Crawfordsville (New) (2,200) Built 1993
February 7, 2026: Greencastle vs. Crawfordsville (Boys)
Having two boys only 20 month apart has mostly been a blessing. They are built in playmates for each other and do anything and everything together. They never want to be apart. This means that they can disappear for long stretches of time and entertain each other which allows my wife and I to actually get some things done (at least this was true until we went and decided to start over this year when we welcomed our daughter into the world. Now we're back to square one and not getting much of anything done). The only downside to having 4 and 5 year old brothers is that they are extremely competitive, about everything. They can't even put their pajamas on without wanting to be the quickest. "I'm going to be first!" being shouted, followed by the pitter-patter of running feet, is a very common sound in our house. I get it though. Who doesn't like being first? Being first is something you can stake a claim to. You can put it on a sign and hang it up for everyone to see. It seems like it is human nature to want to be first at things. As I tell my students and my boys at home, being first doesn't mean being the best. In fact most of the time it usually means you aren't. Try telling this to the basketball-loving people in Crawfordsville though. Sometimes being first is just pretty dang cool. That's the case here.
The first basketball game ever in Indiana was held at the Crawfordsville YMCA in 1894 (though some Evansville historians recently have challenged this saying it was played in their city in 1892, so maybe this "first" is up for debate). This was only a couple of years after the game was originally invented in a different YMCA over in Springfield, Massachusettes. That tells you just how fast the game spread across the country. While it was progressing pretty quickly across the lower 48, once it hit the Hoosier state, it spread like wildfire. Before anyone could blink, high schools in all four corners of the state and everywhere in between were playing it. It took a little while to organize an official state tournament to determine who had the best squad, but eventually they got it together. It only made sense that the town that introduced the sport (allegedly) to Indiana, was also the very first champion of Hoosier Hysteria in 1911. Maybe it was because they had a jump start on everyone else. In fact the first 8 winners of the state tournament all came from this area: Crawfordsville, Lebanon (3 times), Wingate (2 times), Thorntown, and Lafayette. This earned this west-central part of Indiana the moniker of "The Cradle of Basketball." Fittingly, the nearby town of New Richmond was also the place where the majority of the exterior shots were filmed for the movie Hoosiers back in the 80s. The name truly is accurate. You cannot talk about the history of Indiana high school basketball without mentioning this part of the state, and that history ultimately starts with Crawfordsville.
To go along with that 1911 title, the Crawfordsville Athenians have racked up 2 semistate championships and 11 regional titles, all in the single-class era. They also have a slew of sectional championships on their resume. Outside of a single 3A sectional championship in 2014, the vast majority of their success came playing in their old gym that was built in 1940 (if anyone can tell me where they played their home games before 1940, please reach out and let me know!). That gym hosted games until 1993, way longer than most gyms from that era and style. In 1993 a modern high school and gym were built on the outskirts of town. To many people in the community, that marked the end of an era, and it seemed to close the book on a lot of the history and tradition that made the Athenian basketball program a special one. In some ways, I guess it kind of did. The team has really struggled to replicate any of the postseason success they found in the old gym since moving to the new one along with the advent of class basketball. On the other hand, when I visited their newer gym this winter, I could still feel it. Maybe it's because I've already visited the old gym and got a sense for it there and relived a little of that when I entered the new one, but they've also done a really good job of displaying some of their history and tradition in the new gym. Ironically though, the one specific link to the past that I was excited to see, wasn't actually there.
The first time I saw one of the really early state championship trophies was a couple years ago at Lebanon. The 1912, 1917, and 1918 trophies are all on display there. Since then I've seen a couple other really old ones at Martinsville and a few other places. I was really looking forward to seeing the very first 1911 trophy at Crawfordsville. You can imagine my disappointment then when I walked in and saw that in place of the actual trophy, they had merely a picture of it on display! I couldn't believe it. Where on earth would they possibly be hiding it? And for what reason? After asking around on Facebook, a few people were quick to inform me that it is at the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame. I felt pretty dumb. Of course it's there! I've probably even seen it there on one of my visits. Even though the trophy wasn't there, they had a lot of other old memorabilia on display that was neat to see, like a program from the dedication ceremony of the old gym in 1940 and the nets from the last game played in the old gym in 1993. These are displayed right next to the Indiana All Star jerseys and plaques of Dick Haslem, Shannon Hardesty, and Matt Petty. The history isn't palpable like in the old gym, but there are still traces of it. I guess we should stop living in the past though and talk about this gym of the present.
For a gym that only holds a little over 2,000 people, this place feels big. My first thought walking in was that it feels like a modern version of Northwood or Oak Hill. You walk in level with the bottom of the upper deck bleachers. You can then either climb up those bleachers or descend down to the lower level. All of the seating here is along the sidelines. There are 9 rows of ugly tan bleachers on the lower levels and 14 rows on top. There are spacious walkways above each baseline that connect the two upper levels which makes navigating the gym very easy. The blue and yellow color scheme is very bright and eye-catching throughout the gym. The upper baseline wall by the exterior entrance to the gym features a decent Monan Athletic Conference team display. The opposing baseline wall has a big "Crawfordsville Athenians" sign with the logo painted in the middle. It's fine, but it lacks the punch that old murals do. To the left of it is an older style banner honoring the 1911 state championship team which I like. Underneath it are some cheaper and more generic-looking banners honoring the two state runner-up teams. The floor design down on the court is fine. Most of the court is stained a really light-tan shade with only slightly darker hues inside the three point lines. The Athenian logo is large and prominent at center court. "Crawfordsville" and "Athenians" are written along the baselines in clear letters against a blue background that goes around the perimeter of the court. I will say I did like the little handpainted wooden numbered signs that sit way up at the top of the bleachers indicating which section you are in. They felt like the most vintage aspect of the gym itself.
I wasn't expecting a ton out of the "new" Crawfordsville gym. Gyms built after 1990 very rarely have much life to them, and following the legendary 1940 gym was always going to be an almost impossible task. In the end it was almost exactly what I expected, and that's okay. It's not a bad place to watch a basketball game. They've done a pretty good job of connecting the new place to the old place using some key pieces of memorabilia that help drum up the nostalgia. At the end of the day, Crawfordsville is still Crawfordsville. This is where it all started. This is where the greatest tournament in the history of the world was born. I guess this is kind of where my love for all of this stuff is rooted. It was first, and nothing will ever be able to take away that distinction, and that's pretty dang cool.
