Hoosiers

Revisiting Yesterday: with Red thompson

Times Machines, classroom and A picket fence

All my life, I have loved history! I have always tried to realize there were people and societies here before our generation came along. The Oak Hill and Vinton County boys’ basketball teams got a good look at yesteryear Saturday on the Historic Hoosiers gym court . It was like jumping into a time machine. The gym was built in 1921 when America was dry and Woodrow Wilson was in the White House. It was the roaring 20’s and radio broadcasting had just started. Many of those old-style gyms are gone—but it was the magic of Hollywood that saved this one. According to Gym Manager Neil Shaneyfelt, it was saved from being torn down when it was announced a major Hollywood Movie, what later became the beloved Hoosiers Movie was going to be made there. The movie is based on the 1954 Mylan, a small farming community, team winning the state tournament when Indiana has one division only. They defeated a much bigger school. Hollywood put a big cast into the movie headlined by legendary actor Gene Hackman as Coach Norman Dale.

There were several unique features about the gym that have long been forgotten by today’s building codes. The team benches are behind the basket, there is no room on the side court and there are open spaces near the court and the old clock. Penny Shaneyfelt, a gym official, noted the iconic clock on the wall is not the one shown in the movie-- but a very close model. Many items in the gym were scene in the film. Just before I left, I went to locker room and saw the iconic “Picket Fence Play.”

Hackman drew up the play and it was one of the more noted scenes from the movie.

The seats were the old style with the long boards where people sit. There were only 300 seats on each side. The gym was cleared quickly before the next game, which was Adena and Huntington started. I believe the gym is a national shrine just as the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville. Going to the 1892 auditorium and sitting on hard-church pews is a different experience—such as the stockyards in Ft. Worth and the iconic Sun Studio in Memphis.
Our company leaders thought this game was a big deal and we needed to be there. Total Media had five people attend the game with print, pictorial, and radio coverage. Along the way, Sports Editor Todd Compston and I met people who knew people in the movie. A lady at the Subway told us her husband was in the fifth grade and was in a scene. Neil told us the cast stated in Indianapolis and drove out to Knightstown.
Today, the local population knows what a gem they have in that gym. I was told in 1985, the gym and school was still being used as an elementary school. Hackman would play with the kids during breaks. It was also nice to talk with the broadcasting team of Corey Ruby, Daniel Stewart and Michael Evans who spoke about history and how the kids benefit from it. The gym is a classroom from the past. The coaches and players will tell you it is different game on that court. The coaches from both teams spoke about this trip as being an education for the players. I think coaching from behind the basket was a change for the coaches.
The players learnt there was a world before the Internet, Tick Tock, Twitter and Facebook. We saw a small part of rural Indiana farmland when traveling from Rushville to Knightstown. Believe it or not, there is more of the old America left than we might think.

Field trips are great and thrill of competition between the teams was just as relevant then as it is today.

. I went over some history but there is more than that to the gym. The gym is one of the few like that left--and the only where a famed movie was shot. It is part of Knightstown’s economy. Several small businesses depend on it. It draws thousands of people to a small town that is about McArthur or Oak Hill’s size. I think sports movies have a longer shelve life than most pictures do. I am a Marshall University graduate and remember the pride everyone took when “We are Marshall” was made.

. It was not the hit Hoosiers was, but it was a notable hit brought lots of attention to our region.
I wanted to shout out thanks to General Manager Courtney Leach and the Stockmeister management team for making the trip possible. Thanks to Editor Pete Wilson who coordinated coverage from Jackson.
Many things change but I think one thing remains the same for the local media in any form, and that is providing an account of memorable occasions, both good and bad. We tell stories and the Oak Hill/Vinton County experience in Indiana was certainly unique and special. We always thank our advertisers and please remember to patronize them.
Now, we will throw the time machine in forward motion and return to the present. But it was nice to go back and see where we came from as we track our journey forward. Our kids got a taste of sports of yesteryear that they will surely never forget.