tourney time

Sectional Final at Clay City's Eel Dome (another beautiful Ralph Legeman designed sunken gym).  Bloomfield vs Shakamak & the Cardinals roll on to the Regional after defeating the Lakers, 34-21.  © Chris Smith

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    

a basketball sky

mecca

Down in the valley.  © Chris Smith

wooden's house

Martinsville.  Glenn Curtis.  John Wooden.  How much Indiana basketball history can one place hold?  © Chris Smith

 

and the winner is...

With more than 250 gyms in our rearview mirror you could say that we've seen a lot of old & new, decaying and refurbished maple & oak.  And center circle logos - well, from simple to elaborate, we've photographed them all. Bees, yellow jackers, bears, horses, aztecs, eagles, sparkplugs and every letter of the alphabet.  But not until we walked into the former home of the Ladoga Canners can I honestly say that I'd seen the most "menacing."  Facing down a team of angry "canners" - enough said.  © Chris Smith

good days, part 3

Leavenworth, Ferdinand, Forest Park, Evansville Central, Sullivan, Pleasantville, Linton and White River Valley (Switz City). Two days on the road last October.  Like finding gold dust in a mountain stream.  © Chris Smith