FORTVILLE — Basketball fans, classmates, members of his soccer team and the community all came together for Shawn Houser Tuesday.
At the Mt. Vernon High School Gymnasium, Kyle Guy’s Dizzy Runs Pro-Am Summer Basketball League came to raise awareness of Houser’s story and help benefit the outstanding high school soccer player and his family.
Shawn was in an automobile accident on June 18. He was thrown from his car and suffered a traumatic brain injury, the extent to which has not yet been determined. He also has a broken clavicle and has been in the Neuro ICU at St. Vincent’s Hospital since the accident.
Amanda Smith, whose son is a varsity soccer teammate of Shawn’s, had a table in the gym lobby set up for people to buy black and gold bracelets that read “Shawn Strong” and “MV#24.” There were also QR codes set up to purchase t-shirts being sold by Shawn’s club soccer team, Hoosier FC. Cash donations were also made.
Smith said, with the bracelet purchases [$5 each] and cash donations, over $1,000 was raised on a night where the community came together to help one of its own and enjoy a night of watching some great basketball.
Guy was Indiana’s Mr. Basketball and a McDonald’s All-American at Lawrence Central High School. He went on to lead the University of Virginia to a national championship and was named The Final Four’s most outstanding player. He’s played in the NBA and is currently playing professionally overseas.
Three summers ago he started Kyle Guy’s Dizzy Runs Pro-Am summer league which has included some of the top high school, college and professional players — many with Central Indiana or Indiana ties.
Guy played Tuesday along with the Orlando Magic’s Gary Harris.
The list of players included a number of players that are playing professionally overseas or in the G-League, former pros, and current college standouts.
Many names were familiar, including former Mt. Vernon star and pro Michael Ertel, Purdue’s Trey Kaufman-Renn and Myles Colvin and Butler’s Pierre Brooks, Boden Kapke, Evan Haywood, Finley Bizjack and Kolby King.
Former Pendleton Heights/Butler and Memphis Grizzlies’ guard Sean McDermott also played along with former Indiana Pacer and current Pike High School head coach Jeff Teague.
Guys siblings have gone to, or are still going to, Mt. Vernon Schools, including recent grad Brady Fitzgerald, a starter on the Mt. Vernon varsity boys basketball team.
“Kyle Guy reached out right away wanting to share Shawn’s story,” Smith said. “I think Kyle knew this event would bring a lot of people to this facility. He knew we had the GoFundMe page, the bracelets and things and thought this would be a great way to reach out to the community to hear Shawn’s story and support Shawn.”
A lot of Shawn’s teammates helped with taking donations.
“It’s good to see the community come out and support Shawn,” senior Colby Smith said. “A lot of people have given donations and bought bracelets. (I’ve) heard of a lot of these guys (that are playing basketball) and it’s neat that they are playing at our school.”
There were food trucks out in front of the school and a DJ helping entertain the crowd in the gym. Three games were played with four 10-minute, running-clock, quarters.
“So many people are coming in the doors and buying bracelets and giving additional money” Amanda Smith said. “They may just hand over money and not buy a bracelet. They just said they’d heard about Shawn’s story, know the struggle he is going through, and would love to donate and support him.”
Amanda Smith said they will have another table set up to donate when the soccer team hosts the Mt. Vernon Soccer Showcase on July 19-20, as well as at the annual Mt. Vernon Athletic Booster Blast on August 10.
People can also donate on a GoFundMe page set up at: https://www.gofundme.com/f/join-shawn-housers-fight-for-recovery.
A flyer on Mt. Vernon Athletics’ X (formerly Twitter) page (@mvmarauders) includes a QR Code that has more information about buying t-shirts that will help the family. The QR code will also be included on the online version of this story.
“Everyone’s generosity,” Amanda Smith said. “There was a family that came up here with three kids and they each had money, probably what they had just got out of their little piggy-bank at home. They didn’t want a bracelet, but they just wanted to hand over their money for this cause. That was heart-warming.
“We know Shawn personally. He’s an incredible kid. On the soccer field, he’s such a fighter …He’s very passionate about soccer and about life and he’s an amazing kid and we strongly believe he’s going take that passion and fight and get through this. He’s going to come out of this and get back on the soccer field again.”
