Lafayette area high school sport standouts who had decorated armed service careers

Lafayette area high school sport standouts who had decorated armed service careers LAFAYETTE Service, dedication and discipline are characters that elite leaders display when captaining a sports team.

Leaders that often become valuable assets as military leaders that sacrifice their lives for the safety of our country.

And the Lafayette area has a list of men and women who have carried out these careers in the Armed Forces with dignity and admiration.

Here's a look at the Navy, Army, Marine Corp, Air Force and Coast Guard members that have stood out along with their background experience as athletes.

John Redmon The name John Redmon has almost become forgotten besides a recreational park in Frankfort that bears the name.

Redmon served in the U.S.

Army and was awarded the Croix de Guerre, a French Military Award created during World War I.

Redmon was awarded for gallantry.

Along with his cunning in the field of battle, Redmon was an All-American football player at Indiana and played for the Pine Village Villagers.

Josh Smith Smith was one of the fiercest football players of his time suiting up for Attica and leading the Red Ramblers to the IHSAA Class 1A state title in 2000.

Smith led the state rushing for 3,004 rushing yards and in scoring with 449 points.

He was also a key figure and leading scorer when Attica won the 1A state boys basketball title in 2001.

Smith played safety for Navy in college and accumulated 127 tackles during his senior year before flying P-3s and working intelligence missions in the Middle East.

James F.

Record Record was a basketball player for the New Market Purple Flyers, who coincidentally became a pilot himself.

Record entered the Air Force in 1961 and flew 616 combat missions over southeast Asia.

Record retired as a 3-star lieutenant general.

Ray Ewry Before Ewry became the "Human Frog" that won 10 gold medals in standing long jump, Ewry was a Navy inspector and received a master's degree in engineering from Purdue.

Ewry dominated the standing long jump before the event was discontinued in 1912 and set world records in the long jump.

NOTE: This story is part of a special "America 250" project on the history of Indiana high school basketball by journalists within USA Today Co.

at the South Bend Tribune, Journal & Courier (Lafayette), The Star Press (Muncie), The Herald-Times (Bloomington) and The Courier & Press (Evansville).

All stories will run on those respective sites between July 6-17, with select stories in printed copies of the paper as well.