election day

There is nothing more Hoosier than basketball & nothing more American than voting, so what better place to be on election day than Fayette County's old Harrisburg gym.  Home to the Hornets until 1959 and then the Fayette Central Chiefs until consolidation into Connersville in 1967, the little gym has seen some pretty good round ball through the years.  Although never winning a Sectional title the Hornets of 1953 posted a record of 20-3, while the renamed Chiefs were 16-8 in 1960, including a victory over larger neighbor Brookville in the second round of Sectional play.  On this Tuesday, the elementary students of Fayette Central (who now occupy the school & gym) made room for the most American of traditions - voting in a free election.  And after his vote, David Simpkins took a break from farming (at the urging of his wife Marla, a poll worker) to return and tell me a little more about the old gym.  David, a '63 graduate of FC, spent more than 30 years supplementing his farming income by working as a janitor at the school.  When asked about the linoleum court, David told me that the school had never had hard wood, always some form of tile and the one row of seats in the balcony - gone now, were a great place to watch a Friday night game.  Election day, no matter the outcome, is a special time in America and what better place to sort out differences between rivals than an Indiana gym. © Chris Smith