Terry Walker, left, Terri Matchett, both from Ball Foundation board of directors, and Richard Armstrong, Camp Crosley YMCA director, with the Distinguished Lake Tippecanoe Honoree Award presented at the annual meeting of the Lake Tippecanoe Property Owners Association Saturday, July 19, at Lake Tippecanoe Country Club.

Lake Tippecanoe Property Owners Association honored Camp Crosley YMCA and the Ball Foundation at its annual meeting recently at Lake Tippecanoe Country Club, Leesburg.

As the 20th winner of the Distinguished Lake Tippecanoe Honoree Award, Camp Crosley YMCA and the Ball Foundation, Gary Calhoun, held off revealing the name of the honoree while giving tantalizing facts about who it might be. By the time he finished, it was evident who the recipient was.

Camp director Richard Armstrong explained, “I was totally surprised although I wondered why I was asked to attend the meeting. We are so grateful for the support and appreciation of the lake community.”

In order to receive the award, criteria must be met. Nominees can be made by any member of the LTPO if the nominee resides full- or part-time on Lake Tippecanoe, has been a lake resident for five years or more, has made a positive impact on the quality of Lake Tippecanoe and must be a member of the LTPO. Since 1994 individuals and families have been honored but the 20th award unanimously was given by the selection committee to an organization for the first time.

Camp Crosley’s history and that of the famous Muncie canning jar family have been intertwined from the beginning. The Ball Foundation is the legacy of that family achieving their goal of making their communities a better place and helping people in the process.

Muncie YMCA began a camping program for boys in the area in 1915 but on borrowed land. Property was purchased in 1921 through a gift from Edmund B. and Bertha C. Ball as a memorial to their son Clinton Crosley Ball who died in 1910 at the age of 4. In the 1960s the camp became integrated both by race and sex. The camp office relocated to North Webster permanently in the 1980s.

During the 2000s the camp was bursting and Crosley was able to purchase Camp Dick Runyan from the Huntington YMCA. The Ball family has continued its tradition of philanthropy to Camp Crosley YMCA and the results on young people’s lives and the lake have been ongoing.

Calhoun noted in his presentation, “… in all aspects, our honoree is the best neighbor anyone could hope to have. When the Tippecanoe Watershed Foundation was first formed, Camp Crosley offered its resources for meetings and retreats free of charge.” Annually, the camp hosts the LPTO annual fish fry and the camp’s director Armstrong has served on the LTPO and TWF board.

In 1999 through the partnership of LPTO and Camp Crosley YMCA, a 70-acre farm was added to the Lake Tippecanoe wetlands and another property was protected from development.

“Partnering with LTPO, the Nature Conservancy and several of our residents, our honoree worked together to save the area now known as the Edmund and Virginia Ball Wetlands in its natural state …,” added Calhoun.

Additionally, Camp Crosley has hosted prominent visitors like the Detroit Lions who trained at the camp on Little Tippy in the 1930s. World famous Notre Dame football coach Knute Rockne and best selling Hoosier author Gene Straton Porter also visited. Many campers have become residents of Lake Tippecanoe.

Lake Tippecanoe Property Owners Association was formed in 1944 for the purpose of preserving the health of the lake. There are more than 600 members represented by 50 plus landing directors from the 47 landings around the lake. Together for more 75 years LPTO still is working for lake preservation, fish and wildlife, and quality of living.