One of the best girls athletes in Horace Mann history is still without a school to play for in the fall, and she may be waiting a little longer to find out her fate.

Shanee Butler has been a member of the Post-Tribune Girls Basketball All-Area Team all three years she has worn a Horsemen uniform, averaging more than 20 points per game in her career.

Despite the 5-foot-5 guard playing with Lew Wallace team members during the Gary High School Summer League taking place last week and this week at Wirt, her destination remains unknown.

Not that there isn’t a lot of anticipation as to the colors of Butler’s uniform for her senior season.

Butler said they could be black and gold, or they could be orange and blue.

“Right now it’s up in the air,” she said on Wednesday after the Hornets summer game was postponed because of a power-outage at Wirt. “(Gary city athletic director) Earl Smith was supposed to call my mom today. I’m just waiting. Right now, it’s Lew Wallace, and if it’s not, then it’s West Side.”

That decision is not up to her, obviously. But the answer as to whose decision is next is not as clear as it may seem.

Butler, and Lew Wallace coach Johnna Smith, both stated Earl Smith was the person they have been in contact with about the situation. The city A.D. says otherwise.

“It’s not an athletic decision,” said Earl Smith. “The school corporation has to decide where they go. Whatever decision comes down, it will be in reference to all Mann students.”

Butler says her mom had contacted the Indiana High School Athletic Association a few weeks ago and they told her it was up to the Gary School Board. They still haven’t given Butler — or other Mann students — an answer.

“She just wants to get through the red tape and make sure everything is OK,” said Johnna Smith, who obviously hopes for Butler to be arriving at 45th Avenue as a Hornet.

Johnna Smith used a comparison to former Los Angeles Lakers teammates Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant, who won three NBA championships together.

If Butler attended Lew Wallace, the Hornets would pose the same one-two combo threat to opponents with P-T All-Area first-team member Sharon Houston sitting in the middle.

Earl Smith denied having contact with Butler or her mom, but did use an example from another school closing in relation to Horace Mann.

“The South Bend situation was an open enrollment,” Earl Smith said referring to South Bend LaSalle closing in 2003. “If (the school board) decides it’s open enrollment, then the Mann students can go anywhere. If it’s not, then they won’t be able to.”

So far, all Butler can do is wait, and wait some more.

“Earl said (the school board) was going to vote last week, then he said it would be this week, and then he said to call him,” Butler added.

Until that decision is finally made by the school board, Houston and Johnna Smith will have to hope and dream.

Steve T. Gorches can be reached at 648-3141 or e-mail at sgorches@post-trib.com.

Text