Indiana Basketball in Lousy Shape?
By Brian on Mar 30, 2006
At ESPN.com Pat Forde is playing the role of Chicken Little regarding high school basketball in Indiana (he makes many good arguments about the state of college basketball in Indiana, and I concede those points to him). It’s tough to just grab snippets of his hyperbolic rant, but I’ll try to pull out the most egregious examples.
World-famous Indiana high school basketball, the stuff of myth and legend, ruined perfection by switching eight years ago from a single-class state tournament to four classes. The ultimate meritocracy in youth sports has become the ultimate mediocrity. More trophies are awarded; far fewer fans care.
“We had a national heritage that they just gave up,” said Bobby Plump, the man who hit the most famous shot in the history of Hoosier Hysteria. It was the shot that gave little Milan High its miracle state title in 1954 over powerhouse Muncie Central and spawned a Cinderella story told a million times over, most notably in the movie “Hoosiers.”
In 1962, a reported 1.55 million fans attended state tournament games. Now, Plump says, attendance is about one-third of that. In 1990, 41,046 fans flocked to the then-Hoosier Dome to watch Damon Bailey close out his legendary high school career with a state title. This year, having long since downsized from the dome to Conseco, a total of 31,828 fans watched all four state title games.
“The people have not embraced it,” Plump said. “But I don’t think they will admit they made a mistake.”
I’ve got some pretty good recent evidence to dispute the claim that the IHSAA basketball tournament is in shambles. When towns like Hope (population 2000) travel more than 2500 strong to the regional, and the semistate, and the state, that’s far from being in shambles. Bobby Plump lost all credibility long ago after milking his last-second shot for Milan in 1954 for all its worth (Q: How long can a high school athlete live off a reputation created by one isolated event? A: 52 years or longer, apparently.); Hoosiers is such a great movie in large part because it’s so improbably, having happened only once in the storied history of Hoosier Hoops. It’s a great story for Plump and for the media (everybody loves a Cinderella story), but a terrible story for all the small-school kids who had to live through never having a realistic shot at even winning a sectional, let alone a regional, semi-state, or state.
And comparing high school basketball attendance in 1962 to 2006 is just plain stupid. An article in the Muncie Star-Press (Google cache is all that’s currently available) correctly credits the drop-off not to class basketball (attendance had dropped to less than half the 1962 level by 1994, three years before the class system went into effect) but to:
1. More sports (Indiana sold 1.54 million tickets to attend a high school sports tournament in 2003-2004, but those ticket sales were spread across the many sports that weren’t offered in the early 1960s)
2. School consolidations (a factor Damon Bailey mentions later in the Forde column), evidenced by the number of high schools in Indiana declining from 751 in Milan’s 1954 to only 385 today (of the 9 schools Milan beat in the 1954 tournament only 2 remain today); this means there are not only many fewer tournament games, but many of the most intense rivalries evaporated as close rivals were often consolidated into the same school together. The Star-Press article quotes historian Herb Schwomeyer about the 40% of Indiana high schools that until the 1960s had fewer than 200 students: “Every one of those schools had a definite location and was the focal point for each given community. They not only had the basketball games there, but they had the sales, the chili suppers, everything else. The school was the focal point. When the consolidations took place, the individual communities lost their identity and likewise began to lose their interest.” That’s certainly true of Hauser and Hope, and when consolidation was discussed while I was in school there the locals fought tooth and nail to keep the school because it was so integral to the community. The article continues, “By 1980, the school consolidations of the past two decades had all but ended the hopes of a truly small school duplicating Milan’s accomplishment. In the 1970s, only two small schools - Loogootee (about 350 students) and Argos (about 200 students) - reached the Final Four. Loogootee reached the championship game in 1975. In the 1980s, only one small school - Shenandoah (about 450 students) - made the Final Four. It lost in the afternoon semifinals in 1981. Between 1981 and the end of single-class basketball in 1997, no small school advanced to the Final Four. When Delta competed in the 1997 championship game, the Eagles may have carried the banner for “small” schools everywhere, but in reality, with about 925 students at the time, Delta was a far cry from the Hickory Huskers. About 70 percent of the high schools in Indiana today have an enrollment of fewer than 900 students. But between Milan in 1954 and the end of the single-class era in 1997, not one school of fewer than 900 students won the boys’ basketball state title.”
3. Televisions, which I think is self-explanatory. Also add game systems, computers, the Internet, etc.
* Note: Only at the conclusion of reading the article and writing this section I found that the author is Tim Cleland, a Hauser grad like me. I’m pretty sure he’s the son of the Hauser Varsity baseball coach my brother played for. Small, small world. The article is part of a fantastic larger series on the Milan Miracle.
On Indiana Highway 37 you’ll see a sign outside Mitchell, pop. 5,000. It commemorates the 1940 state tournament runner-up, the Mitchell High Bluejackets.
Not the champions. The runners-up. From 66 years ago.
Now drive down the serpentine stretch of Indiana Highway 58 that leads you to Heltonville Elementary School, in the rolling hills of Southern Indiana. The limestone building was once Heltonville High, before it was swallowed by consolidation to create a larger countywide school, Bedford North Lawrence.
Go in the gym. There on one wall, near the exit, is a yellowed photo of the 1954 Heltonville basketball team — the team that won the school’s only sectional championship. Damon Bailey, Heltonville product, says the photo is still there.
The high school was closed 20 years later, but that team lives on in eternity in a town of about 500 souls. That’s what this tournament once meant.
See, this is what I mean about writers loving this stuff. Those are some weepy paragraphs evoking memories of Edsels and John Deeres rolling down corn-lined country lanes with big red barns in the background. Now put yourself in the shoes of a basketball player from Mitchell post-1940. Generation after generation of players looking back on 1940 - why? because of all the futility and hopelessness since then. Hauser went more than 45 years in open-class basketball without even winning a sectional (and probably with only a small handful of appearances in the sectional title game), but in class basketball they’ve been to back-to-back semistates and this year won the state championship. And not only because they’re playing on level ground now, but because kids growing up have a legitimate dream to compete for a state championship, and that may fuel harder work in elementary and junior high; I’m sure that’s driven at least part of the resurgence of many small-school basketball teams - I know it has with Hauser. That’s what class basketball can mean to small-school players, students, and community members, and I think it’s fantastic.
The 1954 sectional-championship glory of Heltonville, which got swallowed by BNL, leads me to another point from the section above - the state championship games played in the Hoosier Dome. Those were a tremendous anomaly fueled by Bailey’s BNL teams, which in turn was fueled by Bob Knight heaping praise on the then-eight-grade Bailey in his book A Season On the Brink. I don’t know exactly how many state championships were played in the Hoosier Dome (now RCA Dome) but I’d guess the number is 5 or fewer.
The good old days make for great writing. But the reality is different. Long live class basketball.
Brian,
Sorry it took so long for me to reply. I think part of what I miss about the old state basketball playoffs is the rivalry of the first two rounds. In the Lebanon sectional, we had four to six teams, including the three within the county. The winner of that went on to the Frankfort regional which consisted of the winners from Frankfort, Lebanon, Carmel, and North Montgomery. After that was the Lafayette Semi-state and of course, the state finals in Indianapolis. I grew up in southern Boone County and could drive 45 miles max and see all four rounds of the tournament from our bracket.
I lived away for 19 years, but still I often booked a flight home for the Frankfort Regional. It would always have one of the local four teams in the tournament. Plus, it was always pretty competitive after the sectional rounds, often ending in OT games. I saw Tom Coverdale play at Frankfort (for Noblesville) in 1996 and 1997 before he went to Indiana University.
Now, with the class basketball, the first round may be an hour away, and the regional clear across the state, playing teams that I know nothing about. So I personally don’t care to drive that far. I could go to the state finals in Indy, but then again I never went to the state finals under the old one class system.
I do understand the push for classes in sports. My high school won the state finals in football shortly after the class system went into place. And we were just awful at football when I went there. But then football was never the primary sport in Indiana.
Basketball has always been an Indiana tradition. Every little school could scrounge up 5 guys to put on the basketball court. The sectional was THE end of the season high for these little schools. People around here still talk about when little Pinnell H.S. won the sectional in 1962. That meant more than winning the state to them.
Maybe I’m living in the past (as many do in Indiana). I’m on the tail end of the Baby Boomers and consolidations had to take place in order to survive. My county has gone from 9 high schools when my Dad graduated to 3 currently. Kids have more options too. Attendance for the sectionals was tailing off even before the class system was put in place. If I had an iPod, MTV, and a cell phone back in the 70s, I don’t know that I would have attended all of those games.
Still I do miss the one class system. It was one of the few things that made Indiana basketball different than the rest of the states. It was so great to see those huge gymnasiums filled with four different colors of teams. All things must pass, I guess.
I’m not totally resistant to change, though. I like DST. Ha!
This is getting long. Better wind it up. Thanks for the research and good points you brought up.
Jerry
Jerry | Apr 6, 2006 | Reply
I agree that basketball today will not compare to basketball of yore in regards to attendance. Just too many things competing for attention. But I think you’re off the mark when you try to assert that basketball today is on par with pre-class basketball. The simple truth is that the pleasure wasn’t in the winning. It was in the dream. Today, no championship basketball team in the state of Indiana can rightfully claim that it is the best team in the state. It is simply ONE of the best teams in the state. And that is where the mystique dies. Many great things come out of class basketball, not the least of which is hope for smaller schools. (I taught at Mater Dei in Evansville for three years and know firsthand the effect of class basketball on smaller schools.) However, it’s not the ‘fairness’ or the ‘parity’ that I’m lamenting. It’s simply the idea of a single championship, where every school starts with the dream of making it to the final game. Is that idea dated? Perhaps. But it’s the stuff of legends, and legends die hard, if at all.
Chris | Apr 9, 2006 | Reply
I don’t doubt that there are many smaller schools who have enjoyed success in the multi-class system. Your Jets surely worked hard to achieve their accomplishment and your community should celebrate the state championship. No matter how many classes there are, a state championship is still a state championship. Congratulations to the Jets!
Chris and Jerry make some valid points, in my opinion. I could throw in a bunch of anecdotal evidence to support my side and you could throw in a bunch of anecdotal evidence to support your argument. In the end, it won’t really convince either one of us that the other is right. If you really want to read some of my experience from an Evansville school, you can check out my response to your post on my LiveJournal.
I realize class basketball is here to stay. I understand that smaller communities are celebrating that fact. That doesn’t necessarily mean it is best for the state as a whole. I know in the end that my thoughts make me a hopeless romantic, but I will continue to pray for one true state champion.
mattdantodd | Apr 9, 2006 | Reply
Hey Brian, thanks for your response to my post about Forde’s article. You have an interesting take as someone from Indiana whose high school has now experienced success under the new class system. I certainly understand your perspective.
Other than anecdotal evidence offered by both sides, there isn’t a single reliable way to measure the success of class basketball. Change — with anything that has an established tradition — will cause some people to lament the way things were and others to prefer the new system (especially those that did not benefit prior to the change).
As an outsider to Indiana basketball — I grew up in Kentucky which like Indiana loves its basketball very much but more for the University than the high school level — I have always had a tremendous respect for the tradition there. I will say I have heard more stories from people that long for the way things were than from those that prefer the class system.
Over time though, that will change.
Derek | Apr 14, 2006 | Reply
What wonderful and interesting discussion!
I stumbled onto this discussion as a result of Googling “Loogootee basketball”. I grew up in Loogootee, and will always be a Lion fan.
I graduated more than a decade before the end of the single-class system, and I’m glad I did. My Lions were in the Class A championship game in 2005, and I celebrated along with the rest of the town (I no longer live there, though). However, since then I’ve spent some time listening to old taped recordings of tournament games, and I am more convinced than ever that we lost more than we gained when the state went multi-class.
I listened to the 1975 Semi-State championship game, in which the Lions defeated a mighty Seymour Owls team. As that game wound down, I heard multiple announcers comment “I’ve never seen a team play a better basketball game than Loogootee played tonight”. And these were not Loogootee announcers, which was obvious from the repeated mispronunciation of players’ names.
What that tape reminded me was that no matter the size of the school, the teams take the floor 5 on 5. The depth of the talent pool might differ, but it’s 5 on 5 when the game starts. Usually the school with the big budget and the deep talent pool wins, but sometimes MAGIC happens.
I also listened to the 1975 Loogootee vs Columbus North game from the final four, which the Lions won 50-27. It was astounding work, and sent chills down my spine even listening to it 30 years later, already knowing what the final score would be.
The old single-class sectional at Washington included 7 teams while I was growing up: Loogootee, Shoals, Washington Catholic, North Daviess, Washington, Pike Central, and Barr-Reeve. Now five of those are Class 1A schools, and two are Class 3A schools (Washington and Pike Central). From 1984 through the end of single-class tournaments, the Washington Sectional was won EVERY YEAR by a Class A team. The host Washington Hatchets didn’t win a sectional between 1983 (when Craig Neal graduated) and 2005 (when they won the 3A state championship). Certainly the Hatchets had some seriously “down” years in that period of time, but they didn’t stink. The Hatchets didn’t win any sectionals for 21 straight years because teams like Loogootee and Barr-Reeve and Washngton Catholic (all of which make Milan look like a BIG school) were playing some terrific basketball most years. As anyone who attended the games can attest, that was a VERY competitive sectional!
I’ll be the first to admit that Loogootee has a better chance to win a state championship now than they ever did in the single-class years. But is that an improvement, or not? Imagine if the Lions had won the Class A championship last year (2005). Is that more, or less, impressive than beating Seymour and Columbus North only to fall one win short against Marion in 1975? I don’t know, I really don’t.
One last point, and then I’ll shut up. I remember as a young basketball fan in Loogootee that for EVERY SINGLE GAME, I thought we could win. I NEVER approached a game thinking it was pretty hopeless. There were years I attended all 20 regular season games plus the tournament games, and I NEVER expected the Lions to lose. And in the early 1980s the Lions’ schedule typically included such big schools as Bloomington South and North, Bedford North Lawrence, a couple of Evansville teams, Vincennes Lincoln, Washington, and on at least one occasion both Columbus North and East. I wonder if the fans (or the players) feel the same way now, when a big school appears on the schedule? Before the Lions played 4A powerhouse Bloomington South this year, how many fans really thought the Lions had a chance to win? Or has the advent of multi-class basketball started to convince the fans and players that the larger schools really are “above them”?
Stacey | Apr 21, 2006 | Reply
Hi Stacey, and thanks for joining the discussion. It’s next to impossible to establish causality in situations like this, but for 45 years my alma mater (Hauser) played in the Columbus sectional and never won it. Rarely if ever were even in the championship game, and that was only if we got the luck of the draw and got a bye then played another small school in the semifinal so we could get blasted by Columbus North or East in the final. We knew going into every year that we had no shot, and that’s speaking from lots of experience: my dad, aunt, uncle, three 2nd cousins, my brother & I, and now two 3rd cousins (the sons of one of the 2nd cousins) attended Hauser, graduating (roughly) in 1966, 1970, 1972, 1974, 1976, 1979, 1989, 1992, 2005, and 2008. After the advent of class basketball (and several other contributing factors like the building of a strong youth basketball program) Hauser regularly competes with and beats Columbus North and East, so much so that Columbus East now refuses to play at Hauser (because they can’t take the embarrassment and hide under the ridiculous claim of Hauser’s gym being an unsafe environment). I think a large part of Hauser’s turnaround is that kids growing up in Hope now have, well, hope. Hope that they can compete for something and have a realistic shot of winning it. They never had that before, and that’s the biggest reason I’m a big fan of class sports.
brian | Apr 21, 2006 | Reply
Hi Brian, and thanks for being a candy ass. If kids do not want to win at the highest level then they will not succeed in life. How many champions should the IHSAA crown next year? What Brian is implying is that winning is the most important thing and nothing else matters. If Brian was in control of the IHSAA he would make 300 classes with every school in their own class so everyone could win. What a wonderful world that would be Brian. If everyone is a champion then no one is. There can only be one champion. The IHSAA and the small school principals stabbed 1 class basketball, Indiana tradition, and the proud fans of 1 class basketball in the back. Now there is no chance for a huge upset but that doesnt matter because now with many people like Brian there will be 4 “champions.” Who knows what will happen next. Maybe Brian will somehow take over the IHSAA and give every school a state banner to proudly hang up. Thanks Brian for making everyone “happy” because you are right…it’s all about winning.
Joe Hughes | Sep 12, 2006 | Reply
Hey Joe. Thanks for coming strong with it.
If I had my way every high school would be capped at enrollment of no more than 1500, and then we can go back to the 1 class system. Schools 1500 and smaller are much better for the kids than some of the huge schools we have now (and I taught at a couple of those 2000+ enrollment schools), and a side benefit of that would be a more fair athletic competition.
Short of that, I suggest anywhere from 2 to 4 classes. Any more than that is too many.
brian | Sep 12, 2006 | Reply
I grew up around the 76 consecitive win streak for the Argos Dragons and seen pretty much most of those games .That is a time of my life i will never forget .The movie Hoosiers stil gives me chills .Althougt that was a different time and a different ara.I dont like it but accept it .Years laer imoved to Bourbon Indiana and witnessed the 2 time girls state championship games and titles although not quite as big a deal as the Argos boys these wins but this small town of Bourbon on its own map and made for competitive girls teams for years to come with a grat team turnout every year .Every one loves a winner and i believe class sports will help influence more kids to go out for athletics.Although one final thought a playoff between the classes for all the marbles would be nice Craig A Stevens Punta Gorda Florida
Craig Stevens | Jan 29, 2007 | Reply
Brian,
Would you please come out of your cave? The state of High School Sports is beyond Horrific! Go to any sport any night. You can’t pay for the sports with the attendance at the games. You can’t pay the refs at some. Yes, at some high profile games you get a good crowd. But when you have a Muncie Central v Marion game for the NCC championship and you can’t draw 3,000 people there is a problem!!! The sectional at Anderson, New Castle Muncie and Anderson in the 90’s were averaging 5000 a location that is 20,000 per night for 60,000. Now next year it is all one sectional for the most part and the total gate will be 12,000 to 15,000!! Do those numbers!! This year they might grab a gate of 20,000 between New Castle and Muncie. Now tell me class sports are effecting the sports.
Jim | Feb 24, 2007 | Reply
Share your wisdom….that’s funny. In the grand scheme of things it doesn’t matter whether or not you are a fan of single or multi class basketball, we have and will continue to have a multiclass system. Motivation for interest varies for each individual. I personally long for the “old” days where every now and then a supposedly less talented team would beat a clear favorite. I will never forget when Plymouth beat Gary Roosevelt because Scott Skiles put on a highlight reel performance in double overtime to win “the” state championship. In my time, that game is a true classic that never would have happened in a multi class system. I can understand how the current system helps to give hope to the smaller schools and gives them something to look forward to, but like Donna Cheatam said in a recent Indianapolis Star article, “The worst thing the IHSAA could’ve done is a class system because that makes us second rate citizens”. This is a coach who has won over 500 games and state championships under both formats. She goes on to make an even better point that if 1A and 2A are “equal” then why do the larger schools always get to play in prime time instead of the morning like the smaller schools. In essence, the IHSAA is openly admitting that the smaller schools championships do not deserve the same prime time spotlight. Still, dinosaurs like me have to be realistic in the end and either accept or ignore the product that is out there. I have chosen to ignore and remember what was. In quick reply to Craig’s idea of a final tournament for all the marbles between the Class Champions, I believe they tried that once and called it the Tournament of Champions and it was a bust. Someone can correct me on this if I’m wrong.
Ben | Mar 6, 2007 | Reply
Do you proponents of the single-class system realize that it is the big schools that are not carrying their weight with regards to crowds. They obviously would rather go watch their team pummel a smaller school than have to play a similar size foe. The Class A and AA sectionals and regionals are packed and the mega-schools like Lawrence North don’t bring people even with players like Greg Oden and Mike Conley to see. I went to the Southport Semi-State last year and the two Class A schools filled the gym and it was half empty for the LN and Bloomington South game after the the first game’s fans filled out.
keith b | Mar 12, 2007 | Reply
I accidentally stumbled onto this site today and found myself reading all of the entries. I’m a native (Jasper) Hoosier. Played basketball at Jasper High. We won sectional and regional titles our junior and senior years (56 and 57), losing to Howard Sharpe’s great Terre Haute Gerstmeyer teams both years in the semistate - in the afternoon at Bloomington in 56 and in the championship game at Evansville in 57.
I did radio, TV and newspaper coverage of the IHSAA tournament for over 25 years and am a former president of the Indiana Sportswriters-Sportscasters Association. So I am a little familiar with Indiana high school basketball even though I have lived and worked in Kentucky for the last 18 years.
I cried when you all went to class basketball. Bobby Plump (a long-time family friend) and my father (Indiana Basketball Hall of Famer Cyril Birge) had really campaigned against it and they too were terribly disappointed when it happened.
When one reads all of the entries here, a person can go from one side to the other very quickly. Yes, it’s great for these small schools to finally win a state championship. But then their winning has taken away something that made Indiana special. Indiana’s state tournament was so unique it attracted school people from across the country, wanting to know how it was done. How the gyms were being filled and the money was being taken in year after year.
Being from Dubois County, we played in one of the greatest high school gyms ever built, the gym at Huntingburg, now called the Southridge High School gym. It seated well over 5,000 yet every year the sectional was a sellout before the first ball was tossed up!! From the first year the gym was used for the sectional - I believe it was in 1952 - until they went to class basketball - I think every sectional was a sellout. Of course, the rivalries were there with Jasper, Huntingburg, Dubois, Ferdinand, Ireland, etc.
This year I couldn’t believe it when I heard Jasper played Vincennes in a sectional at Washington! Nuff said.
The rivalries are gone. The crowds are gone. The money is gone.
Of course, there are some exceptions. That great gym at Huntingburg is still being packed for one of the sectionals, one that I believe includes Southridge, two-time state champion Forest Park and some other nearby rivals. Forest Park and Southridge have always had great fans and a big following. But like I said, it’s an exception.
Someone who posted earlier said something about 300 classes and everyone being a winner. I know he said that tongue in cheek, but he’s not too far off base. Why just four champions. Why not six? Or eight? or 10? That would give more schools the thrill of winning the state. That is obviously the reason for breaking up the great one class system. The more the merrier. The more happy communities, the more happy schools.
I think it all started a few years back when youth programs started giving trophies to all of the kids on a team no matter what they did. “They all worked hard so they should all get a trophy,” they claimed. Hell, I always thought trophies went to the winners. TO THE VICTORS GO THE SPOILS!! So many parents just hated to see the winning team get the championship trophy and the kids get the individual trophies so they insisted that their kids get the same - even if they finished last! Gads! And they succeeded.
The more trophies the better, even if you’re not the best. In Indiana, you can be state champion even if you’re not the best team in the state…heck, even if you’re not among the top 100 teams in the state.
That’s the crime of class basketball.
I’ve been in Kentucky for 18 years, where, I’m glad to say, we have ONE-CLASS high school basketball. I hope we keep it that way. It makes for a great state tournament at Rupp Arena even though it’s a 16-team state, the Sweet 16. It took me a while to get used to the 16-team state format, but it does make for a great state tournament. I’d still prefer a final 4, but at least it’s one-class.
By the way, we do have an All-A Tournament in February for the small schools in the state. They play through a tournament just like the regular post-season tourney and cap it off with a Sweet 16 state tourney and crown an All-A state champ. Then, all of those Class A schools come back and enter the regular tournament in March. And do you know what? Since I’ve been here, three times the winner of the All-A tourney has come back and won the overall state title!! Great stories. Great high school basketball in a great basketball state.
I wrote the IHSAA and suggested an All-A tournament when they were considering class basketball, but I never heard back from them and I guess they never considered it. At least I never saw anything in print about it. I still think that would have been a nice solution. It would have given the small schools in Indiana a chance to win a state championship and then would have also given the small schools a chance to “pull off a Milan.”
Sorry I got so windy, but I still feel horrible about Indiana losing it’s one-class basketball. I used to go to the Kentucky State Tourney and then run up to Indianapolis for the Indiana Tourney. I no longer do that…I’m not sure what tourney I want to see…the A, AA, AAA or AAAA tourney.
C’mon down to Kentucky for some great one-class basketball, OK?
JB
Jerry | Mar 26, 2007 | Reply
Hi Jerry, and thanks for your great comments. I couldn’t agree more about everyone getting trophies for everything. I coach youth soccer and baseball, and my biddy teams (age 4-5) get trophies just for playing, but my pee wee teams (age 6-8) only get a trophy if they win the regular season or the tournament. They have to earn the trophy, and because of that it means more.
And I’d love for Indiana to go back to single class basketball, but only if the state goes back to smaller schools too (which is better for all sorts of reasons unrelated to athletics). In 1959 the average high school enrolled 321 students, but by 1998 the average high school enrolled 777 students (PDF link). And I suspect a lot of that growth happened in bigger cities like Terre Haute, where school consolidation took Vigo County from more than 12 schools (including Gerstmeyer, which you mention) to only three - North, South, and West. Consolidation killed school and community identity and passion much more than class basketball did. The Terre Haute Tribune-Star has a very good article about school consolidation. And while Terre Haute and Indianapolis and Bloomington and Lafayette and others consolidated, rural communities with less population density couldn’t consolidate to the same level because transportation would become unmanageable. Ripley County (where Milan is located) has a population of only 27,000, barely 25% of Vigo County’s population.
Has Kentucky consolidated to a lesser degree than Indiana has? Maybe that’s why their one class system still works as well as it does?
Thanks again for your great comments.
brian | Mar 26, 2007 | Reply
Like Indiana, Kentucky has seen the number of schools shrink considerably because of consolidation. Many of the counties throughout the Commonwealth have only one high school, many have two. Owensboro is the third largest city in the state and has only four high schools. We’re surrounded by Ohio County, Hancock County and McLean County (1 school each) and Muhlenberg County (2 schools). Consolidation has gobbled up the legendary small schools, including Central City in Muhlenberg County which was had the winningest high school basketball program in the nation.
Over the years Kentucky’s state tournament has had its share of “Milans.” After starting off with Lexington winning the first two tournaments (1918 and 1919), schools with such colorful names as Corinth, Hazel Green, Harlan, Cuba, Inez and Carr Creek claimed state titles over the years before consolidation.
And how’s this one for modern times? - This year, June Buchanan High School - enrollment 74 - from Pippa Passes, Kentucky - made it to the Sweet 16 State Tournament for the first time. Got beat in the first round, but they made it to “the state!”
It’s still great to have a one-class State Tournament. It really is.
jerry | Apr 19, 2007 | Reply
If you support class basketball, then you do not understand basketball in Indiana, or the way the competitive world works in general. Winning is not everything, and much more is learned from losing to a better opponent than beating the other small fish you swim with. Do orchestras, pro sports teams, or championship poker tournaments compete on the basis of class? Do businesses award contracts based on class? Do universities award doctorates based on class? How do you become the best you can be unless you have the opportunity to defeat everyone and be ‘the best’? Having multiple “champions” is only feel-good, watered-down competition that ultimately doesn’t do justice to the efforts of the teams involved. Greg Oden won a “championship”, but his tournament was watered down compared to those of Damon Bailey, Oscar Robertson, Scott Skiles, Eric Montross, Jay Edwards and Bobby Plump. Those guys and dozens more can truly say they were Indiana Champions. For those that didn’t win, at least they had a shot. No one today does.
Dan McGlaun | Jul 4, 2007 | Reply