** THE HUNTINGTON NEWS NOW "PERSON OF THE WEEK" IS: The current Principle of Manchester High School DR JON LIPPE! ** It is hard to believe it has been 15 years since Coach Jon Lippe walked away from from North Arena and the Lady Viking Basketball program to take the Athletic Director Job at Warsaw High School. Not much has changed. Coach Lippe looks exactly the same and North Arena still has that 1995 State Championship banner and picture hanging. Coach Jon Lippe played an instrumental role in guiding the Lady Vikings to their 2nd state Championship in a 6 year span under the legendary coach Fred Fields. The whole time he was coaching under as an Asst under Coach Fields I and maybe a few others knew he was being groomed as Coach Fields replacement when he decided to step down. As in any sport but especially basketball it is never easy to fill the shoes of a legendary Basketball coach, and Coach Fields was at the top of many Indiana state coaching records making him one of the best girls basketball coaches of alltime the state of Indiana. He was responsible of building the Huntington North Lady Viking program into a Indiana girls basketball powerhouse. To this day I dont think I have seen a coach fill the shoes of such a legendary coach with that much success on the Local, State, or National Level. He was Huntington's "Golden Boy" young primed and ready to keep the Lady Vikings on top winning state titles. He came close several times having some heartbreaking losses in sectional and regional. One game in particular really stood out and that was the heartbreaking 1 point loss to Kokomo in the 2005 Regional Championship at North Arena in what would be his last game as head coach of the Lady Vikes. I was sitting front row right behind the basket and you had the sense that this team would be the one to go back to state but they just fell short. In my opinion Coach Jon Lippe last Lady Viking team was his best and no doubt had all the ingredients of a State Championship Caliber team. The Lady Viking Basketball program has never been the same since struggling for years and now appears to be getting back to that place of High Success under Coach Hines. When Coach Lippe took the AD Position at Warsaw you would see him, his wife and son court side on their annual trip to North Arena.Often times you would see many people in the stands wave at him and give him and his family such a warm reception. This speaks volumes to the impact he has had in the community of Huntington. Even 15 years later walking into North Arena as the Principle of Manchester High School he got a lot of hand shakes and smiles from the crowd in North Arena as both the boys and girls basketball teams played had games here this week. I was going to talk to him a couple of times but just could not get to him because he had a couple former players and other people approach him. Coach Jon Lippe and his family truly define serventhood which is based on the principle everything I do is based on including Huntington News Now and that is "Loving others as much as yourself" which is why Dr. Jon Lippe is Huntington News Now "Person Of The Week" I have to give his brother Jason Lippe a shout out too who I went to school with and love so much! Great guy great family!! Huntington News Now does a person of the week every Friday and will have a Person Of The Year in a couple of weeks. I you know of a business who wants to sponsor this shoot me a message. I want to continue to do this but NEED local support to keep it up!
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