Bellmont (4,000) Built 1969
January 6, 2025: Heritage vs. Bellmont (Boys)
Basketball season is starting to heat up! The girls postseason is already underway. We're just two weeks away from the greatest week of the year, boys sectionals. March Madness will be here before we know it as well! I've never been a huge college basketball guy, I'm very much a bandwagon IU fan, but like most guys (and gals), I suddenly become an "expert" on college hoops when the NCAA tournament rolls around. The main reason for this is the brackets. My brother and I LOVED brackets growing up. We would create brackets for literally everything. When March Madness rolled around, we would each fill out like 5-6 different ones. We each had a serious bracket, an upset bracket, a best mascot bracket, a best name bracket, and others that I can't even remember. The best name bracket doesn't make a lot of sense looking back on it. I think we just picked whatever university name sounded the coolest or most unique. A few stand out that I always liked picking for reasons that are unclear to this day: Old Dominion, Gonzaga, Loyola, Mercer. These are just a few examples of strong names that could make a Final Four run in any given year. Another name that I always picked to go far in this bracket was Belmont. It just gave off a strong connotation and seemed to have a little bit of a flair to it. When I started looking into Indiana high school gyms, I came across this name again, only with an additional "L." I also saw that the school with a cool name, also had a pretty cool gym.
Bellmont was formed when Decatur, Decatur Catholic, and Monmouth all consolidated in 1967. I'm not sure how Bellmont got its name, but it's one of the zestier ones we have that were born out of consolidation. There is no direction in the name, and no mention of a county or township. That makes it pretty unique in itself, but I also like how Bellmont just rolls off the tongue. For the first couple of years, Bellmont played in Decatur's old gym which is an absolute gem. While it would be hard to follow that gym up with a decent modern one, they did a pretty respectable job. This current gym has served the Bellmont Braves well. They've won numerous sectional titles in it to go along with one 3A regional and semi-state championship in 2004. While everyone was building the same old multi-purpose gym in this era, Bellmont decided to do something a little more bold and daring. It paid off in a big way. This is an awesome venue for basketball.
There are two levels to the Bellmont gym like a lot of multipurpose gyms built in the 60s, but unlike most of these gyms, there is seating on all four sides in the upper level, and just along the sidelines in the lower levels. All of the seats are grey plastic, which don't make them the most attractive bleachers in the world. Luckily the excellent color scheme elsewhere helps distract from them. The bleachers go up 9 rows in the lower levels and 12 rows in the upper levels. The lower baselines have no seating, and the walls are just a few feet from the out of bounds lines like an old school gym. This makes the lower baseline walls pretty tall. It gives the gym a unique look, like the game is being played in a deep pit. I'm sure there are a few others like it, but the only one that comes to mind immediately is the old Barr-Reeve gym. The only downside to this setup is that if you are sitting in one of the first rows of the upper level baseline seats, you can't really see all the action that is going on under the rim on the hoop right in front of you. With how big this gym is though, there are plenty of other great seats to choose from. There is a lot of space in the upper corners of the gym. On the end by the main entrance, there are two unique bathrooms that you have to step up to enter. There are also some concession windows that were not in use in these corners. The lighting here is also perfect. The upper level stands are really dark, so it looks like a spotlight is focused on the court. This was way more common back in the day and I love it.
Looking up in this gym, there is a lot to see. There are some normal vinyl athletic accomplishment banners hanging above the baselines, but they have different red and black color gradients going across them which make them kind of hard to read. Hanging above the sidelines are more vinyl banners, only they recognize state championship and runner-up teams. What makes them unique are that the last two digits of the year are printed in big font in the middle of the banner. I've never seen like anything like it. It looks more like a banner for a retired jersey. I guess it's fine until someone wins a state championship in the 2070s, then they'll be in a pickle. Hanging above center court is a Northeast 8 conference team display. The banners aren't anything special, but hanging in a octagonal shape that high above the playing floor is pretty cool. Down below in the pit, you'll find a paint scheme that I love. The red, black, and greyish-green you see everywhere looks awesome. The paint job on the far lower baseline wall is impeccable. The gym is nicknamed "The Teepee" which is written along the top of each lower baseline wall as well. The floor design is very modern but I like I really enjoy it. Most of the floor is a gorgeous golden-yellow color. There is greyish-green inside the three-point lines and red inside the foul lanes. "Bellmont" is written across the baselines. A big "B" sitting inside a circular Native American headdress is at center court and looks awesome. Little Northeast 8 conference logos sit right inside the sidelines. Bellmont also is one of first schools to utilize the new age light shows for warmups that essentially turn the floor into a screen. I don't always love new technology, but this is undeniably sweet.
There's nothing crazy about the Bellmont gym, but it just goes to show that even a slightly unique setup and a killer design scheme can go a long way. One thing I was suprised to see was that a gym this big hasn't historically hosted a lot of postseason games. That seems to have changed in recent years. More sectional and regional games are being played here, and I think it is well-deserved. This gym feels like it was meant to host big games. I remember when I walked out of the old Decatur gym and thought to myself, "Man it must have sucked to move out of this place." While I'm sure it was hard for many people in town, at least the next gym was pretty special too. Many communities don't have a single gym they can be proud of. Decatur has two, and that's truly something special.
