YORKTOWN — Fourteen years in, one of Delaware County’s finest sports traditions continues to amaze new people.
The 14th annual Smash Cancer match between the girls tennis teams of Delta and Yorktown was held on Thursday, May 7, at the Yorktown Sports Complex courts. The communities of the two rival schools came together to raise over $20,000 for the third straight year and bring the event’s 14-year running total over $160,000, making it the largest single-game charity event in all of Indiana high school sports.
“We’re proud of that because it takes some perseverance,” said Delta coach Tim Cleland, the architect of Smash Cancer. “We got a good thing going, and it’s easy sometimes after a period of years, people can start to lose interest or go on to other things, but to continue to really get things done, you’ve just got to sustain it.
“Cancer doesn’t take a break, right? So, there’s no reason for our event to take a break.”
The majority of the funds were raised through an event-record 140 sponsor signs. Raffles, concessions, apparel sales and other general donations made up the rest of the funding. The Cancer Center at IU Health Ball Memorial Hospital will once again be the primary beneficiary of the fundraiser with Little Red Door Cancer Services of East Central Indiana as the secondary beneficiary. Nine local families dealing with cancer battles will also receive a share of the funds.
Before the match, more than 70 “Server Survivors” were honored with the ceremonial first serve, though several were unable to attend due to the event being rescheduled from Tuesday, May 5, for rain.
Thursday’s match marked the first Smash Cancer for new Yorktown coach Guy Rabner. A tennis coach in New Jersey since 1995, Rabner and his family relocated to Delaware County due to his wife starting a job at Ball State. The scale and success of Smash Cancer was a pleasant surprise to the Tigers’ new leader.
“I’ve never seen anything quite like this before,” Rabner said. “I think it’s really a testament to the people here and how much they care about others and what the community wants to do. I’m so impressed by everybody, and this is not just like a one-person thing. They say it takes a village to do anything, and we’ve gotten so many different people involved with this.”
Rex Hodge is another new community member who found himself drawn to the cause of Smash Cancer. Hodge is a veteran television journalist who spent the last 15 years reporting for WLOS-TV in Asheville, North Carolina. Upon his retirement in 2025, he and his wife, Deborah, moved to Delaware County, where Deborah is originally from.
As an avid tennis player and retired journalist, it didn’t take long for Hodge to be introduced to Cleland. The two became fast friends, and when Cleland found out that Hodge is a survivor of throat cancer, he began telling his new friend about Smash Cancer and eventually asked Hodge to be the guest speaker for the event.
Hodge accepted the offer, but a few weeks before the event, his doctors discovered that his cancer had returned and metastasized to his lungs and lymphatic system. As he begins another battle, Hodge has quickly found strength from his new community thanks to his new friend.
“Tim Cleland has been a key person for me to know, and he invited me to be part of this event today, and I hope I will be for years to come as I continue my own fight against it,” Hodge said. “It’s very important everywhere. I don’t think there’s a family out there that’s not going to encounter cancer somewhere in their family. They’ll have it, a family member will have it, a friend will have it — it’s just one of those pervasive things, unfortunately.
“Being here in a new community, it wasn’t exactly the way I intended to dig into the new community, but if that’s the cards I’m dealt, then I’ll play them. And we’ll go out there and fight against this thing and smash cancer the best we can. That gives me a lot of resolve and a lot of fortitude to go forward and dig in.”
On the courts, Delta swept the varsity match 5-0 and won the JV match 12-3. The Eagles went up 2-0 early thanks to quick victories from Olivia Marshall at No. 2 singles (6-0, 6-0) and Stella Sieber at No. 3 singles (6-1, 6-1). Yorktown put up strong fights in both doubles matches but ultimately couldn’t sustain them. Delta’s Kate Manor and Alexa Bratton won at No. 1 doubles (6-4, 6-2) while Rowan Hinds and Elizabeth Bamidele won at No. 2 doubles (6-1, 6-4) to remain undefeated on the season.
The longest match of the evening was the No. 1 singles match between two freshmen — Delta’s Sophie Crabtree and Yorktown’s Lauren Delk. The latter claimed the first set, 6-4, but Crabtree rallied to win 6-2, 6-1 in the final two sets and clinch the sweep for the Eagles.
Contact Cade Hampton via email at cbhampton@usatodayco.com or on X, formerly known as Twitter, @CadeHamp10.
This article originally appeared on Muncie Star Press: Delta-Yorktown Smash Cancer match continues to amaze new community members
Reporting by Cade Hampton, Muncie Star Press / Muncie Star Press
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
