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1 week ago | 
hometownregister.com | Pete Swanson
More blessings besides induction at the June 13-14 Illinois Sports Hall of Fame weekend in Springfield. Inductees included former Lawrenceville sports standout and University of Kentucky guard Jay Shidler, who has a unique background that so many others would like to have.
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1 week ago | 
hometownregister.com | Pete Swanson
SPRINGFIELD, Illinois – Not everyone has to have been a playing standout to become a Hall of Famer. Proof of this is Darin Blair, who played without starring on the Martin Simmons and Doug Novsek-led, and Ron Felling-coached, 1982 and 1983 Lawrenceville boys basketball teams that won Class A state championships while going 68-0 in those two seasons.
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1 week ago | 
pdclarion.com | Pete Swanson
MONTGOMERY – A first in Peyton Blackard’s storied golf career, but a late disappointment for he and Gibson Southern teammates. In Thursday’s Washington Regional on Montgomery’s Country Oaks Golf Club course, the son of Jason and Melanie Blackard became medalist. After shooting a five-under-par 34-33-67 for the 18 regulation holes, he won a three-man playoff on the second hole.
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2 weeks ago | 
pdclarion.com | Pete Swanson
VINCENNES - Gibson Southern golf boys became Vincennes Lincoln Sectional team champions Friday for the fourth-straight year, finishing the 13-team tournament with a 298 score to the host Alices’ 313 and Washington’s 319 at the Cypress Hills Golf Club. These three teams advanced to this coming Thursday’s 7:30 a.m. Central Washington Regional on Montgomery’s Country Oaks course.
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3 weeks ago | 
pdclarion.com | Pete Swanson
HAUBSTADT - Tri-State Speedway fans will be treated to a sprint car doubleheader Saturday night. Not only will the Thunder 410 Sprint Car Series return, so will the USAC Midget drivers. Fans in attendance will see many of the same drivers in both races – including former Princeton Community High School three-sport athlete Kyle Cummins and perhaps Fort Branch resident Chase Stockon.
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3 weeks ago | 
hometownregister.com | Pete Swanson
Small towns Mount Carmel and Lawrenceville are big in the inaugural Illinois Sports Hall of Fame that Newburgh (Indiana) resident Tim Turpin is starting two weekends from now. The Hall of Fame’s Saturday, June 14, inaugural banquet will be preceded the night before, Friday the 13th, by “An Evening With The Illinois Sports Legends” banquet.
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4 weeks ago | 
pdclarion.com | Pete Swanson
Fans who expected to see both the Indianapolis 500 and Tri-State Speedway program this past Sunday found the Haubstadt facility almost empty due to the program’s cancellation that came about due to the rain forecast. “We came here, so we’ll stay and play a game here,” one family father said near his parked car. Only one other family was at the track at about 5:30 p.m.With its Memorial Weekend Classic canceled, Tri- State’s next program will come Saturday, June 7, during USAC Midget Week.
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1 month ago | 
pdclarion.com | Pete Swanson
FORT BRANCH – As he and his Gibson Southern teammates prepare for their final tournament ahead of the postseason, this may have set a record for high school graduation party turnouts. On Saturday, less than 24 hours after Gibson Southern’s 2025 graduation ceremonies, Peyton Blackard’s graduation party drew a considerable crowd throughout the 2 to 7 p.m. party that parents Jason and Melanie Blackard prepared for him in the Fort Branch Community Park building a few blocks from the family's home.
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1 month ago | 
pdclarion.com | Pete Swanson
A recap of the 2025 NCCAA World Series tournaments for the Oakland City University baseball and softball teams:BASEBALL:May 19 v. Jessup University:After defeating Kansas Christian, 8-4, in their 2025 National Christian College Athletic Association opener on Saturday (May 17), two swings on a windy day sent the No. 1-seeded Oakland City University baseball team to Monday’s 3-2 loss to No. 4 Jessup in Round 2 of the National Christian College Athletic Association World Series.
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1 month ago | 
pdclarion.com | Pete Swanson
Sunday night’s Tri-State Speedway program will continue a long-standing series with a national attachment. The Haubstadt track’s Memorial Weekend Classic, with hot laps at 6 p.m. and racing at 7, will follow the Indianapolis 500 by a few hours. “Dad (the late Ed Helfrich) started this tradition long ago, back around 1960, of having a program on the same day as the Indianapolis 500,” said Tom Helfrich, who with wife Loris operates the quarter-mile dirt oval facility along with wife Loris.
