Indy Steelers coach dedicated to stopping violence killed in Greenwood road rage shooting

A man who dedicated his life to steering children out of the path of violence was gunned down Wednesday night while riding in a vehicle in Greenwood.

Officers responded to the shooting near Interstate 65 and County Line Road and found the man with a gunshot wound in the passenger seat of a white van around 6:30 p.m. He died at the scene, according to Indiana State Police. The investigation leads police to believe the shooting began as a road rage encounter that led to gunfire.

The man was identified as Richard Donnell Hamilton, 43, according to the Johnson County Coroner's Office.

But to hundreds of Indianapolis families, he was known as Coach Nell.

Donnell Hamilton: a coach, mentor, father and friend

Hamilton was the founder of the Indy Steelers youth football team in Indianapolis, which he started with a simple motto: Mute the echoes of gun violence so children can learn a better way.

More:Don't read this story. Watch the documentary, and believe the story of kids on 38th Street

For years, Hamilton and his co-coaches did just that. The Steelers team provided a safe space for neighborhood kids to have a support system and an outlet in football. Now, the team is grappling with losing their coach to the one thing he fought so hard against: gun violence.

Takkara Delaney, whose sons played for the Steelers, said Hamilton first put a football in her son, Tyson's, hand. The family had just moved to Indianapolis from Georgia, which Delaney said was a rough transition. The mother of four said Hamilton saw her sons playing football one day and asked them to join the program, promising to waive the registration fee that barred her from joining.

She said his generosity speaks to who he is as a coach and person, who wanted everyone to have an opportunity for a better life.

After graduating from Broad Ripple High School in 1997, Hamilton earned an athletic scholarship from Western Kentucky University. While there, he briefly fell into the wrong crowd and eventually was kicked off the team, lost his scholarship and served time in prison.

The coach previously told IndyStar he believed his past broadened his ability to reach Indianapolis youth also undergoing hardships like death in the family, gun violence and being surrounded by substance abuse.

"I been through what you've been through," he explained. "Your struggle is familiar to me."

Starting in 2005, he served as coach, mentor, father, big brother, uncle and teacher to the hundreds of children who came through his program.

Lacey Nix, whose sons played for the Steelers, said Hamilton's example reverberated among his players.

"The way in which he turned his life around has literally been a road map for so many of these kids," she said. "So when the kids are in trouble or peril, he can speak to them because he's been there before."

Families whose children played in the Steelers said it's hard to overstate Hamilton's impact on their lives on and off the field. When a player's house burned down, the team and their families banded together to ensure the children had everything they needed. Nix also said Hamilton and his wife hosted a food drive every Thanksgiving and gave away turkeys to people along 38th Street.

Tyree Delaney, Takkara Delaney's son, said his coach was more like a father figure to him.

"He showed me a lot of things I didn't get from my own dad," Tyree Delaney, 16, said.

For example, Hamilton introduced Tyree Delaney to a work development program out of the Martin Luther King Community Center and also taught him how to take a tire off and put it back on.

"When you come into the Steelers and Coach Nell's world, you become part of something bigger," Nix said. "You're not just part of a football program, it's a family."

The Indy Steelers were the focus of a 20-minute documentary released by IndyStar in March 2021 after the newspaper’s journalists spent more than two years with the players and families of the football team.

Hamilton and the Steelers received news this week that their field will undergo much-needed improvements through a Lilly Endowment grant — a goal of the coach's for more than a decade. The coach, in a post on Facebook, praised the news, saying it'll be great for the community.

Nix said that goal for the players to have better playing conditions won't stop now.

"I'm just confident that in the end of this, you will see the Steelers take the field again. You'll see his dream of having that field at Tarkington Park come true," Nix said. "All the things he worked for, for so long, will happen."

Takkara Delaney agreed the Indy Steelers families will pick up their coach's mantel, as she puts it. She also believes, however, it's impossible to replace their beloved coach.

"It's devastating for us because you didn't just take a coach. You took someone's father, you took a mentor, you took a pillar out of this community and don't realize the depth of what you did," she said.

More:Everyone counted these kids out. But this 38th Street football team defies expectations.

What's known, and not, about the shooting of Donnell Hamilton

The van that Hamilton was riding in was targeted by occupants of another vehicle as they exited I-65 northbound to County Line Road, according to state police. It is unknown at this time how many shots were fired, police stated.

An autopsy by the Johnson County Coroner's Office determined he died from a single gunshot wound.

Investigators believe the shooter was in a silver or gray passenger car with tinted windows. Detectives are asking anyone with dash cameras who were in the area of I-65 and County Line Road from 6:20 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. to review their recordings and contact police.

In an update Thursday, police said they are continuing to speak with witnesses who have come forward and are examining evidence at the crime scene.

The Indiana State Police can be reached at 317-899-8577. Anybody with information about the shooting also can anonymously report information to Crime Stoppers at 317-262-8477.

Public safety reporter Jake Allen contributed to this article.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Indy Steelers Coach Donnell Hamilton killed in Greenwood shooting