Logansport (5,875) Built 1973
March 9, 2024: Peru vs. West Lafayette (Boys)
March 9, 2024: Peru vs. West Lafayette (Boys)
Driving into Logansport is an odd experience. You know you're in central Indiana because you just passed through nothing but flat cornfields for miles on end, but as you encroach upon the edges of the city, it's more reminiscent of Gary or Hammond without all the water. There are train tracks everywhere leading into huge, rust-covered warehouses. On the side of one giant building is a bright mural of one rail worker hoisting another up into a moving boxcar. The colors on the mural pop out like a flower growing from the hardscrabble ground in a rustbelt town. There was even a huge roundhouse of sorts with huge doors leading in for each engine. It looked like an unpolished version of something straight out of Thomas the Tank Engine. The part of town I drove through to get to the high school had clearly seen better days, but then it opened up to a more well kept residential area filled with proud, post-war homes. It's a town that once was on top of the world in the industrial age, had a hard fall, and is still trying to find a new identity while clinging to the heritage of its past.
This is an all too familiar drive that I've made as I've toured these NCC schools and their towns over the last couple of years. Anderson, Muncie, Marion, Richmond, Logansport, Lafayette, Kokomo, all share 2 common traits: Few have a richer basketball tradition than them, and few have been through more hard times as cities than they have in the last 50 years. As the NCC continues to slowly crumble as a conference (Tech left last year, Logansport and two others will leave after this year), the memories of it being the premier basketball conference in the entire country are beginning to fade. The one thing keeping these memories alive are all the beautiful facilities that housed them (minus the most important one in Anderson). Logansport is no exception. It's not the biggest or first gym mentioned when discussing the grand palaces of basketball in the storied conference, but it is an absolute gem in its own right. I think part of the reason it's not held in the same esteem is because the teams haven't had as much large scale success as the other programs in recent memory. It has over 50 sectional and 25 regional titles to go along with its one state championship, but much of that success happened before the heyday of the NCC. It was a powerhouse in the very earliest days of the sport in Indiana. Even when they had very good overall seasons in the 60s, 70s, and 80s, they still often dwelled at the bottom of the conference standings while the traditional powers used them as a doormat. This is part of the reason they are finally departing at the end of the year. Regardless, the Berry Bowl is just as deserving of the praise the other marvelous gyms in the conference receive.
Depending on what you read and who you ask, you'll get different reasons for why this magnificent facility is called the Berry Bowl. The same is true for how their mascot Felix the Cat came to be. I'm not going to get into it here since there doesn't seem to be a general consensus in either case, there are a lot of different theories online if you're interested. Just know that they LOVE Felix the Cat. You can find his image in a multitude of spots around the gym and surrounding halls. The biggest homage to him is smack dab at center court. He's a skinny black cat with huge white eyes standing in a cartoonish pose. It isn't exactly intimidating, but I don't think that's what they were really going for. It's on brand with the rest of the gym so it works. The court has a simple, modern design with light hardwood colors and red inside the foul lane. It's all accented with black around the perimeter. "Berry Bowl" is written in two spots along the sidelines in pretty, red script. On one baseline boundary is "Logansport Berries" in big, white, block letters. The opposite painted boundary is a lot more narrow and is the only part of the gym I don't love. It actually has the web address of the school's athletic department which is so weird and out of place painted on the baseline of the court itself. I don't get it.
The Berry Bowl is a bi-level gym. You walk in at the bottom of the upper section, then you can either go up or down from there. The lower section by the court has two standard sections of wooden sideline bleachers that go up about 10 rows on each side. One baseline area has a small portable metal section of bleachers like you would find at a youth soccer field. Above that is a little mural of who else? Felix the Cat in various poses. The opposite baseline is only about 5 feet from the wall. There's barely room to inbound the ball, much less put seating. On this wall is a nice row of black padding with Felix the Cat again and "Logansport Berries" written across it. Right above that (it's a pretty high wall) is a neat and orderly row of Indiana All-Star jersey plaques, of which there are many in the school's history. You can enter the lower section from openings in all four corners.
The upper level here is what has always stuck with me since I first visited. The main baseline side where you walk in doesn't have any bleachers. It has two entrances with the concession stand in the middle. High brick walls surround everything. By one entrance is an awesome NCC map showing where each school resides (tragically I assume this will be gone after this year). The other has a large, red IHSAA emblem. The whole area is just an open foyer. It sits above the high wall down to the court that I mentioned earlier. There's a glass partition all the way around the upper level. On this side there is a single row of plastic chairs for elderly fans to watch the game from an awesome vantage point. Both sidelines on this level have beautiful wooden bleachers that go about 15 rows up. The opposite baseline side also has a section going up this high retreating into the wall ala Northridge (only so much cooler). This section also has a double row of bleachers at the very top which I haven't seen anywere before. It's all wood, everywhere. It's stunning when you first walk in. At the top of one sideline section is an old school enclosed pressbox. You will find narrow conference team displays hidden up on the wall on either side of the press box. A city of Logansport and Logansport High School flag hang from the ceiling next to the American flag which is a unique touch. A classic jumobtron hangs at centercourt displaying the score and time to all four sides of the gym. They've also stuck their modern, athletic accomplishment banners in the corners of the upper level.
As you walk down the steps to the lower level and surrounding hallways, you'll find walls adorned with pictures of old teams and individuals who have done amazing things as Logansport student athletes. This is common in all schools, but you can tell these have been laid out in a very intentional manner. They tell a story of the history of the school. You can also find a great display in the side entrance to the gym that honors the over 100 years that the school has been in existence. It all hit me right in my Hoosier heart. This is one of the gyms I would just urge people to see for themselves. In three paragraphs of description here, I really don't think I come close to doing it justice. It's a regional and semistate host almost every year, and it should be. There are bigger gyms and quirkier gyms out there, but I'm not sure there is one more beautiful.
