Stephen Hofer–Sagamore of the Wabash Honoree (part 1 of 2)

Indiana Governor Names Aerlex President Stephen Hofer as Sagamore of the Wabash Honoree

This past October, Aerlex Law Group founder and President Stephen Hofer was honored by Indiana State Governor Eric Holcomb, who named Hofer a “Sagamore of the Wabash.”

For those of you who have never heard of this award, the title of Sagamore of the Wabash is the highest honor the Governor of Indiana can bestow on anyone.  The word “Sagamore” is an appellation borrowed from Indiana’s first inhabitants, the Algonquin-speaking Delaware Indian tribe, that described a lesser chief or a great man in the tribe to whom the true chief would look for wisdom, advice and guidance.  The Wabash refers to Indiana’s most famous river.  The award is described as a personal tribute, given to individuals who have rendered a distinguished service to the State of Indiana or to the Governor or who have made a significant contribution to the Hoosier heritage.

Since the award was first established in 1946, the list of luminaries who have been chosen as Sagamores of the Wabash have included U.S. Presidents Harry Truman, Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush, body builder-turned film star-turned California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, astronauts Neil Armstrong and Virgil “Gus” Grissom, World War I flying ace and Eastern Air Lines founder Eddie Rickenbacker, composer Hoagy Carmichael, violinist Itzak Perlman, pianist Van Cliburn, singers Willie Nelson and John Mellencamp, comedians and television hosts Red Skelton and David Letterman, famed basketball coaches Bobby Knight and John Wooden, race car drivers A. J. Foyt and Jeff Gordon, world champion boxer Muhammad Ali, and both cartoonist Jim Davis and his cartoon creation, Garfield the Cat.  The fact that a cartoon character had preceded Steve as a Sagamore of the Wabash gave him a certain degree of humility about the recognition he was receiving.

In May, Indiana State Representative Kyle Pierce, a legislator who represents Steve’s birthplace and childhood hometown of Anderson, Indiana, called Steve to tell him he was going to be honored as a Sagamore as an acknowledgment of his accomplishments as the founder of Aerlex, a Los Angeles-based boutique law firm that had achieved international recognition in the private aviation field, and Steve’s long-time reputation as “Aviation Lawyer to the Stars.”

Representative Pierce also told Steve it was Governor Holcomb’s wish to present him with the award at an Indiana University football game in the fall because of Steve’s family’s historic connections with Bloomington and the founding of Indiana University and the fact that Steve was both an IU graduate and one-time managing editor of the local newspaper, the Bloomington Herald-Times (known in the 1970s as the Daily Herald-Telephone).  Steve was given multiple dates to select from and he picked the October 26th game with the University of Washington, a date that would occur on the weekend immediately after the National Business Aviation Association’s Business Aviation Convention and Exposition (NBAA-BACE) in Las Vegas.  It was also a perfect time to visit Southern Indiana with the fall foliage at the height of its seasonal splendor, and the brilliant red, orange and yellow leaves adorning tens of thousands of trees did not disappoint.  What was totally unexpected was the extraordinary success of the 2024 Indiana Hoosiers football team.

Indiana University has not historically been known for the success of its football program.  Indeed, in 2022, IU became the first-ever NCAA Division I team to reach 700 all-time losses, a regrettable record it had been building on since losing its first-ever game in 1887.  For 2024, however, the Hoosiers has hired a new head football coach named Curt Cignetti, who came to Bloomington with a brash and confident style and an impressive record of past success at every school he had coached before.  In this new era of quasi-free agency in college athletics known as the “transfer portal,” Cignetti attracted 31 veteran players to Indiana from other schools and the Hoosiers began winning immediately.

By the time Steve and his wife, actress, model and fashion entrepreneur Tammy Barr, arrived in Bloomington on the Friday before the Sagamore ceremony and the Washington game, Indiana was undefeated, with a 7-0 record, and ranked 13th nationally in the weekly Associated Press (AP) Top 25 College Football Poll (the Hoosiers would climb as high as fifth in the nation before the end of the season).  The ESPN network recognized the excitement that was building around the IU team and was bringing its College Game Day pre-game program to Bloomington for the first time ever.  Students camped out overnight in hopes of being a part of the ESPN telecast and the Memorial Stadium parking lot already had begun to fill with campers and recreational vehicles and Hoosier fans ready to start their tailgate parties the night before.

(end of part 1 of 2)