Garrett (4,050) Built 1969
January 28, 2026: Westview vs. Garrett (Boys)
Can you think of a time in your life when you would consider yourself being at your worst? Like the worst possible version of yourself? I can think of a couple times for me. The absolute worst was when I was a freshman in high school. I wanted to be just like the guys a couple years older than me on the varsity basketball team so bad. I was a jerk to my parents, arrogant to my friends, and not exactly a gentleman around the ladies. I thankfully outgrew this as I got further along into high school (my saint of a girlfriend and now wife definitely helped). The other time I think I was at my worst wasn't necessarily during an all-encompassing time period in my life, but in a very specific setting for a couple of years, and of course it involved basketball. During college I suddenly had all this newfound freedom, and I spent almost all of it consuming basketball games and basketball content, like podcasts and articles. It's really all I did with my free time. Because of this, when it came to basketball, I thought I had it all figured out. I could tell you what every coach was doing wrong, why every referee was an idiot, and which player was obviously the best and why. I was insufferable, and seemingly oblivious to that fact.
The one place this unbearable streak came out the most was in my younger brother's high school basketball games when he was playing for Westview. My brother was twice the player I was, and by his senior season he really had come into his own. His team at the time didn't have a ton of other scoring options, so opposing defenses often keyed in on him exclusively. I remember driving from Indiana Wesleyan to Garrett on a cold January night to watch him, and just being indignant at how he was being used in the game. I was telling anyone who would listen to me what the coach should be doing in order to get my brother going or to get his teammates involved. I don't think the coach heard me, and after they ended up losing, I was incensed. Looking back, I feel so bad for my dad who probably had to listen to my nonsense more than anyone else. That night at Garrett sticks with me still to this day (as well as a fateful one at Eastside from that same season, but that's a story for another time), and I just cringe looking back on how stupid I was. These days I like to think I'm pretty aware of how much I don't know about the game of basketball, and I really enjoy shutting up and listening to and learning from people who are way smarter than me when it comes to the game I love. Playing in the background of this sad story was the Garrett gym, which is a place that deserves to be brought to the forefront and discussed in earnest.
The gym at Garrett is named after Paul Bateman who was the school's first ever athletic director. Now I'm not exactly sure when Garrett first hired an athletic director, but I do know that they first fielded a team in the state tournament all the way back in 1917 when they fell to Kendallville in the sectional round. While I'm sure that was disappointing, since then they've captured 20 sectional titles, 17 of them in the single class era to go along with 5 regional championships, 4 in the single class era. That's not bad for a small school that was never forced to consolidate. My relationship with the Garrett gym is a little odd in that it is the one NECC gym I never played in myself. I have a couple hazy memories of watching my older cousins here as a kid, but before I got to play there, Garrett left the conference for a few years before returning right after I graduated. It's a bummer, this is my favorite gym in the conference other than Westview. The gym was built in the late 60s, and has a rich consolidation era feel to it even though it was never a part of a consolidation itself (it reminded me of Maconaquah in that sense, though I don't know exactly why, just a gut feeling). Gyms from this era can easily fall into a big bucket with all the others, but Garrett has a lot going on that helps set it apart from the competition.
Who doesn't love a theme? Garrett's mascot is the Railroaders, and boy do they lean into that with perfection here. It starts with the pregame ceremony when all the lights get turned off, and before the spotlight hits the players for the starting lineups, the sound of a rumbling freight train coming down the tracks blares from the speakers (my boys were both entranced and terrified). One of my favorite murals in the state resides in the middle of one baseline wall: a classic blue and maroon train barreling down the tracks, looking like it's about to burst through the wall and out onto the court. Above the exits in four corners of the gym are circular logos for different historical rail lines. Right inside the sidelines on the court itself are little circular emblems honoring the B&O railroad for "linking 13 great states with the nation." Surrounding the the giant "G" at center court is a humongous silhouette of another train coming down the tracks. From what Google tells me, Garrett was a major railroad hub back in 1800's, through the 1960s, and even to a certain extent today with the CSX System. They have always loved and appreciated trains in this town, and it's really cool how much they've embraced that part of their heritage in this gym.
Garrett has a typical multipurpose setup with upper and lower levels along the sidelines. The upper level is reached by tall stairs on the inside of the gym. The upper levels feature 15 rows of gorgeous old wooden bleachers. The biggest bummer about the whole gym for me is that it looks like they are very rarely used. One side had batting cages set up in front of them, which tells me they probably never get rolled out. The otherside had wrestling mats in front of them. The lower levels have 14 rows of plastic bleachers, which is pretty big for a lower level, so I get that the upper level probably isn't needed much, but it's sad to just see them wasting away back there. I'm guessing they're brought out if and when Garrett hosts a sectional, so maybe I'll try and come back for that sometime. Each upper level also has concession stand windows which I'm guessing are utilized even less than the upper bleachers these days. On the lower baseline level across from the main entrance to the gym is a narrow section of blue plastic bleachers that go up 7 rows. Right above it is the beautiful mural we discussed earlier. In the upper corners of this wall are some individual banners honoring hall of fame athletes in different sports which is really cool to see. There's also another random emblem for a railroad on this wall. The opposing wall has a giant "GHS" sign painted on it in maroon with "Pride and Tradition" written across it in blue letters. It matches the era of the gym and I love it. On one side of it is a decent Northeast Corner Conference team display. On the far ends of this wall are pretty generic athletic accomplishment banners for different sports. We've discussed the playing floor a little already, but it's mostly a very light tan color with a darker shade inside the three-point lines and maroon in the foul lanes. "Garrett" and "Railroaders" are written across the baselines in clear colors against a blue backdrop. All of it together looks fine. My only other gripe here is that when they switched the lower level bleachers from wood to plastic, they clearly dropped a row or two which means the front row of bleachers sit what feels like a couple acres away from the out of bounds lines, ala Lapel. Just bring your binoculars if you're planning on sitting in the front row.
In the outer hallway are some old team pictures honoring past sectional and regional champions. They were pretty neat to look at. I actually have a postcard from the 1950s that has a picture of the old Garrett gym that is long gone on it. It was neat to think about the players in the pictures up on the wall playing in that old gym. I'm sure it was a raucous environment. I'd give anything to experience a crowd like that in the Paul Bateman gymnasium today. It's a great venue that was meant to host big basketball games. I hope they find more reasons to roll all the bleachers out in the future here. The game I came to watch featured Westview winning big in a contest that was never really competitive from the start. To get bigger crowds back, it's going to take some teams more like the 1940 squad that knocked off Mentone in the regional championship. I was in a crowd of a couple hundred for this one (granted it was on a Wednesday night after a snowstorm), and unlike ten years ago, I was able to keep my mouth shut. This allowed me to take in my surroundings a little more and appreciate this gym for what it is: a great place to watch Indiana high school basketball.
