INDIANAPOLIS — The trophy case at Ben Davis High School has always been full, where memories of yesterday’s successes act as a visual time machine in the form of plaques, trophies, and photos. A 1993

basketball team photo is nestled in with the hardware, showing a state runner-up team beaming with smiles of achievement.

What it doesn’t show is the unspeakable tragedy that followed. There is a young man in the corner of the photo, wearing a number 52 jersey and holding a gold bar that says “Regional Champions.”

His name is Damon Parks.

Nearly 19 years ago, he was another Indiana high school hoops legend in the making. He was towering at around 6’8”. He was skilled, littered with basketball scholarship offers, a high school

All-American.

Three years later on Halloween, he was shot in a random robbery, paralyzing him from the waist down.

Tomorrow, Ben Davis will turn back the clock for Parks with a charity basketball game with hopes of raising enough funds to buy him a specialty equipped van. He hasn’t been able to drive since that

fateful night in Alabama in 1996.

The game is termed “Drive for Damon,” and the idea came about when one of Parks’ former basketball coaches, Terry Strahm, was feted at a retirement party this past spring that Parks attended.

“We had an individual who played with Damon who is now the head coach at Wabash College named Antoine Carpenter,” Strahm said. “I told Damon that when the season starts, I’ll pick him up and we’ll go up to Wabash. Well, we went up there and Damon was telling me about how he was going back to school at IUPUI, living on the east side, and when I asked him how he got back and forth and he told me either by metro bus or taxi cab and my heart just sunk.”

From there, Strahm knew he had to do something to help his old all-star out.

“This kid needs part of his life back,” Strahm said. “He’s not driven since 1996 and he’s a little apprehensive about getting behind the wheel. It’s a process, but we have good people helping us.”

Scores of Ben Davis players from the school’s heydays in the 1980s and ‘90s will be showing up to play in the basketball game at 7 p.m. Feb. 1 in the BDHS gym. Doors will open at 6 p.m. At half-time,  NFL and Indiana Pacer items will be raffled off.

Vocational services will make the necessary additions to whatever van is purchased to make it applicable for Parks to be able to drive.

After sampling several kinds, Strahm came to the conclusion that for his 6’8” frame, the Town and Country model will end up being optimal for Parks’ needs.

Even in tragedy though, Strahm says Parks has both found ways to stay active and help out others who have been in similar shoes as him, participating in the Think First program as well as playing as part of the Indiana Pacers wheelchair basketball team.

“When he starts, Vocational Services will pay for his driver’s training and get him ready to drive,” Strahm said. “We’re just in that process and he’s taking about six credit hours this spring. He didn’t want to try getting back and forth in the snow and rain because it’s difficult with him over on the east side. He wants to hit it pretty hard in the summer and wait until the weather clears off to do the driver’s training and take more classes.”

Parks’ dream now is to become a teacher and a basketball coach. Parks has records that still stand in Ben Davis’ storied basketball program, ranking third all time in rebounds and first in single season field goal percentage. Parks’ regional championship winning team was clipped by Jeffersonville in the Indiana State Championship.

Tickets for the Drive for Damon basketball event are $10 for adults and $5 for students. Those who want to write checks to support the cause can make them payable to Drive for Damon #3177 and send them to any Huntington Bank location.

Just the facts

WHAT: Drive for Damon charity basketball game

WHEN: 7 p.m. Feb. 1

WHERE: Ben Davis High School gymnasium