FIELDHOUSE FACTS

81,555 square feet. Cost of construction: $10.41 per square foot. Total cost: $1,010,000. Architect: Ralph Legeman of Evansville

HALL OF FAME FACTS

The Hall of Fame Museum is open from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday, and from 1:00 to 5:00 p.m. on Sunday. The museum is closed Mondays and holidays.

The annual celebration of Hoosier basketball and Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame will honor a roster of greats from 1978 with a 25-year salute of fifteen outstanding Indiana stars. The members of this squad become eligible as candidates for induction into the Hall of Fame in future years. They will be honored on Wednesday, March 26, 2003, at the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame’s annual banquet. The event will be held at the Primo Banquet Hall in Indianapolis. For ticket information, please call 765-529-1891.

For more information call 765-529-1891 or check out the website above.

Forget baseball, hot dogs and apple pie. Anyone living in Indiana knows that this state is all about basketball.

That’s why people crowd around the tube when there’s a college or professional game on. And the high school level can be just as frenzied when it comes to the fans.

Henry County sports its own pride in basketball, which comes to a surprise to many who have never been to this county located east of Indianapolis and west of Richmond.

There are three basketball related treasures in Henry County: Hoosier Gym, located in Knightstown, the New Castle Chrysler High School Fieldhouse, which is the world’s largest high school fieldhouse; the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame, also in New Castle.

Besides its historical significance, Hoosier Gym in Knightstown has also been made famous by the 1986 movie, "Hoosiers."

The gym, built in 1922, had its first season played there in 1923. Originally it had three coal- or wood-burning furnaces to heat it. In 1936, the present floor was laid. In May 2002, the floor was refinished.

"It looks like a new floor," said Bill Sitler, a board member for the non-profit organization that runs Hoosier Gym.

Because of its appearance, the gym was used to film the home games for the mid-1980s movie, "Hoosiers," which was based on the 1950s story of the small town of Milan going up against the big town school of Muncie Central. However, in the movie, "Milan" is changed to Hickory. The movie, which featured basketball players from Knightstown, is a classic underdog victory kind of movie. Rent it or borrow it from your local library.

Hoosier Gym definitely gives you that nostalgic basketball feeling when you walk in. The gym is open to the public, and many groups, both adult and children, come regularly to play in the gym. It is also rented for groups and organizations and can be used for banquets and other celebrations.

For more information about Hoosier Gym, call 765-345-2402.

Older Henry County natives remember the huge hole the construction workers dug in 1958.

"As a kid, I used to watch them dig this big hole in the ground," explained Gene Lecey, a tour guide for the New Castle attractions. The fieldhouse opened on Nov. 21, 1959

The fieldhouse seats 7,900 in its regular seats, but it’s the temporary seating that makes it the largest. With temporary seats in place, the fieldhouse can hold 9,325 screaming fans.

Another interesting note to basketball fans: of the top 16 fieldhouses in the world, 15 are in Indiana. No. 2 is the Anderson Wigwam.

"That tells you something about basketball in Indiana," Lecey said with a grin.

Lecey is quick to point out that Henry County also claims to have the finest fieldhouse in the world.

"No seat is further than 24 rows from the playing floor," he said. "Also, no seat is obstructed by beams or other structural material."

The fieldhouse has been host to NBA games, the Harlem Globetrotters, Indiana University and Purdue University games, Indiana and Ohio state wrestling meets and finals, roller derbies and U.S. Olympic volleyball.

It is a community-minded building, as well. The fieldhouse is open to the public from 5 to 7:30 a.m. and noon to 1 p.m., and people can walk around the 1/7 mile track.

Another advantage of the fieldhouse is the six acres of parking surrounding the gym.

More than 20 years ago, the question arose: where should the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame be located?

The hall of fame was established in 1962, about a hundred years after the sport hit Indiana in a big way.

Two members of the Indianapolis Lions Club, Tom Carnegie and Ray Johnson, started with an idea.

"It didn’t take long before they had lots of basketball memorabilia donated," explained Roger Dickenson, director of the hall of fame.

The hall of fame was located in Indianapolis from 1970 to 1987. When the founders decided to look for a place to relocate the museum, 13 towns in Indiana offered to house the hall of fame.

New Castle was chosen. Land was donated by the Ameriana Bank, and a food and beverage tax was used to help raise the money to build the expansive 14,000 squar e foot building, which was completed and opened in 1990. Volunteers run the hall of fame, which is just a block away from the world’s largest high school fieldhouse.

The hall of fame is hard to miss. In front is an enormous courtyard, with bricks forming the shape of the state inside a giant basketball.

Inside, there are colorful displays of mascots, cheerleader uniforms and school spirit buttons. There are basketball uniforms and memorabilia from over 1,000 different high schools.

The hall of fame attracts a lot of school groups. One area that is a favorite of kids young and old is the corner where a crowd shouts and you are allowed to try making the winning shot!

"The score is 74 to 75, and you have five seconds to make the shot," Lecey said. "If you get the shot, you get a special blue ribbon and the crowd cheers!"

A display invites visitors to come into the locker room of Coach John Wooden, the most successful coach in college basketball history. A talking head of Wooden gives his "boys" in the locker room a pep talk.

"Perfection cannot be attained, but it should be our goal," he says from his animated Styrofoam head.

One section celebrates Oscar Robinson, the finest all around basketball player. In the Hall of Fame Enshrinement Gallery, photos line the walls of basketball stars. Women’s pictures started lining the walls in 2001. There are numerous larger-than-life photos of basketball teams, as well as shirts, trophies, and flags for champion games. And there are basketballs.

"We have basketballs coming out our ears," Lecey said with a laugh. But that’s good, because people come from all over the world to see the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame.

"We’re really proud of Indiana basketball," he said. "It’s a way of life in Indiana."