Chitty, Conner win Cramer Awards

Brent Chitty and Nancy Conner made their living as educators, and have made a profound impact on the lives of both youth and adults inside and outside of the classroom.

Thursday afternoon, Chitty and Conner were selected as the male and female recipients of the 2025 Jack Cramer Ideals of Athletic Competition Award.

“I had no idea I was even nominated for such a distinguished award,” Chitty said. “Jack Cramer was an incredible athlete that lost his life way to early. That’s a heck of an honor, and it’s very humbling to me.”

Former Columbus East boys basketball coach Brent Chitty coaches during the annual rivalry boys basketball game Dec. 16, 2022, at Columbus North.

The Republic file photo

Chitty, 61, was boys basketball coach for 13 years, assistant athletics director for 12 years and taught health and physical education for 15 years at Columbus East. The Bloomington South and Indiana University graduate previously had been an assistant basketball coach at Bloomington North and head coach at Owen Valley and Evansville Central.

In all, Chitty spent 39 years as a teacher and 38 years as a coach. He was head coach for the Indiana All-Stars in 2015 and is the winningest coach in East history.

“No. 1, it’s an honor to coach basketball in the state of Indiana and to do it in a community like Columbus that loves basketball,” Chitty said. “All the athletes that I maybe had a small influence on getting to college and doing what they want to do is simply a humbling honor.”

Chitty was nominated by former longtime East gymnastics coach Nancy Kirshman, who now works with the East Alumni Association. Director of Columbus Parks and Recreation director Mark Jones, who oversees the Cramer Awards selection committee, called Chitty to inform him of his honor.

“When Mark called, I figured he needed some help,” Chitty said. “He and I used to work together getting the soccer field ready. We did it for the kids. I told Mark, ‘Surely, there’s somebody that deserves it more than I do,’ and he told me that’s what everybody says.”

Like Chitty, Conner also was shocked when she got the call from Jones Thursday.

“I said you could have listed 20 things on a list, and I never would have expected that one,” Conner said. “I was very much surprised.”

Conner, 79, grew up in Seymour. When she was in school, girls sports were not a priority.

“Back in my day, we didn’t even have organized sports for women,” Conner said. “They’ve come a long way. We had what they called the Girls Athletic Association. I signed up to play basketball, and I was a guard,” Conner said. “As a guard, you dribbled the ball twice, and then you had to pass it, and you could not pass the center line. Only the forwards and center could shoot. That was my introduction to basketball.”

Conner earned a bachelor’s from IU and master’s from Purdue in speech and language therapy. She was a speech and language therapist and Autism Coordinator for BCSC.

Along the way, Conner has been a volunteer for Just Friends, Orphan Grain Train, Meals on Wheels and Parachute Model and has been a board memeber for Columbus Parks Foundation and Developmental Services, where she also taught a cooking class. She also has been a St. Peter’s Lutheran Church Shining Stars leader, Church Council member, greeter, prayer minister, Feed My Sheep co-chair and Bible study fellowship leader.

Conner was named Educator of the Year, The ARC of Bartholomew County (1997); Channel 6 Make a Difference Award (1998); Making a Difference for Learners Award, BCSC (2006); Mindy Lewis Above and Beyond Diversity Award (2008) and Golden Hoosier Award (2019). She was inducted into the BCSC Hall of Fame in 2020.

“I was a workaholic,” Conner said. “I just have a passion for individuals with special needs. I spent most of my life in that, but since I’ve retired, I’m found that as one gets older, you have to have a passion, and I stay active. My passion now is trying to keep people out of the doctors’ offices.”

That includes herself. She has hiked in the Smoky and Allegheny Mountains and hiked to Patagonia on the southern tip of South America in 2019 to raise money for Foundation For Youth.

“I’ve always enjoyed physical activity, and I love the outdoors,” Conner said. “When I retired, that’s when I got into hiking. It’s great exercise physically, spiritually and mentally. You just have to keep moving.”

Conner was nominated for the Cramer Award by hiking partners Ed Eckerly, Vivian Eckerly and Dan Fox.

Nowadays, Conner spends most of her free time playing pickleball. She was instrumental in starting the Columbus Pickleball Club and in getting pickleball courts installed at several locations in the city.

“I had never even heard of pickelball,” Conner said. “There was an article in the paper that said, ‘Come and play pickleball.’ The next thing I knew, we formed a club, and I was secretary. We had about 20 members, and now we have about 250. We’ve come a long way.”