Daleville (2,050) Built 1954
November 3, 2025: Alexandria vs. Daleville (Girls)
November 3, 2025: Alexandria vs. Daleville (Girls)
The first game of a new basketball season for me is like putting on your favorite sweatshirt for the first time in the fall when that crisp, cool air finally hits. You've waited and sweated all summer for this moment, and its finally here, and it feels just as good as you imagined it would. I walked through the gym doors at Daleville on a Monday night and heard the squeaking of shoes and smelled the scent of an active gym for the first time in 233 days, since the Washington regional. I literally felt the smile creep up on my face as I walked up the long ramp to the entry doors to the gym. I've been traveling the state for 8 months visiting old gyms, and I have enjoyed every second of it. But there is just something different about watching a live game in a gym. No matter how cool an old gym looks when it's empty, you just can't recreate the magic that happens when you have two Indiana high school teams squaring off (and I mean real high school teams, not the fraudulent homeschool variety that keeps trying to pop up on my Facebook feed). Ironically, this night involved a real game in an active gym, but a gym that very easily could have been one of the older ones I visited during the off-season. Daleville's gym was built in 1954. Like it's neighbor over in Cowan, the little school managed to stave off consolidation in the 60s and 70s. In doing so, it not only managed to save the town's identity, but keep its old gym doing what Indiana gyms do best, hosting Hoosier Hysteria classics.
After I took in the first half of the game, I walked around taking pictures as I normally do at halftime. While I looked around from every angle as I typically do to make sure I don't miss anything, I was also searching for something specific, which is not common. Normally I don't know what I'm going to find in a gym, and I just take pictures of whatever looks neat when I get there. I still did that, but for once there was one shot I knew I had to have. I was looking in the gym and then out in the lobby for any sign or picture that honored the 1985 sectional winning team. Small schools had won sectionals in the single class era before. While it was rare and a monumental accomplishment every time, few could compare to what Daleville did in that season. In the mid-80s, the Anderson Indians went to the semi-state and state rounds of the state tournament twice in span of three years. Sandwiched in-between those two runs was a very short postseason when they fell to the Daleville Broncos 77-84 while playing on their own hallowed floor at the Wigwam. It was genuinely one of the greatest upsets of the entire decade. If anyone has stories of what that atmosphere or the party afterwards was like, please reach out and share! I'd love to hear them. I can only imagine what it must have felt like for those players and the entire community. It was the only single class sectional they won, but it must have made every other year they came up short worth it.
The fact that the Daleville gym easily could've closed down in the mid-60s and been used for various other ventures like so many of the old 50s gyms I've visited, but didn't, is a bit of a conundrum. It's just like those other gyms in a lot of ways, but it's also been modernized enough that it's kind of stuck in a weird in-between place. It has the classic 50s short sideline wall, permanent upper bleacher setup that so many of these places do (all it's missing is the arched roof), but there are a lot of things trying to pull it into the 21st century. Some of them work, and some of them don't. Let's start with that retro design we touched on a second ago. There is about 12 feet of space between the sidelines and little six foot walls that run behind them. On one side of the court, this space is filled with the team benches and scorer's table with a little short section of metal bleachers behind the benches that the JV teams can sit on when not playing. On the other side, similar removable sections of metal bleachers are used just for the student section. I don't know if more permanent retractable bleaches ever sat in these spaces, but it would makes sense if they did. The space feels kind of awkward now, at least on the side opposite of the team benches. Behind the short wall are permanent upper bleachers that span 11 rows going up. The bench seats are painted black while the cement underneath them has been painted gray. It looks pretty sharp. Above these seats are old rectangular windows that are covered, but thankfully not blocked in. In the corner on one side you'll find a cool drum riser for the pep band that sits behind a fenced in area. At the top of bleachers on the other side you'll find a very fancy press box for the Daleville High School media team. It's wild how many small schools have first class operations like this now. The upper level is reached by textured metal stairs. This is just one of the more modern looking aspects of the gym that definitely doesn't fit the era in which it was built.
One baseline wall is still firmly rooted in the past. Opposite of the entrance to the gym is a fantastic, broad stage that spans the length of the baseline on the floor. A heavy black (or very dark blue) curtain hangs across it. The base of it is actually curved and bows out towards the court a bit. Some very basic conference team banners hang across the top of it. It's very reminiscent of Anderson in both the quality and awkward placement of them. The opposite baseline wall is plastered with the newer and boring vinyl athletic accomplishment banners you see in so many gyms now. I know it's only the first game of the season, but I'm going to get on my old man soapbox already: These are so lame! I don't care if they're easier to add dates to, do something more interesting! Especially if you have an old gym! Figure out something that matches the historical time period of your gym. While I'm already kvetching, let's get the scoreboard discussion out of the way. Video screen scoreboards suck. They just do. Daleville has some newfangled version of them that try to look like classic scoreboards, but clearly are not. The corniest thing about the ones here in particular is the fact that they say "Scoreboard Title" across the top. Nobody could even be bothered to erase the text from the generic temple when programming it for the game! Modern convienences truly makes us so lazy. I've complained enough here though. The newer court design is very sharp. Most of the court is a very light tan shade. The interior of the three point arcs are a darker brown, and the free throw lanes are black with "Broncos" written right inside the free throw lines outlined in gold script. At center court is a very classy outline of Indiana (which you know I'm a sucker for) with the Daleville "D" sitting prominently in the middle of it. It looks fantastic. "Daleville" is written across each baseline outlined in gold. The words are slightly offset due to a partial view of a Bronco's head painted into the baseline strips in the corners. I don't think I've seen anything quite like it, and its kind of cool.
As the game started to get out of hand in the fourth quarter, I made a slightly early exit. Earlier I could not find the display I was hoping to see honoring the 1985 sectional team. I decided to look through a couple of exterior hallways before I left just in case, and I'm glad I did. In a hallway that sits behind one of the bleacher sections, I finally located it. A trophy case held a giant team photo, the sectional trophy, and other various Delaware County trophies from over the years. Seeing it right before I left grounded me in why I enjoy all of this so much. It brought me back to a time when the gym wasn't being pulled into ill-fated modern renovations. It gave me that twinge of warmth I felt when visiting the older gyms I stumbled upon all off-season. On this night, Daleville hosted Alexandria in what was only one of three games happening across the state on the very first day of the season. These were two teams who were coming off successful seasons last year. It wasn't very good basketball, it usually isn't on the first night, but that didn't matter. I had my two sons with me. They were excited to be there. I was excited to be there. Indiana high school basketball is back. That's all that matters.
