Carroll (Flora) (2,500) Built 1965
November 21, 2025: Clinton Central vs. Carroll (Flora) (Girls)
A packed high school gym in Indiana isn't something that is necessarily commonplace anymore. That's not to say it doesn't happen, but compared to three decades ago when you could walk into almost any gym on a Friday night and have a hard time finding a seat, it's just not the same. This is especially true at girls games. Most of the time you're lucky if you can count three hundred spectators for a November matchup. While I love a rocking full gym as much as anybody, when I'm bringing a 3 and 5 year old with me, I also don't mind having a little more space. They'll watch the game for awhile, but eventually they'll start wanting to dance when the band plays and drive their cars on the bleachers. This is all a little less stressful when they have some room to move without bothering anyone around them. Heading out to watch Carroll and Clinton Central for an early season matchup, I thought we would have plenty of seating options. When we arrived right at the tip of the varsity game, I quickly realized I was mistaken. Two thoughts instantly flooded over me: the demise of the fervor for Indiana high school basketball has been greatly exaggerated, and where on earth am I going to sit with these two maniacs?
The crowd was raucous, the band was loud, and eventually we did find a little corner where we could breathe and take in the action between two conference rivals and very good girls programs. The Carroll Cougars were born out of a consolidation between Burlington and Flora in 1961 (you can see one of Burlington's old gyms in the Fading Gyms section of the blog). The girls program has secured 14 sectional titles over the years, while the boys have brought home 6 of their own along with a regional championship. Carroll is rural high school that has teetered on the edge between 1A and 2A over the years. Walking a few of the hallways surrounding the gym, it reminded me a lot of my high school back at Westview where i graduated. The gym seems to have received a little bit of a revamp at some point recently. There are a few elements that feel newer, but still others that feel like they've been there for quite some time. Maybe it was the surprisingly great crowd, but I was pleasantly surprised.
John Harrell's site lists the capacity at 2,500, which seems much bigger than it looks. It's a pretty normal single level gym with seating only along the sidelines. Each side has 13 rows of blue plastic bleachers. They at least look shiny and not worn out. The only difference between the two sides is that the one with the scorer's table is split in half with a little alley in the middle leading to a door. High above the bleachers on both sideline walls are some blue conference championship banners. They're cloth, but they sit behind some kind of lamination. It's different, but they look more classy than most places. I like them. There's also a little press row bench dedicated to a specific individual named Greg Hoffman. A wide blue stripe makes its way all the way across the gym near the ceiling. On the baseline wall above the main entrance, cougar eyes peer out on the court in-between "Home of the Cougars" lettering. Beneath that is a neat little Hoosier Heartland Conference team display. The opposite wall features a large display honoring IHSAA Tournament Champions. It's broken down by level of tournament, and then the sport and year are displayed underneath. It's a trimmed down version of what you can find at Lewis Cass, and I like it quite a bit. This wall also features a cougar scratch mural with "Carroll Cougars" written above and below it. You'll also find a 1,000 point scorer display and Indiana All-Star jerseys hanging in the gym which are always appreciated. The gym floor looks like it's been redone fairly recently. It's stained a lighter tan color everywhere except for inside the three-point lines which are stained a more golden-brown hue. There's a giant blue "C" at center court, with "Cougars" written inside each sideline and "Carroll" written along each baseline in white lettering against a blue background. It's cohesive overall.
The concession area here is hidden in a little room right off of the gym. It also doubles as one of their main display case areas for memorabilia and pictures. It's a little odd, but that's what we love around here! While the boys ate their halftime snack at one of the tables, I persused some of the old seat cushions, jerseys, and pictures that were in the exhibits. The smell of popcorn wafted strongly over from the concession window. It just felt like a perfect Friday night in rural Indiana. On our way out, they wanted to stop and take a picture with the stuffed cougar sitting out in the lobby. Then they wanted to race down the sidewalk to the van that felt like it was parked a mile away. Again, there were a lot of people there! I just felt grateful. Grateful to be able to do this. Grateful to share it with my kids. Grateful that Indiana high school basketball is still something people care about.
