Where are they now? Damon Binkley

Argos’ all-time leading scorer returned as athletic director

BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS

Sports Editor, RTC

Argos athletic director Damon Binkley

ARGOS — There was a left-footed finish to the back corner of the goal. Then came a header off a perfect assist on a set piece from Spencer VanDerWeele. And then there was another fancy finish in a crowd off a Sean Richard assist.

It all looked so familiar when Damon Binkley scored three unanswered goals in a 12:06 span to start the second half as the Argos alumni defeated the current team 10-1 at Eugene Snyder Field Friday.

Binkley, a 2015 grad, is the all-time leading scorer in Argos history with 130, and that number is believed to be the fifth-most in Indiana history, according to ihssoccer.net.

Binkley flourished at Argos, helping lead the Dragons to four straight regional titles just as the IHSAA broke up soccer into multiple classes.

As good as he looked at the alumni game, he said it did not feel so great.

“The last time I played organized soccer was last alumni game, and it felt painful,” Binkley said. “I’m starting to feel my age, I think, but it’s fun to get out here with all the guys from high school.”

Binkley has since returned, and he is both a teacher and the athletic director at a school that takes its soccer tradition very seriously. He said soccer was “in the air” when he moved here when he was in elementary school. Now he plays a role in maintaining that tradition. He is also an assistant coach on Todd VanDerWeele’s staff.

“I think the nostalgia factor for us was always fun to get a night to reel the years back and for me, to get to see guys that shepherded the program to my day,” Binkley said. “And I think it’s a unique experience for our current players to see that as well. Guys like Phil Ummel, Josh Overmyer, (Chad) Kinney, Ryan Nifong. All these guys that shaped where we’ve been and where we are now is important for these guys to see, and it’s important, I think also, not to just see who they are but to see what it means for those guys to come back and play because it’s still something that’s very important to them. It’s that Dragon pride that I think Argos soccer carries a heavy badge.”

A start in soccer

Binkley grew up in the Warsaw area but moved to Argos in second or third grade when his mother got married. His stepdad was from Argos.

Binkley said his mom wanted him to try many different sports growing up to see what he liked.

“Soccer was just one that I naturally liked, and my mom was awesome and helped me to get to whatever level I needed to get to and allowed me to pursue it,” Binkley said.

Binkley said he began to see a “separation” between himself and other players between the third and fifth grades.

“I can do something with this if I work hard,” Binkley remembered thinking.

Binkley said he started playing travel soccer “at a higher level” for the now-defunct Indiana Invaders when he was in sixth grade. His coach was Mamba Chisoni, a Zimbabwe native who played briefly with the Los Angeles Galaxy in MLS and who now is an assistant coach at Bethel University.

Binkley said Chisoni and his high school coach Todd VanDerWeele began to foster his development.

“I think Mamba developed me technically and tactically and really how to have a sense of the goal,” Binkley said. “How to score. Todd mentored me more in how to not just be a skilled player but a leader. How to shepherd peers, and I think he did a good job of bringing that out.”

Binkley combined speed and an ability to finish with either foot. He also developed a chemistry with center midfielder Josiah Osborn, who always seemed to find Binkley in spots where he could do damage.

Current Argos assistant coach and former player Spencer VanDerWeele was part of a group of neighborhood kids that tried a number of sports out, but Binkley said his tie to Osborn was one that goes back to spending lots of time with each other.

“We were actually neighbors,” Binkley said of his relationship with Osborn. “And we just naturally, us and all the neighborhood kids, would go out and play basketball, football, soccer. Spencer (VanDerWeele) was one of those neighborhood kids that didn’t live too far away from Josiah and me. And Josiah and I played on every soccer team together from third grade all the way through college. We’d butt heads on the field, off the field and at practice, but it was a brotherly butt heads. And just from playing with each other and being with each other almost 24/7 through soccer… the chemistry was unreal.”

Playing at Grace College

Binkley said playing college soccer was always an aspiration.

“Probably early high school or maybe late middle school, I kind of realized that if I put in the time and effort and choose that path, that it was something that was attainable,” Binkley said.

Binkley said he verbally committed to Bellarmine University in Louisville, Ky., but he later changed his mind and decided to go to Grace College, an NAIA school in Winona Lake, with help from Osborn.

“It definitely wasn't my first choice,” Binkley said. “Josiah Osborn is probably the only reason I went to Grace. He signed with Grace. I was at his signing here at the school. Our senior year, I had verbally committed down to Bellarmine, and their coach just said, ‘Hey, come play with us. Check it out.’ I was like, ‘OK.’

“And I told my mom that night I’m going to go over there just to play. It’s like, there’s no way I’m going to Grace. And the guys over there were awesome. They were brotherly. Faith was a big reason. It was a place where I felt that I connected with the guys and the coach really well and could grow in my faith. And they had the area of study I wanted to study. I stayed a night there and never looked back.”

What he wanted to study was environmental biology, and he received both a bachelor’s and master’s degree from Grace and got a consulting job after graduation. Around 2022 or 2023, he decided to leave consulting and enter the education field at his high school alma mater.

“I knew they needed a science teacher, and it was crunch time, and I just told them I stepped away from a position,” Binkley said. “I’ll do it for a year just to get you through. That will allow me to regather myself and see where I want to land. I started teaching, and it was good to be back. I have a lot of good support here at the school whom I’ve known since I went through. It was a means to science, which I love.”

Binkley said he realized soon that he loved being in the classroom. And once he knew he wanted to be in the classroom, he thought about getting involved in administration as well.

“I loved it,” Binkley said. “It was fun. It was really rewarding and gratifying to see light bulbs in their heads turn on. Once I knew that I wanted to stick in education, administration was definitely my goal. I have master’s in nonprofit public organization leadership, so it’s something that interests me – management. So anyway, administration was my goal, and the pieces fell into place, and I guess right place, right time. The athletic director position opened up, and it was a good fit, and it’s what I wanted to do, so it just worked out well. I was fortunate to be here at that time.”

Binkley said he taught two classes and was athletic director the rest of the school day last year. This year, he said he will teach one class and will be the athletic director the rest of the day.

“It’s AP Environmental Science, so it’s right up my alley,” Binkley said of the class that he will teach.