Neighbors - Post-Tribune (Gary) -
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Published on: 3/12/2003
Last Visited: 3/12/2003
AAU track not hit or Mis
March 12, 2003
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But the organization - in existence since 1975 - is about more than winning and losing, and it starts at the top with Joe Mis.
The 71-year-old Hammond resident formed the club 28 years ago and has continued to be one of the most dedicated leaders of an organization that has produced several track stars over the years.
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And Mis remembers every one of the kids who ran or jumped or threw the shot put for the Hammond Track Club.
"It takes dedication to do this non-paying job," he said."It's almost a seven-day-a-week chore because we're always preparing for the next year."
That preparation and hard work isn't always spent on track or cross country.
The club sponsors several teams in girls soccer, tennis and basketball and also donates time or money to school teams from Merrillville, Bishop Noll, West Side and Chesterton among others.
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Mis started out as a track coach at St. John Bosco grade school and went on to help at Bishop Noll when sons Danny and Michael attended the high school and tried out for the track squad.
He began running AAU national and regional meets in cross country and track in the area and did it so well that he became the region director for AAU.The region includes athletes and teams from Indiana, Ohio, Illinois, Michigan, Kentucky and West Virginia.
His first national meet was in 1989 at Wicker Park in Highland where more than 1,900 participants attended.Five years later the same local meet set a record that still stands with more than 2,500 competitors, including 10 athletes that flew in from Guam.
In 1996, Mis took over the indoor AAU meet in February that had been at Kansas University for the previous 10 years.He started with fewer than 100 athletes that year and it's grown to more than 900 this year from 30 states.
Mis owned the Yankee Inn bar in North Hammond for 35 years, most of which came while running the track club.He sold the business in 1999 to focus on the kids.
"I just wanted to have something to do when I retired but I'm busier now than when I was working," he said.
"I'd like to see someone younger to take the bull by the horns and keep things going in Northwest Indiana."
The track club is a non-profit organization that raises money through its gaming license with a weekly midnight bingo on Fridays at the Hammond Elks.
The track club donates at least 60 percent of the total amount raised during the year to groups such as Special Olympics, American Red Cross, Northwest Indiana Tennis Association, Knights of Columbus, Calumet Region Striders and the Child Safety Council.
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Now Mis has the ultimate goal of helping get a sports complex built in the community in which he has lived most of his life.
Contact Steve Gorches at 648-3136 or by e-mail at sgorches@post-trib.com.
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