day 2, part two

Recollected diary -

- South Bend John Adams - Hall of Fame Executive Director Chris May's favorite gym.  May has been bugging us for two years to make the trek to Adams and now that we're here, he's right.  This is a special place, more palace than gym, more concert hall than auditorium.  And, to top it off, a view of the old center circle logo - wisely hidden away and recently discovered.  Here's hoping that it's soon displayed for all to see.

- Baugo Township gym, the basketball home of the Jimmies before they were the Jimtown version is now the final resting place for the corporation's exiled collection of globes - that's right, the round facsimiles of the third planet from the sun, complete with inaccurate country names & borders.  There's also a great old stage, a wounded scoreboard and a marvelous balcony where one can imagine a packed house in 1945 when the Baugo Jimmies won their only Sectional title.  © Chris Smith

day 2, part one

Recollected diary - 

- met Jack Edison, Hall of Fame Plymouth coach (two time state champs), "tour guide" Greg Humnicky and South Bend Schools Director of Athletics Seabe Gavin at Green Twp. school (Jack's middle & high school).  Photographed both gyms at the old school which is now closed.  Easy to see why Jack was so successful at Plymouth - he's the kind of guy you would want to play for, or have your kids play for.

- finally made it to Mishawaka's famous "Cave", the oldest high school gym still in use for varsity play (1924), the last home of Milan coach Marvin Wood, the current home of former Anderson coach Ron Hecklinski and the new home of coach Sarah DeShone.  No online photos I've seen have showcased the beauty of this old gym.  Can only imagine it's a great place to watch a game.  © Chris Smith

day 1

The recollected diary - 

- arrived at the Zionsville home of Jim & Marilyn Powers. The transplanted South Bend native was a player at SB Central & Indiana State, asst. coach on Central's '53 and '57 state championship teams, became head coach in '58, Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame member, but more importantly was one of "Wooden's Boys."  The pride in his voice when Jim talks about Coach Wooden - well, you can imagine.  He points to a 2001 letter from Wooden & a quote that lingers long after it is read, "If I had not enlisted in 1942, I honestly believe I would never (have) left Central High School. When I returned things had changed..."

- the old Peru High School, TIG Arena.  Met Sarah Siders, Tribal Secretary for the Miami Nation of Indians of Indiana and learned a little of the forgotten story of Native Americans & our state.  They use the old TIG Arena for Bingo and try to hang on to two threatened histories at once.

- ended the day in Mexico.  Although locked, the old gym appears to be well cared for and still used by the community.

- a good start to our trip to South Bend/Elkhart/Mishawaka.  © Chris Smith

the fixer

The schedule read like this -  

Tuesday, July 17

Greene Township School -

'62 grad Jack Edison will meet us there at 9:30 am. The SB AD Seabe Gavin is coming with me to open the school which has been closed as a public school building within the SB district. There are two gyms, the original small gym buit in the  '30's and the larger gym built in the early '50 before the township was merged with the SB school district. Jack was coached by Jim Reinebold and Dave Hadaway at Greene. Jim later went to SB Clay where he coached baseball (winning a state title in '70) and Dave later went to Adams in the late '60s. Both are in their sports state hall of fame.

After Greene we can travel to Mishawaka HS (10:45) to visit "The Cave", the oldest gym in the state still in use. I have contacted Dean Huppert, their AD. I will contact him to see about some former players being available.

After Mishawaka we can visit Adams HS Gym, (12:00)  opened in 1940, which hosted the Sectional and Regional ('40 to '55), also all four of the city schools (Adams, Central, Riley and Washington) played their home games at Adams until 1960 when Washington HS opened a new building and gym. Central would play their home games at Washington from '60 until it closed as a high school in '70. Riley continued to play at Adams until '65 when a spectator gym was opened at the "old" Riley. Old Riley was torn down in 2000 and a new Riley was build on site.
LaSalle and Jackson HS opened in the mid '60s to accomodate the baby boom enrollment, but both have been closed as high school buildings. For years Riley played their varsity games at Jackson when Jackson was closed as high school in the mid '70s since it was a better gym than the one at old Riley.

I will contact the Adams AD to see if he can find some former players/coaches.

Your visit to Jimtown in the afternoon.

That was all before lunch on Tuesday.  But, that's what a good 'fixer' does.  And a fixer, as far as journalists & photographers are concerned, is someone who puts them in touch with the locals in a foreign land & I guess for two photographers from southern Indiana the South Bend/Mishawaka/Elkhart area could be considered foreign territory. But thanks to former player/coach/teacher/AD Greg Humnicky South Bend didn't stay foreign for long. You'd be hard pressed to find anyone more knowledgable about basketball & its history in north central Indiana than Greg - his passion is evident with every door that is opened.  Did I also mention that he is a caretaker of that history - just take a look at the photos we carried outside because they were too large to photograph in his basement.  © Chris Smith 

  

over there & coming home

It would seem appropriate that a member of the Versailles Frenchies basketball team would end up in France.  But, in the winter of 1937 I'm not sure that Herman Jahnigen (#10 & #34) was thinking much further than the upcoming Sectional tourney.  Although the Frenchies would play well, defeating Vernon (40-13) and Scipio (49-20), their season would end in a 49-25 loss to eventual Sectional champ North Vernon.  The Panthers of North Vernon would march on, winning the Regional before losing in the second round of the Semi-State to eventual State Champ Anderson.  

Moving toward graduation and away from the Great Depression, Herman probably imagined a very different future from the one that was about to unfold, for this team from a small country town would be swept up in the greatest maelstrom ever seen - the Second World War. 

My dad (the manager of the Frenchies) would graduate in 1938, attend Indiana University (graduating with a degree in business) and join the Air Corps as a captain in Army Intelligence.  Herman followed a different route as a member of the 508th Parachute Infantry of the 82nd Airborne Division, parachuting into France on June 6, 1944 in the first wave of the D-Day invasion.  He was  wounded, but would fight on through western Europe and eventually end up at the Battle of the Bulge (where America suffered 75,000 casualties).  By the time the war was over Herman would become Ripley County's most decorated veteran, having been awarded the Silver Star, the Bronze Star, the Purple Heart, European Campaign Medal, French Fourragere, Netherlands Citation, Distinguished Unit Citation, the Victory Medal and ultimately receive a battlefield commission promoting him to Lieutenant. 

These boys, from the same hometown, would go on to live different lives but the common bond of growing up during the Depression, fighting in a world war, and being team members on a Hoosier high school basketball team would shape them forever.  And now, as the final chapter in their story, they have returned to where they began - lying less than 100 yards apart.  © Chris Smith

the tower

In the shadow of the old black water tower, ten miles from the farm, my grandmother kept her sausage, bacon & beef stored in the Milan food locker.  On summer days I made the trip at least once a week and the sizzle of meat in an iron skillet is as memorable as the sound of cicadas in late August.  I don't think I ever saw the white letters stenciled above my head until years later - State Champs 1954.  Now, with five years of basketball photos stored away, I wonder what else I've missed.  © Chris Smith

after the storm

"The March 18, 1925 Griffin tornado is considered one of the 10 worst natural disasters of the century, carving out a three-state, 291-mile path of destruction and it remains the most destructive, deadliest tornado in U.S. history. The tornado began three miles north by northwest of Ellington, Missouri, at 1:01 p.m and struck Griffin, Indiana at 4 p.m. It ran out of steam three miles southwest of Petersburg, Indiana, at approximately 4:30 p.m. According to the National Weather Service, the EF-5 twister ran continuously for 3.5 hours and had an average land speed of 62 mph with wind speeds calculated at nearly 300 mph. By the time it hit Griffin it was over a mile wide, eventually destroying 150 homes, 85 farms and killing 76." *Mt. Vernon Democrat

"On March 2, 2012 an EF-4 tornado came together when a cold front moved through a warm southern Indiana day, creating a monster that tore a 50 mile swath.  Damage was estimated at more than $1 billion and Henryville (and the high school) took a direct hit." *Indianapolis Star

Later that day an EF-3 tornado caused major damage in Holton, Indiana "destroying frame homes, obliterating mobile homes and killing three. The tornado was on the ground for nine miles before dissipating near Osgood." *National Weather Service 

Tornadoes - the ever present spring companion in Indiana and unfortunately our schools & gyms have been victims on more than one occasion.  We have visited the site of the old Holton school (home to the Warhorses) and know that all that remains is a broken black top court with two abandoned goals.  We have also been to Griffin, the former home of the Tornadoes, stopping by on a beautiful October evening (with no threat of bad weather).  The folks in Griffin have restored and maintained their wonderful old gym (built after the 1925 storms) and outdoor courts - maybe as a reminder to all that tornado damage should be as fleeting as the storm itself.  © Chris Smith