Columbus North’s, from left, Austin Perry, Anderson Horn (partially obscured) and Jack Whaley converge on Seymour’s Nate Fritsch Feb. 10 at Columbus North High School.
Tommy Walker | For The Republic
Austin Perry was a state qualifier in golf last season.
Jack Whaley was rated the No. 3 baseball prospect in the state in last year’s freshman class.
Anderson Horn was the leading tackler on the Columbus North football team.
Basketball may not be the primary sport — or at least the best sport — for three-fifths of North’s starting lineup. But each has excelled in various facets of the game this season to help the Bull Dogs to a sectional title and a berth in the regional against Terre Haute North at 7 p.m. Saturday at Greencastle.
“I just love the game of basketball,” said Perry, a junior guard and the leading scorer for the 14-10 Bull Dogs. “I grew up playing golf and basketball. I didn’t want to stop playing either. I love playing each. I love being around the coaches. I love being around the teammates on both teams. It’s just super fun to play golf and basketball.”
Columbus North second baseman Jack Whaley fires the ball to first against Jeffersonville April 9, 2025, at Southside Elementary School. Tommy Walker/For The Republic
Tommy Walker | For The Republic
Already an accomplished travel baseball player, Whaley burst onto the high school scene last spring by homering in his first three games. The first of those came in his first plate appearance as a Bull Dog.
Jack Whaley
After playing JV basketball last year, Whaley moved into the starting lineup early this season and became a force on both ends of the floor.
“For me, basketball has always been that really competitive sport that I can just go out there and play free and be myself,” Whaley said. “I would say baseball is a little bit more stressful when it comes to my future. I just go out there on the basketball court and I just do my thing. I get to go out there and just play my absolute heart out without any regrets. When I was younger, I was maybe a decision away from quitting baseball and playing basketball only, but I’m glad that decision didn’t happen.”
Columbus North’s Anderson Horn (28) and Koleton Sinnock (38) and sack Southport’s Mason Owens Sept. 8, 2025, at Columbus North High School. Tommy Walker/For the Republic
Tommy Walker | For The Republic
Horn played freshman and JV basketball as a freshman, but then played only football as a sophomore. He planned to return to basketball last season, but a shoulder injury from football sidelined him. The shoulder injury has kept him from pursuing playing football in college, but he wasn’t about to miss his senior basketball season.
“I would definitely say growing up playing basketball and football, I kind of faded away from basketball,” Horn said. “Football, the numbers are massive, and you still build lots of good connections, but basketball is just such a fun sport to play because there are smaller numbers, you’re closer with all your teammates and all the coaches are so great here. I would definitely say a big part of why I play both sports in high school are just the friendships you build. Basketball is a great community here at Columbus North, and it’s great to build friendships.”
Anderson Horn
Horn is best known for his defense and intensity, traits that carry over from the football field.
“It’s huge for us,” boys basketball coach Paul Ferguson said. “In particular, Jack and Anderson just bring us a competitive edge. Both of those guys are great competitors. They’re physical, they’re athletic and there’s things that they picked up in their other sports that they bring to the basketball court. Jack has been in pressure situations before. Anderson was the middle linebacker for the football team. A lot of communication happens at that position. Look at what a fantastic communicator he is on the court for us.
“Then, you look at Austin — golf is such a pressure situation,” he added. “You love the fact that he’s standing over a huge putt in the state championship. He’s learning how to handle pressure situations, and how many big shots has Austin hit for us this year in pressure situations? Austin is a shot-maker, and I think those second sports have helped those guys be in pressure situations, not just in basketball season, but year-round, and that’s helped them become the great competitors and athletes that they are.”
Columbus North’s Austin Perry watches his putt on his first hole during the second day of the Boys Golf State Finals June 18, 2025, at Prairie View Golf Club in Carmel.
Rob Baker | For The Republic
The players credited boys golf coach Doug Bieker, baseball coach Mike Bodart and football coach Logan Haston for working with Ferguson to help them succeed at multiple sports.
“It’s definitely a little difficult in the summer,” Horn said. “Schedules conflict, but the coaches here love two-sport athletes and three-sport athletes, so coach Haston and coach Ferguson definitely do play the system well to get us to both practices, and they do balance it very well.”
Austin Perry
“Just being a two-sport athlete is super difficult, but I’m really thankful to have coach Bieker and coach Ferguson being super with allowing me time to play and practice basketball and practice golf,” Perry said. “I work my butt off in-season in both sports. I also take time during the season, maybe on a Sunday, I’ll go do the golf simulator during basketball season, or during golf season, I’ll get in the gym in the morning. Those are the sacrifices I have to make to be a two-sport athlete.”
Not many two- and three-sport athletes — especially when one of the sports is basketball — exist at schools the size of North.
“I think the big thing with being a two-sport athlete at this 4A level is, you just have to manage your time well,” Whaley said. “Obviously, you’re a student first, so you have to do great things in the classroom before you do anything outside of that. But you get so much more athleticism, and you just learn so much more knowledge and you acquire other skills that you might not acquire from different sports if you weren’t to play them. It gets kind of hectic in the summer, but I think it’s just a great thing and I would encourage anyone to do it.”
