Where is Hauser graduate, Josh Land? Celebrating

Several years ago, I had Josh Land as a fifth grader followed by his sister, Molly, and then his brother, Joe. They were all excellent students, remained in FRHC School Corporation while graduating from Hauser, Josh in 2003. Josh is a teacher at Jennings County and the Varsity Basketball Coach. Molly is at the University of Virginia's College at Wise and is the Assistant Director for Compliance & Inclusion and Assistant Women's Basketball Coach. Joe lives in Waldron and employed by Shares, Inc in Shelbyville, the same place his dad, Rick, worked. He also has a flower and garden business.

I graduated from Jennings County with Rick. He was very involved with the Hope Summer Playground and Future Jets and was an IHSAA official. In addition, Rick was devoted to Special Olympics. Josh's mother, Joanie, was a colleague of mine for years in FRHC School Corporation and still resides in the Hope area.

Monday, I traveled to Seymour to watch Coach Land and his Jennings County Panthers play in the Seymour 4A Sectional Championship. It took longer than expected to get to the school due to a steady line of traffic headed that way; it then took a while to find a parking space; and I had to walk quite the distance before entering the gym. Thus, it was not too surprising to find a gym, capable of accommodating over 8,000, full of fans as well as a sea of blue supporting the Jennings County team.

The crowd brought back wonderful memories of when Mr. Epperson, Hope Elementary Principal, allowed me to leave school a little early to help out Coach Gayle Mills in volleyball. The Lady Panthers finished third in the State Volleyball Finals that year, 1981. They were kind enough to present Rusty Sanders, another helper as well as a good friend, and me the same medal the team received, one of my most treasured awards.

Josh, his family, and the community of Jennings County certainly should be celebrating winning the Seymour Sectional Championship over New Albany 51-39, a championship not celebrated since 2005. An aggressive defense with an offense scoring from inside and out contributed toward a great played game. They held the lead throughout the contest with the score at halftime being 33-24.

This one was not like the previous two where they had to come from behind. Like many, I was feeling as if Jennings County was destined to win. They defeated Bedford North Lawrence 72-71 in double overtime after having a 12-point deficit in the fourth quarter and then Jeffersonville 48-46 after facing a 15-point deficit at halftime. Interestingly, they shared the Hoosier Hills Conference with Bedford and Jeffersonville suggesting those tournament games would be quite competitive.

Josh was kind enough to take my phone call while understandably being extremely busy. He has many good memories growing up in Hope, including playing basketball through the ninth grade and varsity baseball. A lot of hours were spent with his dad preparing the summer playground fields. Eventually, he received payment for his help and made some money officiating on the side. While in college, he attended the 2006 State Basketball Finals to watch Hauser win, which of course all of Hope attended.

And Josh stated: “I check 'HSJ Online' weekly and credit the community I grew up in with much of my success as a teacher and coach today. In my opinion, Hope and Hauser have set the standard for what I view as success in what I do every day!”

On Saturday, March 11th, his team, 23-2, will be playing Evansville Reitz, 19-6, at the Seymour Regional. He would like to have his dad, Rick, and his grandmother, Betty Lou Land, attending; however, both will be there in spirit and in Josh's heart. He knows Jennings County will be well represented with a sea of blue filling the gym once again.

Coach Land, please know your Hope and Hauser family wishes you and your team the very best. And I suspect there will be Hauser fans there, too.