Shameful display: Wrestling sectional trophy decorated with trash at Noblesville bar
NOBLESVILLE (The REPORTER) — Saturday afternoon, Noblesville High School (NHS) athletes won the school’s first wrestling team sectional since 2021. A few hours later NHS coaches were celebrating at Syd’s Bar, 808 Logan St., Noblesville. That evening, the trophy those young athletes had worked so hard to earn was decorated with at least one crushed beer can and an empty cocktail glass.
Witnesses told The Reporter NHS coaches were seen “licking” and doing other inappropriate things to the trophy during the course of their celebration. Coaches and others in NHS-branded shirts were also seen building a tower of empty beer cans on the table where the trophy was on public display.
By 7:30 p.m. at least one can of the same brand of beer was crushed and placed on the base of the trophy, as seen in photos in today’s edition. An empty plastic cocktail glass, inverted, was placed atop the trophy.
One group of witnesses told The Reporter the coaches’ group was “so obnoxious” the witnesses felt compelled to leave.
NHS officials told The Reporter the trophy was not damaged, and the school “disagrees” with allegations of licking and other inappropriate behavior performed on the trophy.
In an email reply to our request for comment, NHS officials told The Reporter, “Several friends of one of our coaches was [sic] at a separate table at Syd’s. These friends were the ones building beer can pyramids, not our coaches. Having said all that, it was not appropriate for our coaches to bring the trophy to Syd’s for a personal celebration.”
It should be noted that the tower of cans is clearly seen at a table with people wearing NHS shirts and two coaches holding the same brand of beer are standing at the same table with said tower and trophy.
“While these coaches and their friends were on their own time, bringing the team trophy to a personal celebration was not appropriate,” Athletic Director Leah Wooldrige told The Reporter. “Thankfully the trophy was not damaged. We apologize for the poor choice that was made and have addressed this with our coaching staff.”
While they addressed other questions from this newspaper, it should be noted that NHS officials chose not to comment about the trophy being adorned with trash from the public party.