barn find

If you watch the television show American Pickers then you are familiar with the phrase "barn find" - which in the case of Mike & Frank (the pickers) usually refers to some unrestored gem of transportation history (bicycle, motorcycle or car).  In our case, a "barn find" is some aspect of Hoosier Hysteria housed in the confines of hand-hewed poplar. We've been to Crocker's barn (destroyed by the remnants of a hurricane), Comer's barn (where the old Lawrenceburg gym has been resurrected), Werner's barn (home court to our northwest Indiana friend Matt Werner), Noah's barn (abandoned Amish arena) and now, Walker's barn.  If you can envision a time before year-round basketball & open gyms, a time when winter nights were dark and long, then you can understand why Hoosier roundball took up residence inside innumerable tobacco & cattle barns.  Such was the case in the late 1950's on the Walker farm, outside of Gentryville.  Dick Walker (91) decided that his two sons & their classmates needed a gym where they could perfect Indiana's game so he built one in the upper deck of his barn - not just one hoop or an abbreviated court but a gymnasium.  Through the years Walker's barn became the place to go if you wanted to hone your skills and play a little ball.  And though the barn now sits empty, memories fill the rafters as Dick's son Steve gives us a walking tour of the old structure.  This poplar, this hay dust, these rusting rims - a great barn find harkening back to a forgotten era of Hoosier high school basketball.  © Chris Smith