Frankton (2,400) Built 1957
January 5, 2024: Anderson vs. Liberty Christian (Boys)
January 5, 2024: Anderson vs. Liberty Christian (Boys)
In theory, Frankton would be a prime candidate for a new gym at some point in the near future. Their current digs were built almost 70 years ago. The confines are tight. Most of the plastic bleachers are pretty worse for wear. There are a lot of worn elements to it. The other high school in the district just got a brand new one a little over a decade ago. I am begging the powers that be to refrain from ruining one of the best bandbox gyms I've been to in a long time. The place was packed to the gills for the Madison County tourney championship tonight and I could not have asked for a better venue to host it. Even with the crown jewel still currently closed, Madison County has a few fantastic places to watch big games with real stakes. If this isn't at the top of that list, it's definitely close.
Frankton's gym is in the style of what I like to call an upside-down sunken gym. These gyms wrap all the way around including seating in the corners like a sunken gym, but you enter at ground level and travel up instead of starting at the top and walking down. Frankton technically doesn't even fully meet these qualifications because behind one baseline is a stage instead of seating. Personally this only adds to to the charm though. I love a good, old stage. This one is unique because it bizarrely has a scorer's table sitting on top of it. You're probably thinking to yourself, what an awkward place for players to have to go check in!? I thought that too, until I realized there's another scorer's table where you would expect it to be at center court. Yes you heard me correctly, there are TWO full-sized scorer's tables. The one on the stage appears to just be a fancy place for people of importance to sit behind. The stage is beautifully framed in brick all the way around which contrasts the white cinderblock walls nicely.
Beyond the stage, this gym has a lot going for it, including quirks. As I mentioned earlier, the seating encompasses the rest of the perimeter of the court. One sideline section has modern, red plastic bleachers. There's then a railing that separates a corner section of bleachers that houses the pep band. This is where a much older variety of plastic bleachers starts and continues around the rest of the gym. I guess they only had the funds to replace a quarter of the seats? Anyway, it makes for a nice oddity. At the top of the pep band section are some drum risers that doubled as a media row for tonight's contest. There is a door leading into a triangular room behind it that has an air of mystery. I love doors at the top of bleachers that lead to who knows where. On this baseline side of the gym opposite the stage, there are two tunnels for entrance into the gym with a few rows of seating above them to continue the oval around the court. This whole end of the gym is one of my favorite specific sections of any gym I've been to. The other sideline section has the old plastic bleachers all the way to the end. The student sections are shoved into the very corners of the gym at the end of each sideline section. They feel very far away, but at least they can yell directly at each other from across the gym. The court itself has a nice two-tone brown finish to it. The athletic accomplishment banners are properly done and easy to read. They have the same exact Central Indiana Conference banner as Mississinewa which is just a really cool concept. I'm a sucker for incorporating the Indiana outline into any design. There are two really nice old eagle murals above one baseline wall. Above the other hang a few state runner-up banners. The ceiling has a nice arch and which gives it a mild airplane hanger feel, though not nearly to the degree of a Churubusco or Adams Central. The bleachers all the way around the court are about five feet from the out of bounds line. Most of the seats feel right on top of the action, just like they should.
Frankton and Lapel are a part of the same school district. Both of them have had really successful basketball programs over the last decade. I've been to big games with full crowds in both gyms now. I cannot stress how different and better of an environment Frankton has because of where they play. The gym just thumps with every ebb and flow of the game. The tension reverberates off the walls. You feel a part of everything that's happening. Lapel's new gym is a perfect example of how a sanitary multi-purpose gym can suck the life right out of what should be a great setting for basketball. As a general rule, if you have to use binoculars to see the action while sitting in the front row, you've probably screwed up. Frankton has something special. I hope they keep it that way.
