Indiana
Darian DeVries: From The Farm To The Bright Lights Of Indiana
Editor’s note: This is the first in a series of stories on Darian DeVries’ background.
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Aplington, Iowa, isn’t a place you will likely pass through by accident. To get to the city of 1,116 in north central Iowa, you have to try pretty hard.
The nearest main highway is U.S. Route 20, 10 miles away from Aplington. There are two exits that could lead you there, but neither of them mention Aplington as the main city on the exit signs. Aplington gets relegated to a smaller sign that advertises its existence, kind of the highway department version of making all-conference honorable mention.
Aplington is a typical small Iowa farm town. It sits on the banks of Beaver Creek, an old granger railroad line survives intact, and it has a nicely kept downtown like most upper Midwestern bergs. There is no stoplight, but there is a Casey’s gas station – this is Iowa after all.
As far as where Indiana basketball coach Darian DeVries grew up, you’re not even there yet. Just outside Aplington is the DeVries family farm.
“We had cattle, we had pigs – they’re not as much fun – we had a few horses here and there, sometimes some chickens, but for the most part it was cattle and pigs. It was a smaller farm, I think it was about 80 acres. Corn, beans, hay, all the fun stuff,” Darian DeVries said in an interview with Hoosiers On SI.
The DeVries family farm is the genesis of what Indiana is getting in its new basketball coach. Because if Darian DeVries has one characteristic that guides him, it’s his work ethic honed from growing up on a farm.
That work ethic has taken DeVries very far indeed.
Darian is the oldest of Vern and Marge DeVries’ five children. The work ethic instilled in all of the DeVries children served them well, especially when it came to sports.
“My work ethic has come from my childhood, no question, with my parents and my upbringing there,” DeVries said.
“I grew up on the farm, so you’re kind of instilled with a work ethic with everything you have to do to make the farm go with livestock and stuff like that,” DeVries said.
Darian wasn’t the only DeVries child to achieve at a high level. Darian’s best known sibling is Jared DeVries, an All-American defensive end for Iowa who played 12 years for the Detroit Lions. Jared DeVries is a high school coach in Iowa – and returned to farming, too.
Another brother, Dusty, also played football for the Hawkeyes. Youngest brother Jay played at Wartburg College. Sister Jodi played volleyball at Northern Iowa.
“My siblings are all kind of wired the same way. Hard work, competitive, that’s something that on an everyday basis, shines through in my day to day,” DeVries said.
DeVries attended high school in the early 1990s. Aplington High won two Iowa state titles during DeVries’ sophomore and junior seasons, but enrollment at Aplington was so small, he was part of a consolidation for his senior year.
He graduated from the consolidated Aplington-Parkersburg High School in 1993 and led A-P deep into the Iowa playoffs before they were beaten by MFL MarMac High School, featuring future NBA player Raef LaFrentz.
DeVries was induced into the Iowa High School Athletic Association Hall of Fame in 2015 as a basketball player. But he was also a quarterback – the Des Moines Register reported in 2018 that DeVries talked his new football coach at A-P into converting from a run-based offense to a pass-based offense to take advantage of his quarterback skills – and played other sports, too.
Playing multiple sports in a small town cures boredom, but it still takes an impressive work ethic to excel at the level DeVries did.
“When you grow up in a small town, and if you’re in athletics, you’re playing every sport. So you go from football to basketball to baseball to track. That’s just what you do. If you didn’t, there’s not enough people to play. So that’s kind of your thing,” DeVries recalled.
This was the Darian DeVries that Greg McDermott got to know. Now Creighton’s head basketball coach, McDermott was just getting started on his coaching career as an assistant at North Dakota in the early 1990s when he recruited DeVries. Little did McDermott know he’d later have DeVries on his coaching staff with the Bluejays.
“He was hard-nosed and intense, just like he is as a coach. He has always had a great understanding of the game and was essentially a coach on the floor,” McDermott said in an email exchange with Hoosiers On SI.
McDermott didn’t get his guy that time. DeVries chose to play at Northern Iowa, about a half-hour away from the family farm.
DeVries played for one-time Ohio State coach Eldon Miller at UNI and was the Panthers’ point guard from 1994-98. UNI had not yet reached its status as an annual Missouri Valley Conference contender in the 1990s, but the Panthers did have their best-ever season in the MVC to that point with DeVries on the team when they went 11-7 in 1997.
DeVries’ ambitions at the time were to become an elementary teacher and high school basketball coach, but Miller was able to convince then-Creighton coach Dana Altman to take DeVries on as a graduate assistant in 1998.
That decision altered DeVries’ life path, one that eventually took him to Bloomington.
Indiana man surprised with free dental work in Pontiac
Jeremiah Johnson has experienced a tumultuous life that has taken him through tragedy, rehab, and prison before getting back on his feet. An avid fisherman, he thought he was visiting Michigan to just go angling. Instead, he was surprised with $10,000 in free dental work.
(FOX 2) – Jeremiah Johnson thought he was coming to Michigan to fish.
After all, the Indiana native is quite the angler. And fortunately for him, he did net a new catch in Crescent Lake. However, his visit to Southeast Michigan was about much more than casting a line.
Afterward, a heartwarming surprise awaited him in the form of $10,000 in free dental work.
Big picture view:
Johnson wore a blindfold as he was walked up to Royal Chiropractic and Dental Center in Pontiac on June 11. Organized by Bassquatch Hunter host Mike McKinstry, he guided Johnson to the surprise — as well as the latest stage of redemption.
Johnson lost his brother at a young age, catalyzing a fall into addiction and eventually incarceration.
“I lost my twin brother when I was really young, went down some dark roads, became an addict then ended up in and out of jail, in and out of rehabs,” he said. “Finally, ended up going to prison, did a few years in prison and came home and met a woman, changed everything, made a family.”
But even as he worked to recover and build a new life, he did so with significant dental issues and missing teeth.
Over the next two weeks, he’ll receive a full slate of dentistry.
“This was supposed to be a fishing trip, which we did get to fish, but then a huge surprise at the end,” he said. “To be able to smile and talk to people without having to worry about how they perceive me.”
Mike McKinstry and Jeremiah Johnson outside Royal Chiropractic and Dental Center in Pontiac.
The Source: Interviews done at Royal Chiropractic and Clinic in Pontiac were cited for this story.
(WXIN/WTTV) — A man who is reportedly a local hospital chaplain and contract worker for the Department of Child Services is now facing felony child sex crime charges in both Indiana and Illinois.
Jose Briseno, 60, is currently being held in Marion County Jail on charges of child exploitation and possession of child sex abuse material. He also faces one count of internet child solicitation as a Level 5 Felony in Tazewell County, Illinois.
While court documents state that Briseno lives in a home on the north side of Indianapolis, his jail booking information states that he is a Mexican citizen. Court documents filed last week in Marion Superior Court 35 detail how he has previously worked for several child services groups.
Indianapolis police began investigating Briseno on June 3 when authorities in Illinois sent a tip that a man living in Indy may be involved in child sex crimes. The tip stated that the suspect was previously contracted to work with Illinois DCFS and had since moved to Indianapolis.
The suspect was later identified as Briseno, who had reportedly helped transport children to parental visitations while working for DCFS. It is during this time that Briseno allegedly met the 15-year-old girl he is now accused of soliciting nude photographs from.
Briseno is said to have contacted the teen girl over social media apps with the username “tanman1966,” the suspect’s birth year. While pretending to be a younger man named Pablo, the 60-year-old allegedly convinced the victim to send explicit images over text.
When the girl realized she had actually been communicating with Briseno, she said she tried to block him. However, Briseno allegedly threatened to disseminate her nude photographs and forced her to produce more child sex abuse material, all while sending explicit material of his own.
This alleged solicitation all occurred after Briseno had moved to an Indianapolis home near 86th Street and Ditch Road, according to court documents. Investigators later matched the IP address to his residence on Kings Cove Court and brought Briseno in for questioning.
The suspect reportedly told police that he was employed as a hospital chaplain with Gentiva as well as a case manager with the Indiana Department of Child Services. DCS officials confirmed to FOX59/CBS4’s Angela Ganote that Briseno was contracted but never employed by DCS.
Court records state that, over the past few years, Briseno has worked as a pastor for First Christian Church, First Christian Church of Mason City Inc, and West Union Christian Church in Illinois. He has also worked for DCS contractors in Indiana and Illinois.
While attempting to track down Briseno, investigators reportedly found that he was working for a hospice care center in Terre Haute. A Facebook post reviewed by FOX59/CBS4 shows that a man named “Chaplain Joe,” or “Mr. Mariachi,” was employed at Southerncare, Inc. Research as recently as May 22.
Online jail records show that Briseno was booked last Tuesday, June 9, into the Marion County Adult Detention Center. The court has since set a $5,000 cash bond.
Online court records show Briseno was charged last Friday, June 12, with Possession of Child Sex Abuse Material as a Level 6 Felony. An initial hearing was reportedly held on Monday afternoon in front of Judge Charnette Garner. A pre-trial hearing is now scheduled for July 27.
DEARBORN COUNTY, Ind. (WANE) Two people died in a crash Sunday morning in southern Indiana. Police believe weather and alcohol may have been factors.
The crash took place at around 3:30 a.m. on U.S. 52 in Dearborn County according to a press release from Indiana State Police.
The initial investigation determined that a 2020 Honda Civic, being driven by Kelis Manuel, 22, of Fairfield, Ohio, was traveling westbound on U.S. 52, just west of State Road 46. In a no passing zone, Manuel attempted to pass a pickup truck hauling a trailer. Manuel’s vehicle collided head-on with a semi that was traveling eastbon US 52.
The semi driver was taken to a hospital for treatment of minor injuries. Manuel and an unidentified rear passenger in her vehicle were transported to Cincinnati area hospitals for treatment of life-threatening injuries.
A front seat passenger in Manuel’s vehicle, identified as Kimora Manuel, age 21, Cincinnati, Ohio and a rear seat passenger, Le’Marea Holmes, 22, also from Cincinnati, both lost their lives in the crash. They were both pronounced deceased on the scene by the Dearborn County Coroner’s Office.
Alcohol is believed to be a factor in the crash. Toxicology tests are pending. Heavy rain in the area at the time may also have been a contributing factor.
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