By STAN MADDUX

Indiana Correspondent

ARCADIA, Ind. — A former Indiana high school basketball star was killed when run over by a combine on his family farm. Tony Etchison, 47, was pronounced dead at the scene, according to the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office.

According to police, a local farmer harvesting a soybean field in a John Deere combine  was slowing down to turn a corner when the 1991 Noblesville High School graduate attempted to climb aboard the step ladder of the  moving machine. Etchison missed his step and fell then was run over, police said.

The Oct. 23 accident happened about 7:30 p.m. on his family farm near Arcadia.

Etchison worked at the farm and was an agent at Indiana Farm Bureau Insurance in Noblesville.

‘’He loved to farm.  He just loved being out there,” said Dave Nicholson, the head coach at Nobleville during Etchison’s four-years on the varsity squad. His sudden death was taken hard in a community not just because of his accomplishments on the hardwood but for who he was as a person.

Nicholson said Etchison was confident but very humble and helping a farmer put up hay after work was typical of how he treated others. “He was a great basketball player but he was a greater person,” he said.

Hundreds of people turned out for a vigil at Hamilton Heights High School the day after his death. ‘’It just shows how truly respected my father was and how truly great this community is and how it rallies behind its own,’’ said his 19-year old son, J.P. Etchison, told WISH-TV out of Indianapolis.

Etchison led Noblesville to three sectional titles and went on to play basketball at Mercer University. In 2016, he was named to the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame’s Silver Anniversary team and in July was appointed to the IBHF Board of Directors.