When working with the Indiana Chamber of Commerce’s communications team, Tom Schuman recalls sitting on a bus in 2006 with then–Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels. He didn’t quite know how to get the conversation going until he remembered Daniels was a big Dodgers fan. 

They began talking about the previous night’s game and suddenly, Schuman realized he had gotten his interview. 

Schuman spent 12 years as a sports reporter for small Illinois media outlets, followed by 23 years with the Indiana Chamber of Commerce.  

“Even when I was interviewing businesspeople or government officials, the conversation often turned to sports,” Schuman said, “Sports is a great icebreaker.” 

Though he’s retired and now living in Province, the former journalist is still writing, including about sports.  

In 2024, he published a memoir about his decades as a sportswriter and magazine editor. This second book, “Why Not Us?,” dives into where his love for sports really began to shine and serves as a color commentary on his alma mater’s potential for greatness.  

Schuman attended Ball State University in Muncie, Ind. where he wrote for the campus newspaper. Many of his stories centered around the men’s volleyball team. 

“They’ve always had an outstanding men’s volleyball program,” Schuman said, adding the team’s founder helped spread volleyball throughout the Midwest. 

The university is known for its athletics and sports education programs. A large number of Schuman’s classmates went on to become coaches and sports program directors. 

During the 42-year reunion, he ran into a former classmate‘s husband, Lee Killian, who had previously played volleyball at Ball.    

“Lee kept saying ‘why not us? Why can’t our Ball State Program win a national championship?” Schuman said, “The conversation stuck with me.” 

Three months later, the university was competing in the January 2026 tournament in Phoenix for the top teams of the country. Schuman attended the alumni event associated with that. 

The common conversational thread kept running back to Ball State’s potential. Time and time again, alumni asked, “Why not us?” 

“That became the theme of the book,” Schuman said. 

Beyond the scoreboard  

He grew up a die-hard Cincinnati Reds baseball fan and some of his earliest memories include his father settling in to listen to games on the family’s transistor radio. 

Two of his aunts — both Catholic nuns — would hand him the car keys dto tune in to the car radio for the latest Reds’ scores. 

It turned into an obsession. He played baseball and tennis in high school, followed by softball as an adult. Even his wife of 39 years is a sports enthusiast and together they play softball and pickleball. 

That translated into his writing as well.  

Schuman said he felt “bogged down” with fiction and writing about sports came to him more naturally. 

“You have to write what you’re passionate about,” he said. 

Though Schuman is retired, he hasn’t lost his love for journalism.  

One of his favorite interviews was with Carl Erskine of the Brooklyn Dodgers for an Indiana Chambers “Legend” article, which happened in Erskine’s retirement home. 

The three-hour conversation covered baseball , including Erskine’s pair of no-hitters and his 14-strikeout record, as well as life after baseball as a bank president and philanthropist. 

“Sports are great, but we have to connect them in some other way,” Schuman said. “A human element is needed.” 

Finding community in Maricopa 

Schuman and his wife moved to Province, the 55–plus community in Maricopa, looking for a quieter stage of their life and a chance to build community.

“What’s nice here is everyone is at the same stage of life. I’ve made tremendous friends here that I feel like I’ve known my whole life,” he said. 

For Schuman, “Why Not Us?” isn’t just about volleyball and statistics. It’s about a shared dream and the alumni forever bonded by their connection to their university team.  

“For me, for this book, it’s about the people I’ve met,” Schuman said. “And sports is always part of the conversation.”