25 high school basketball rankings, week of Feb. 27, 2023, https://usatodayhss.com/2018/damon-bailey-son-indiana-prep-legend, Son of Indiana prep legend Damon Bailey thrives in dad's shadow. The story is developing. In addition to Alexa; Damon and his wife, Stacey, a former BNL cheerleader, have three children, including daughter Loren, 14, who is a freshman, and son Brayton, 11, a fifth-grader. Thats not fair., Braytons coach at Bedford North Lawrence, Matt Seifers, is telling me about two AAU tournaments. Those two, he says, pointing past me, at his parents Im sitting between Damon and Beverly and now hes telling me a story. And he fights, rebounding against a bevy of 6-6 opponents in the second game I saw, losing one battle but regrouping and doing one of those swipe-blocks where he erases the shot in the same way a boxers left hook erases a chin. A national high school record crowd of 41,046filled the Hoosier Dome for his last high school game,and he scored 30 points, including his teams final 11, rallying Bedford North Lawrence past Concord 63-60. Bailey scored 20 points in that game and BNL trailed 4746 after three quarters, but he fouled out with 2:06 to go and the opposing team led by Lyndon Jones and Jay Edwards prevailed 7061 en route to their third straight state title. Teammates from this era included Greg Graham, Pat Graham, All-American Alan Henderson, and 1993 National Player of the Year Calbert Cheaney. Look, you can understand. Was he a combination of Jack Armstrong, Superman, King Kong, Magic Johnson and Larry Bird? Damon coached his girls at BNL, you may recall, and. INDIANAPOLIS Wendell Bailey never was one for attention. He has a hat pulled low over his head, but this is Indiana; Damon Bailey cant hide here. The other AAU tournament was a few years before that. Venus is graceful, charming, sensual and social. I know people expect me to be like my dad, and Im not my dad, Im my own person. After taking in the game, Knight remarked to his assistant coaches that "Damon Bailey is better than any guard we have right now. Wait, what did Damon Bailey just say? He was a star at Bedford North-Lawrence High School and won a state championship in 1990 in front of more than 41,000 fans at the RCA Dome in Indiana. You can also find out who is Damon Bailey dating now and celebrity dating histories at CelebsCouples. He was 16, but played with the 17-year-olds. Damon Bailey: The kid that filled the Hoosier Dome, If anyone knows what Romeo Langford is going through, it's Damon Bailey, See Damon Bailey and more Indiana greats in IndyStar's high school basketball book. Im lucky, Damon was telling me in 2018, talking about his dad. Teams from these three seasons spent all but two of the 53 poll weeks in the top 10, and 38 of them in the top 5. Most Popular #105301. Bailey went on to become Indiana's all-time high school leading scorer and would earn All-America honors playing for the Indiana Hoosiers. 6 on the IU list were his humility and his passion for family. In front of us, Brayton Bailey is tossing a lob that 6-4 junior Tony Perkins of Lawrence North throws down at the rim. In early 1986, when Bailey was a 14-year-old eighth-grader, Indiana coach Bob Knight watched two games featuring Bailey's team. Wear his number. Before a crowd of more than 41,000 people at the Hoosier Dome in Indianapolis the most people to ever attend a high school basketball game Bailey scored 30 points, including his team's final 11, in a 63-60 come-from-behind win. Discover today's celebrity birthdays and explore famous people who share your birthday. Damon was in eighth grade. 22. By Bob Asmussen rasmusse@news-gazette.com, Roselle man in custody in 2021 shooting of North Prospect Avenue motorist, Epps 'doing better' after hospitalization, Good Morning, Illini Nation: More from Dra Gibbs-Lawhorn, Asmussen | Reduced ticket prices for football the right move, Big Ten women's basketball tournament primer: They're in it to win it, Gibbs-Lawhorn thriving with Overtime Elite, New Illini-centered name, image, likeness collective targets big-dollar donations, Asmussen | Happy birthday, Assembly Hall/State Farm Center. Luck is on their side. In front of us, Brayton Bailey is tossing a lob that 6-4 junior Tony Perkins of Lawrence North throws down at the rim. I was just challenging myself really.. Later that year, as Bailey was entering Bedford North Lawrence High School (BNL) and Feinstein's book was being published, the acclaimed basketball movie Hoosiers was released. In the crowd at Ben Davis, his father is blending in as well as Damon Bailey can at a gym in Indiana. Western Kentucky. It was in a gym, of course. The coach said he was as good as any guard on his current team. A last-second shot, Im the one that wants to take it.. This kid has guts. Why does he find these challenges and seek them out, running them over when he could just as easily run around them, or easier still, run away from them? A woman spots him, points him out to her husband, and comes over to ask if she can take their picture together. His shoulders are not as broad, his chest not as thick, but hes just 17. Continuing his Indiana journey, he was selected by the Indiana Pacers in the second round of the 1994 NBA Draft. A woman spots him, points him out to her husband, and comes over to ask if she can take their picture together. Bailey rose to national prominence after being recruited by Indiana coach Bob Knight as an 8th grader, an unusual event at the time. Damon Baileys birth sign is Libra and he has a ruling planet of Venus. Same earnest face, like youd see walking off a farm in Lawrence County. A few years later, Damon Bailey gets a letter from Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim. Waltermire terminated the pass and got back behind the tractor-trailer before over-correcting and losing control. 22, and I wanted to be like him ever since I was little., I love basketball, and its a challenge, he says. They are associated with a rejection of traditional values. He rose to national prominence after being recruited by Indiana coach Bob Knight as an 8th grader, an unusual move at the time. Damon Bailey was inducted into the National High School Hall of Fame following his iconic career playing high school basketball in Indiana. And that older couple to his right? When he's not rising to pose graciously for pictures, Damon is sitting with his wife, Stacey, and their two daughters, Alexa and Loren. There was the time in Virginia when … Well, well get to Virginia. But it didnt take. ", Bailey finished his high school career having appeared in three state Final Fours and scoring a record 3,134 points, a record that still stands today. He is not dating anyone. It happens all the time., So does this: Opposing gyms using Brayton Baileys background as a bludgeon. Had a double-double in his first high school game, 12 points and 10 rebounds, and averaged 12 ppg that year. Throughout the day, we'll take a look back at iconic figures one per school from Big Ten's basketball past. At the time, Knight and his 198586 team were being covered by author John Feinstein for his book A Season on the Brink, which would later go on to be a national best-seller. These hippie kids protested against the Vietnam War and participated in the civil rights movement. However good I was, and that can be debated . The education details are not available at this time. He became a cult figure during the late 1980s and early 1990s in Indiana. Earlier this season North Lawrence was playing No.