June 5: Professor Kelly Eskew, “Hoosier Hysteria- Muncie Centeral in 1964”

In 1964, Muncie Central High School got the “death penalty” at the hands of the Indiana High School Athletic Association’s (IHSAA) new commissioner, Phil N. Eskew, after post-game brawling at a boys basketball game led to a broader investigation of the entire program.  In the closing moments of the game, a Muncie Central opponent was bloodied by an inbound pass to the face and fans erupted in violence, swarming the floor.  The ensuing investigation revealed racial tensions, issues of sexual mores, political discord, and deep problems in the web of interrelationships that make up the phenomenon of Hoosier Hysteria.

Kelly Eskew is a Clinical Associate Professor of Business Law & Ethics. An attorney, Professor Eskew started her law career with ten years in private practice, representing corporations and hospitals, the Indiana Horse Racing Commission, and the doctors who invented Gatorade, among others. She also served for three years as in-house counsel to IU Health, managing malpractice and employment litigation. In 2014, she joined the American Civil Liberties Union as a staff attorney and litigated civil rights cases.

Professor Eskew started teaching in 2010 at the IU McKinney School of Law and spent several years with Butler University’s College of Business before joining the full time faculty at the IU Kelley School of Business in Bloomington in 2015.