Indianapolis Washington (2,300?) Built 1976
February 13, 2026: Anderson vs. Indianapolis Washington (Boys)
When I was first diving into the lore of Indiana high school basketball history in earnest a few years ago, I found it surprising that the 1955 Oscar Roberston led Crispus Attucks team was the first team from Indianapolis to win a state championship. I figured that the biggest city in the state would have at least stumbled upon one title in the first 40 years of the tournament, especially since they had multiple schools vying for it. It's just one of many odd footnotes in the relationship between inner-city Indianapolis and high school basketball. Indianapolis never really had one school develop as a consistent powerhouse. Attucks got three titles in the 50s but never returned to those heights. Washington got two in the 60s. Broad Ripple got one in 1980. There have been a few more one-off success stories since the advent of class basketball, but nothing steady. Most of the success shifted to the township schools outside the inner circle of Indy, and in recent years has spread even further to Hamilton County. I think part of this is due to the shuffling of high schools that has occurred within IPS over the last 50 years. Of the four current IPS high schools, only Arsenal Tech has remained a high school uninterrupted since its inception. Attucks, Shortridge, and Washington were all shuttered or turned into middle schools for a period of time before eventually being reopened as high schools. High schools like Broad Ripple, Howe, Arlington, Northwest, Marshall, and Wood are only distant memories. Some still serve as schools in other capacities, and others are no longer educational institutions of any kind. It's hard to build successful programs with a sustainable culture with that kind of turmoil. The days of the neighborhood schools are long gone.
When I picked up Their Times in Indiana by Ed Snyder a few years ago, I couldn't put it down. It tells the stories of around 50 different Indiana high school basketball legends from their own points of view. What struck me throughout the entire book was how similar many of the stories. Guys grew up playing pickup games with kids in their own neighborhoods. They went to school with those kids starting in elementary and played with them all the way through high school. This was especially true in small towns where there was only one high school to attend, but it was also true in cities. Back in the day, kids within bigger cities like Indy, South Bend, or Fort Wayne went to the high school that served the kids in a given neighborhood. This allowed those high schools to each have their own identity and traditions within a big city. As we all know with school choice and loose transfer rules, this is no longer the case. One example of those inner city neighborhood high schools was George Washington High School in Indianapolis. Washington played in their first sectional in 1925 when they lost to Indianapolis Manual. They won their first sectional in 1948 when they defeated Lawrence North. They're best known for their two state championships in 1965 and 1969, and the legendary players who led them there. Billy Keller, Steve Downing, and of course George McGinnis to name a few. These titans of the game played their home games in a much smaller gym that is still standing and connected to the high school that is used for practices. Kyle Neddenriep included it in his excellent Lost Gyms series last summer and you can read about it HERE. The current gym was built in 1976 out of necessity after the crowds swelled with the success the team found in the 60s. The new gym was fittingly named after George McGinnis just a year ago after he passed away.
Indianapolis Washington was the only game on the Anderson boys' schedule this season that was at a gym I hadn't been to yet, so I knew I had to make it out for this one. When you walk into the lobby outside George McGinnis Gymnasium, the first thing you see is a giant ball as tall as me. I'm not sure what it's made out of, but it's incredible. It has painted portraits of a couple of Indianapolis Washington legends against a colorful, swirling background. I believe it was made as part of the Indiana State Fair's "Basketball: The State That Grew The Game" exhibit a few years ago. It's pretty cool that it's now housed at the high school. Walking through the doors into the gym, I admittedly was not expecting much. Photos I'd seen of the gym made it look like there were only small single sections of seats along each sideline. This wouldn't be surprising, Indy isn't exactly known for its spectacular gyms. I must have only seen photos taken from one side though. The sideline where you enter the gym does only have one single section of 10 rows of purple plastic bleachers, but the other side has a little more to it. This sideline has 15 rows of purple plastic bleachers on the lower level, but it also has a second deck with around 20 rows of wooden retractable bleachers. They were rolled up for this game (as they are for most I'm guessing), but they definitely add a little more character to the place. It doesn't exactly put the place over the top as a whole, but it was definitely a pleasant surprise.
While this gym was recently named after the school's best and most famous player, they do a really nice job of honoring other great players from the past as well, and there are a lot! The entire upper sideline wall above the short section of bleachers is lined with really nice cloth banners depicting the players' jerseys. The legendary coach Bill Green is even up there. It's one of the better displays I've seen honoring past players. The baseline walls are a little less exciting. One is completely bare except for a new sign honoring George McGinnis Gymnasium. The opposite end has some standard purple Indiana-shaped state championship plaques. Below them are a couple purple athletic accomplishment banners for just a few sports. In between them is a relatively small but cool mural of the Continental mascot. The floor design here is basic and clean. An interlocking "GW" sits at center court. "Washington" and "Continentals" are written across the baselines in purple block lettering. That's the only thing you'll find on the court here. Everything else is stained a classic gold color.
There wasn't a ton of extra stuff to take pictures of here. It's just a classic, functional 1970s multipurpose gym. I'm sure when games moved here from the old gym in 1976 it felt like a palace, even if some of the magic from the old place was lost in the transition. The Continentals have won 6 sectionals while playing in this gym, but only 1 in the last 30 years (the school wasn't a high school from 1996-2005). The big upper section of bleachers probably isn't needed anymore unless they're hosting a sectional. I really feel for the current IPS high schools and the people trying to establish winning programs at them. There isn't a more transient population of students anywhere in the state. Kids who do graduate from here don't exactly feel a ton of pride in being a George Washinton Continental, at least not like they did back when George McGinnis and Co. were putting on a show here every Friday night. There isn't a big group of invested alumni to come back and attend games. The game against Anderson that I watched was a quiet affair. It was a good game for awhile before Anderson pulled away. I just wish there were a few more people to watch it happen. I know it mattered to the kids, but I'm not sure it did to anyone else, and that's hard to swallow when you care about Indiana high school basketball in the way that so many of us still do.
