Darnell Booker is the General Manager, Coach and Founder of the Indy Thunder Beep baseball team that he started in the year 2000. Now we have a board of directors and now we're a 501c3. I'm the face of the Indy Thunder Beep baseball team," he explained.

They are swinging for a documentary of the team's history that may appear for public release in the near future with help from two education professionals. "We sent them 800 hours of footage from 2016 and 2017 and want to get it put in the Heartland Film Festival. Two professors from the Indiana University Bloomington, Bob Arnove and Susanne Schwibs from Bloomington, Indiana called me out of the blue and wanted to do a story on beep baseball. Other people, David Gudaitis (Associate producer), Henry Malone (who works with Suzanne and Bob) are also involved", Booker mentioned.

He described how he initially stepped up to the plate in America's pastime. "I was introduced to the sport in 1985 as a senior in high school at the Indiana School for the Blind by a lady named Jan Traphagan. She managed the Indianapolis Eagles in the 1980s. I played for them from 1985 to 1997 and won a World Series with Jan as a player in 1990. I played in the back row and batted. We currently have a a pretty talented team of players, but I think my skills now are more as a leader. Jan had to leave the team because her job transferred her to the Detroit area. We played together on some teams in the Midwest, like on a team from Chicago. Our team was dormant from 1997 to 1999. I have been coaching people from 15 to 60 years of age. We've always been in the top 10 except for 2011 when we finished 12th, but we've been pretty dominant since 2016. We finished sixth last year (2022) and third in this past year. I also coached some kids in track and field and wrestling along with managing beep ball. The Indy Edge are also another local beep ball based on the southside of Indianapolis who have won the last two world series."

Booker reflected on some of the rewarding factors about starting the team. "Winning five out of six championships. Since I became general manager, coach and founder. It's rare to win back-to-back championships. The Austin Blackhawks won seven in a row, but the rules were different back then. The bases were 90 feet from home plate, but now are 100 feet from home plate now. Our record was 123 victories and seven losses from 2016 to 2020 when we played during the regular season in regional tournaments and in the World Series." There were shorthanded for a couple of those games.

Dave Benney said, "We've got a documentary film coming out on Thursday, October 5th, 2023, at the Heartland Film Festival. The film had its premier at the Landmark's Glendale 12 on Saturday, October 7, 2023. I was a player for the Indy Thunder from 2002 to 2008 and 2013 to 14. Darnell and I have been friends since he was my coach. When the team came together it was all home grown and local in the sport. I started keeping statistics and handle public relations responsibilities for the Thunder. I'm a sports junkie by nature and have been a close friend of members of the team. I also do color commentary of the team when we stream games."

More on the sport can be read at: www.nbba.org can be found there. We have a You Tube channel 39 and 2 during world series play. Their home page can be found at: www.thunderbeepball.org.