Although they officially signed their national letters-of-intent during the national signing periods for their respective sports, Parker Chitty and Rhett Myers wanted to celebrate their decisions with a few of their friends.
So Friday afternoon in the Columbus East High School commons, Chitty, Myers and three other East seniors who plan to play sports in college participated in a signing ceremony. Their classmates, coaches, friends and family were there to help them celebrate.
“Me and Rhett decided we wanted to have a big group signing with all of our friends and everybody we’ve worked together with, the kids I grew up with,” Chitty said. “These are some of my best friends. Kevin Williams is probably my best friend. Signing with him is probably one of the things I’ll cherish and I’ll remember for the rest of my life.”
Chitty signed in November to play basketball at Eastern Kentucky. He plans to enter the school’s business program but eventually wants to be a college basketball coach.
Myers, who also plays basketball and throws the shot and discus in track, signed Feb. 3 to play football at Air Force. His scholarship is worth $450,000.
“I didn’t realize national signing day was such a big deal around the country,” said Myers, who will major in engineering. “It was cool to be a part of it.”
Williams, a basketball teammate of Chitty and Myers, decided late last month to play that sport at Hanover. He also was considering Wabash.
Hanover is starting a mechanical engineering program that is expected to by in place by Williams’ junior year. The first two years, he will major in math and physics.
“I really feel like Hanover is a second home for me,” Williams said. “I’m really comfortable with the social life, the basketball program, education. Everything there seems like a perfect fit for me.”
Aaron Kruchten is headed to Carnegie Mellon to play football. The offensive and defensive lineman also went to camps at Cornell and Princeton and looked at MIT before deciding on Carnegie Mellon last summer.
Kruchten plans to major in business at the Division III school in Pittsburgh.
“It’s a really good school, and the business program there fits in with my interests,” Kruchten said.
Another East senior, Austin Proffitt, will play golf at St. Francis. He verbally committed in October and signed last month.
Proffitt also was looking at DePauw, Evansville and Mount St. Joseph before deciding on St. Francis, an NAIA school in Fort Wayne. He plans to major in business.
“They have a great business program with an internship for two years, so that was the main tipping point for me,” Proffitt said. “Also, the golf, they have two courses that we can play every day for free.”
