Ron Bonham remembered in Fieldhouse ceremony

MUNCIE — Ron Bonham's funeral could have appropriately taken place at Prairie Creek Reservoir, considering his decades of service at that property and his love for the outdoors.

But family ultimately chose the Muncie Fieldhouse, where Bonham first became so well-known as a star basketball player and where thousands of Bearcat fans cheered for him most every winter weekend.

"He was the best shooter around," said Jerry Pierson, a star basketball player at Royerton High School two years behind Bonham and his Central High School career. The two Delaware County natives then got their chance to play against each other in college, when Bonham was at the University of Cincinnati and Pierson at nearby Miami University.

Pierson was among the few hundred who paid their respects Friday during calling hours at the Fieldhouse, many of whom stayed for a service that included comments from the mayor, a former college teammate and a representative of the Department of Natural Resources.

Muncie basketball legend Ron Bonham dies

"We all knew what he did on the basketball court," Muncie Mayor Dennis Tyler said. "But Ron Bonham was the epitome of a public servant."

Tyler pointed to Bonham's 38 years as superintendent of Prairie Creek Reservoir, where he became a fixture and a friend to all reservoir guests. He could be seen in the frigid early-year water putting in piers, and he could be seen on a mower caring for the many acres. During that time he also served three terms as Delaware County commissioner.

And he was remembered for his love of the outdoors, from hunting and fishing, to creating wetlands on his private property near Prairie Creek. Land cared for by Ron and his wife of 43 years, JJ, became the first in Delaware County to go in to the Red Tail Conservancy, assuring it would be kept in its natural state and protected from development.

There was much height among the visitors to the Fieldhouse on Friday, indicative of Bonham's basketball friends who were in attendance. There was Indiana Pacers great Bob Netolicky, fellow Cincinnati star George Wilson, Pierson, former Nebraska University star and Burris coach Brian Carr and many others.

Wilson, like Bonham a Parade All-American in 1960, earlier this week fondly recalled Bonham's single greatest skill on the court.

"He was the shootingest guy I've ever seen, and I've been around a long time," said Wilson, who joined Bonham as freshmen at Cincinnati in the fall of 1960. "I knew about him in high school, and he was shooting then. We knew Ron could shoot. We used to play defense, make no turnovers and shoot. He could jump every now and then, but rebounding wasn't his thing. I told him, 'Ron, you keep shooting, and I'll do the rest.' "

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At Cincinnati, Bonham watched teammates win the NCAA championship his freshman year (when freshmen were not allowed to play on the varsity team), then played a key role as a sophomore when those Bearcats won a second straight national title. Bonham and his teammates lost the championship game his junior year, but he continued to light it up on the court, and he was a first-team All-American as a junior, and a second-teamer as a senior.

He then went on to the NBA and ABA for three seasons. He celebrated world championships with the Boston Celtics in the 1964-65 and 1965-66 seasons, averaging 6.4 points per game off the bench. He then played one season for the first-ever Indiana Pacers team, in the ABA. It was during that season that he and Netolicky became friends.

"He was a fun-loving guy and always kept us laughing," said Netolicky, who enjoyed a 10-year professional career with career averages of 16 points and 8.9 rebounds per game. "Those were the days when you flew that you were in airports for hours, and Ron had a way of making that time fun."

Netolicky also recalled appreciating what Bonham brought to a new franchise, especially coming from the NBA champion Celtics.

"He gave that team a little bit of credibility," he said. "And he was a great shooter."

That shooting skill was honed here in Muncie, obviously, where he was a prolific scorer for the Bearcats. His greatest success — and his nicknames the Blond Bomber and the Muncie Mortar — came as a Bearcat. He scored more than 2,000 points in high school, and during Bonham's senior year Central was undefeated all the way up to the state championship game, where East Chicago Washington upset the favored Bearcats. A few weeks later, Bonham was named Mr. Basketball, at the time just the second Central player to win the distinguished award as the state's best senior basketball player. And he was the MVP of both summer games between the Indiana and Kentucky All-Stars.