After making the half-court shot that awarded him free tuition, IU junior Jake Newlander was mobbed by friends and members of Sigma Alpha Mu in the middle of the court in Assembly Hall.
Ball at the Hall was a three-on-three basketball tournament put on by Sigma Alpha Mu for the Lauri S. Bauer Foundation for Sudden Loss on Feb. 24.
The Lauri S. Bauer Foundation was started by Lauri’s husband Scott Bauer after Lauri died of a sudden heart arrhythmia in front of her husband and three children in January 2011.
Two of Scott and Lauri’s children, senior Alex Bauer and freshman Jake Bauer, attend IU and are members of Sammy.
The purpose of the foundation is to help children dealing with grief, regardless of whether it comes from death of a loved one, divorce, incarceration of loved one or a similar issue, Bauer said.
Bauer’s two sons are not the only Sammy members who have experienced loss, he said.
Many other Sammy brothers have lost family members in the last couple of years, which Bauer said motivated them to be more active in his philanthropy.
“Supporting our foundation is something incredibly near and dear to them,” Bauer said.
This was the second year for Ball at the Hall, Bauer said. This year, he said Sammy raised $40,000 from the event and more than 60 teams participated.
Among those teams was the Alpha Epsilon Pi team, of which Newlander is a member.
Having participated in Ball at the Hall his freshman year, Newlander said he loved the event and decided to participate again in order to give his brother Josh Newlander, an IU freshman also in AEPi, a good experience at IU.
Both Jake and Josh were on the same team, and ended up going to the finals of the tournament, Jake said.
To win the finals, Jake said a member from one of the two teams would have to perform a layup, a free throw, a 3-point shot and a half-court shot all within 24 seconds.
If the player does all of these things, he would win $25,000 in tuition.
“When they announced the possibility of getting free tuition, I was thinking, ‘There’s no way this is going to happen,’” Jake said.
Despite this, Jake managed to make all the shots within the allotted time and won the free tuition.
However, Jake said he doesn’t attribute his success to himself.
He said Josh played a significant role in helping him win the Ball at the Hall tournament.
It was Josh’s job to rebound his brother and chase down the ball after a miss during the final round of the tournament, Jake said.
When Jake missed two 3-point shots, Josh sprinted for the ball.
It was this hustle that ultimately allowed Jake the chance to make the 3-point shot again and finally the half-court shot. The shot lead him to both win the tournament and the tuition.
Since he doubts he will need all $25,000 to pay for tuition for his senior year, Jake said he will donate the remainder of the funds to the Lauri S. Bauer Foundation.
The funding for the $25,000 awarded to Newlander was provided by an insurance organization, Great Shot Golf, of which Bauer is the president.
Even more than a week after Ball at the Hall, Jake said he was still in disbelief about winning the event, as well as managing to acquire such a significant amount of money.
“It was an unbelievable event, unbelievable time, a great group of guys at Sammy,” Jake said. “And it was a great foundation for a great cause.”
