Dr. W. Philip Ball papers

Dr. W. Philip Ball was born in Muncie, Indiana in 1919 to Dr. Clay A. Ball and Mrs. Helen Mauck Ball. Dr. Ball was a member of the "original" Muncie Ball family that came to the area in the 1830s. He graduated from Muncie Central High School in 1936, studied at Ball State Teachers College, and earned his B.A. and M.D. from Indiana University in 1940 and 1942, respectively. He then interned at Cook County Hospital in Chicago in 1943. From 1948 to 1951, Dr. Ball received specialty training in internal medicine at the Mayo Clinic, where he earned a Master of Science in Medicine from the University of Minnesota. He practiced medicine for forty-three years in Muncie, Indiana, and later taught medical students at Ball Memorial Hospital. In 1992, the Indiana Chapter of the American College of Physicians named Dr. Ball Internist Laureate. Dr. Ball also served in the Navy as a medical officer during World War II.

In 1970, Dr. Ball delivered testimony during a U.S. Senate hearing on health problems related to the birth control pill. The testimony was covered by news media around the world, and the Senate hearings led to new FDA regulations regarding the pill.

In addition to his medical career, Dr. Ball was a published writer for more than fifty years. Hundreds of his letters, articles, and columns were printed in local and national newspapers, and in medical publications. Dr. Ball also published six books. Much of his literary work was published under the pseudonym Charles F. Coldwater, M.D., who is the self-proclaimed "mayor-for-life" of the west Muncie community known as Normal City. In 1992, Ball was designated the Poet Laureate for the Indiana House of Representatives, and in 1996 he was given a Special Citation Award by Ball State University's Department of Journalism in recognition of his numerous contributions to local newspapers.

Dr. Ball was a member of Muncie Rotary, the Delaware-Blackford Medical Society, the honorary staff of the Ball Memorial Hospital, and the American College of Physicians. He has also served as a long-time board member of the local Keep Cool with Coolidge Club, the National Mothers' March on Hernia, and the American Grackelgoober Disease Society.

Dr. Ball was married to Esther Ebrite Ball. Together they raised three children, Greg, Susan, and Thomas, and had three grandchildren and four great-grandchildren. Mrs. Ball was a retired schoolteacher, and worked with the cryptographic division of the FBI and with military intelligence during World War II. Esther Ball died on January 14, 2015. Phil Ball on February 4, 2016. Prior to his death, he wrote his own obituary.