SPORTS BUSINESS

Colts players join Big Brothers Big Sisters at Fowling Warehouse for October Community Tuesday

According to the Indianapolis Colts, players including DeForest Buckner, Seth McGowan, Mitchell Melton, Eli Pancol and West Weeks spent a Community Tuesday session playing fowling with pairs from Big Brothers Big Sisters of Central Indiana at Fowling Warehouse in downtown Indianapolis. The club said it was the first Community Tuesday event of October.

BUSINESSINDY BRIEFBy BusinessIndy Editorial StaffCommentsPublished October 7, 2026 at 4:18 PM EDT

AI-generated illustration of the topic: Colts players join Big Brothers Big Sisters at Fowling Warehouse for October Community Tuesday — AI illustration · Not a photograph of the reported event.

According to the Indianapolis Colts, DeForest Buckner, Seth McGowan, Mitchell Melton, Eli Pancol and West Weeks spent an hour Tuesday afternoon facing off against mentor–mentee pairs from Big Brothers Big Sisters of Central Indiana at Fowling Warehouse in downtown Indianapolis. The Colts said the team partnered with BBBS for the event and described it as the first Community Tuesday event of October.

The Colts’ report said many attendees were new to fowling — a pastime that combines football and bowling, where competitors attempt to knock down pins by throwing a football. Quotes included Buckner noting that kids “only see us on Sundays or on the TV,” and BBBS program events and partnerships manager Dominique Morefield calling player interaction “really great” because it “sparks joy” and “shows them that anything is possible.” The story included a mentor’s account that his mentee, typically reserved, “opened up and was talking to players.”

WHY IT MATTERS

This was a community-outreach activity that paired professional athletes with local mentor–mentee pairs to create direct, informal interaction. Big Brothers Big Sisters of Central Indiana connects caring adults with a youth mentee and encourages mentors to spend a few hours a month with their mentee; the Colts’ event put players into that setting so youth could meet role models in person rather than only on television. For example, the Colts’ write-up quoted DeForest Buckner saying personal interaction helps youth see players as approachable rather than “superheroes,” and an attendee mentor reported his mentee opened up during the game. Fowling itself is a casual, game-based activity that gave players and youth a shared task and a low-pressure setting for conversation. The immediate takeaway for readers is simple: the Colts used a recreational event to support an existing local mentoring program and to encourage youth engagement. The Colts identified this as the first Community Tuesday event of October, so readers interested in similar outreach should watch Colts communications for announcements about subsequent Community Tuesday events or future partnerships with Big Brothers Big Sisters of Central Indiana.

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