Cowan (2,486) Built 1957
November 14, 2023: Randolph Southern vs. Cowan (Girls)
November 14, 2023: Randolph Southern vs. Cowan (Girls)
There are certain gyms in this state that you just pray never get touched. They are pristine and perfect. Cowan falls squarely into this category. This gym feels like what you imagine your grandmother's kitchen probably was like in the 1950s when it was built: everything is immaculate without a single thing out of place. From the lettering, to the color scheme, to the wall hangings, it is immaculate. I had high hopes going as I had heard of it's resemblance to other pretty small school gyms from this era like Daleville, but it managed to exceed them.
Everything in the Cowan gym is a borderline mustard shade of yellow which may not sound appetizing, but man does it work. It is trimmed in black throughout the gym and man looks incredibly sharp. The most striking feature of the gym is that both sides of permanent wood bleachers start behind an 8 foot concrete wall running along the sidelines. They sit about 10 feet behind the out of bounds lines. One side houses the benches and scorer's table, the other has some single front row seats for elderly fans. Each wall has "Blackhawks" written in gorgeous script. The playing floor itself has a throwback style with a modern hardwood finish on it. The font on it differs greatly from what is written on the wall behind it which I think normally would bother me but it works here. Each side has about 15 rows of bleachers, and in the top corners on one side there are little balconies with a door which leads to who knows where. There is also a stage! I love a good stage running alongside a baseline. Right next to the heavy curtain is a really clean setup with a scoreboard, nicely done conference team display, and list of 1,000 point scorers in the school's history. The opposite sideline wall holds all the school's athletic accomplishment banners in a neat fashion. The coolest part of this wall though is a stand alone throwback banner from the school's 1976 Muncie sectional championship. A really cool artifact for a huge feat in the single-class era for a tiny 1A school. Finally, the wall padding behind the basket on this side has a gorgeous Cowan emblem on it.
Cowan's a 1A school that I had to drive through some seriously tight country roads in the dark to find. This was the first cold night that I attended a game in this year. It was the first game that really made me feel like basketball was back. There were probably 300 fans, but man it was still loud. The sound carried in a way that it does in all good, old gyms. It made me grateful that places like this still exist to watch a good basketball game on a random Tuesday night in November.