(WANE) – High school basketball hits another level in the Hoosier state. Along with memorable names that have played high school ball in Indiana are memorable stages where the games are played.
Fans may be familiar with iconic venues such as the New Castle fieldhouse, the “Hoosiers” gym in Knightstown or even the “Hatchet House” in southwestern Indiana. There are also plenty of historic gyms in the pocket of northeast Indiana.
From Berne to Kendallville, here is a look at some of the top high school gymnasiums in northeast Indiana:
By Hey Arena – North Side
One of the newer gyms in northeast Indiana, North Side’s gymnasium is named after Indiana Basketball Hall of Famer Byard Hey. During his 32-year coaching career, By Hey collected 550 wins while leading his program to 10 sectional titles, seven regional championships and a state-runner up finish in 1965.
North Side’s current gymnasium opened in 2004 and features both the court and an indoor track. The venue can seat over 2,200 fans, plus another 1,200 people when seated along the indoor track.
“It just has an open feel to it,” said North Side Athletic Director Andrew Klein. “A lot of people say in here it has a big time feel just with how much space there is in the gym.”
By Hey Arena was once home to current University of Kentucky player Keion Brooks, who was enrolled at North Side before transferring to La Lumiere School and eventually playing at Kentucky.
As for the previous gym? That was converted into the school’s library. Bleachers from the old gymnasium remain in place behind the library’s walls.
The old gym – Eastside
Prior to playing at the Gerb Court, Eastside played their basketball games a couple blocks away on Ash Street. As fans peer inside this gymnasium, the venue looks like a set piece from the film, “Hoosiers.”
Jim Miller played basketball for Eastside from 1963-1966. With no air conditioning and fans packed to the brink, Miller remembers the gym feeling like a sauna on game days.
“It was so close that everybody could be a coach,” Miller said. “Everybody was involved, you felt like the whole crowd was involved in games back then.”
This year, Eastside basketball fans enjoyed a trip down memory lane as the old gym hosted a girls-boys basketball doubleheader against Heritage.
The Big Blue Pit – East Noble
In the late 1960s, East Noble head boys basketball coach Jim Calvin wanted to give an iconic name to the school’s new gymnasium.
“We’ve got to have something that everybody in the state of Indiana can recognize that no one else has,” recalled Fred Inninger, who worked with Calvin as an assistant coach.
Thus Calvin named the gym the “Big Blue Pit,” which is etched onto East Noble’s court to this day.
Some of Inninger’s favorite memories at the Big Blue Pit harken back to the 70’s and 80’s, when East Noble won six sectional titles from 1972-1988. Inninger recalls fans camping outside the gym as they looked to get a seat before a big game.
“It was kind of like Notre Dame and the Yankees,” Inninger said. “Half the people came because they wanted to see us win. The other half because they wanted to see us lose, but we filled the gym.”
Over the years, the Big Blue Pit has hosted former Indiana All-Stars like Chad LaCross, who currently runs the University of Saint Francis men’s basketball program, and current Akron men’s basketball player Ali Ali.
The talented players, teams and rowdy environment from the fans make this gym one of the most distinct basketball environments in northeast Indiana.
“When you walk in here, you get that feeling that you don’t get anywhere else and think, ‘This is where it all started,’ said Inninger. “And everyone wanted to be like the Big Blue Pit.”
The Stardome – South Adams
For 50 years, the Stardome has brought memories for small school basketball teams near Berne.
Built in 1972, the Stardome is an octagonal structure that makes it distinct from other high school gymnasiums around the state. When first built, the Stardome had a seating capacity of nearly 4,000. Today’s capacity has expanded to 4,001.
Some of the most iconic moments at the Stardome came in its earlier years from the 1970s through the early 1990s. In an era of non-class basketball, South Adams hosted nearby schools Norwell, Bellmont and Southern Wells for the sectional. Norwell and Bellmont were often the favorites in those sectionals since they were larger schools, yet fans would pack the Stardome to cheer on their team.
“Every seat in that place was full, and if you didn’t have a season ticket, good luck getting a sectional ticket,” said Rick Sprunger, a writer for the Bluffton News Banner and the Berne Witness.
Some of Sprunger’s favorite games at the Stardome involved a sectional championship victory for South Adams in 1989, along with a sectional matchup between Norwell and Bellmont in 1990 that was decided by one point.
While South Adams does not have a history of success on the basketball court, the Stardome still offers a unique environment for fans when February and March roll around.
