WHITING | Jeremy Dumezich wore No. 1. So did younger brother Anthony. And, of course, youngest brother Will, who just graduated.

On several occasions through the years, the subject came up in the Dumezich household in Whiting. The football-playing standouts talked about their legacy, their name and their number.

"Who will wear No. 1 when we've all graduated?" they asked.

"What about me?" said their little sister Mel.

After a season with more history than a John Wayne movie, the Whiting junior looks forward to her senior season. Instead of resting on her fantastic laurels, the Texas A&M-bound pitcher is looking to expand her resume.

"I want to play football," she said. "I want to wear No. 1."

That's been the number that Mel has worn since she arrived at Whiting three years ago. The second-team Times All-Area volleyball player had 21 kills as her Oilers beat Kouts to win their first sectional championship in school history. Then, when spring rolled around, Dumezich was just dominant.

She went 31-0 in leading Whiting to its second undefeated state championship in three seasons. She earned The Times Softball Player of the Year Award for the second time in three seasons.

Now, Dumezich is The Times Female Athlete of the Year for 2008.

"She'd make a great wide receiver," said Whiting softball coach and athletic director Paul Laub, who also coached 1991 Times Female Athlete of the Year Teri Filipek.

"I want to play quarterback," Mel said. "I want to play defense, too. Running out on the field on a Friday night with everyone there, that would be an awesome feeling."

"Her mother (Linda) doesn't want her to play at all," said Milo, Mel's father.

Whether she gets in a game will depend on Jeff Cain. Mel said the conversations have begun. Will she get in for one play, one quarter or one game, only time will tell. But her athleticism is beyond gender boundaries. Way beyond.

"Mel could be an incredible athlete no matter what sport she tried," Laub said. "Swimming. Cross country. Anything. She gives 100 percent in everything. Some kids don't like the pressure. Mel seems to thrive in it.

"She wants to be the kid serving the ace in the last point of a tennis match. She wants to need a hole-in-one on the last hole of a golf tournament. What more can I say about her?"

Dumezich said she also plans on adding basketball to her goals next year. As a ninth-grader, Dumezich averaged 16.1 points, 5.9 rebounds and 5.1 steals a game as a Times All-Area player. She then put away her Chuck Taylors to focus on softball. But A&M's staff has told her that her football and basketball dreams are just fine with them.

"I think I will play basketball, I like Mr. (Kevin) Moynihan, he coached me in middle school," Dumezich said. "I think I will be a three-sport athlete. Or four with football."

In Whiting's two softball state championships, the Oilers rode on firetrucks down Indianapolis Blvd. as the community cheered them on. When Whiting won its volleyball sectional title in October, the firetrucks fired up again. On Thursday, the Oilers were celebrated at the RailCats' game.

Dumezich missed all of these celebrations. In the summer, she plays high level travel softball. When the firetrucks are blazing, she's in Colorado, playing against the best talent in the country. When the horns were honking after the volleyball title, she was driving to Alabama for a college visit.

One emotion drives this excellence and work ethic.

"I hate to lose," she said. "I think it's because my brothers beat me (in games) a lot when I was younger. We played football all the time. In front of the house, at the park. And we played tackle, no tag. But they didn't hit me hard. They knew I was a girl and if they hit me hard someone would go tell my parents on them."

Oilers volleyball coach and assistant softball coach Kelly Greer has known Dumezich since the all-state pitcher was 5 years old. Whiting lost to Washington Twp. in the first match of the volleyball season because Dumezich didn't have enough practices in to play. Summer softball had conflicted.

The two programs met again in the sectional semifinal. It was a three-game Oilers sweep, and Whiting won its first sectional title in school history.

"We were a completely different team with Mel out there, they were a little stunned," Greer said. "She's very athletic and she doesn't like to lose. That brings the entire team together and they play better. And what she did at the (softball) regionals, that was amazing. That said 'Athlete of the Year.'

"How many kids can hit a home run through the American flag?"

In softball, Dumezich is 88-4 in three seasons in the circle, including two undefeated state titles. She set three state records this past season, tied another and if she stays healthy, will have her name on every page of the state softball record book.

Don't look for any letdowns next school year. That wouldn't be the Dumezich way.

"I never really take a day off," she said. "I think about the success once in awhile, but I'm never satisfied. I have to improve and keep going and going. That's the only way I know how to do it."

Ready. Set. Hike.