Historic Hoosier Gyms: Discovering Bygone Basketball Landmarks

Kick snow from your shoes and step into the warmth of the old Hoosier high school basketball gym, where farmers in overalls line the court and students heckle referees from planks above the bleachers. Revisit a unique era when nearly every town had a high school and its own basketball team. The gyms featured here no longer host high school games, but once they were home to the Ladoga Canners, the Mecca Arabs, the Roll Red Rollers, the Arlington Purple Breezes, the Warren Lightning Five and dozens more. Now they are elementary schools, community centers, fire stations, churches. Some are homes. Sadly, others are wasting away. But once again, the ball thuds in these gyms. The screams reverberate. The whistles blow. Join the Indianapolis Star's Kyle Neddenriep on this tour of one hundred former Hoosier high school basketball gyms.