Madison-Grant (3,040) Built 1971
January 6, 2024: Northfield vs. Madison-Grant (Boys)
January 6, 2024: Northfield vs. Madison-Grant (Boys)
Tonight I made a short journey just past my backyard to visit Madison-Grant. It's a school that's unique for a few different reasons that reach beyond just its basketball gym. It is a consolidation of the old high schools in Fairmount and Summitville, and it's one of the few consolidated districts in the state that has borders extending across county lines, hence the name Madison-Grant after said counties. It also has one of the oddest mascot names you will find: the "Argylls." Per Bob Hammel's fantastic book "Hoosiers Classified," the legend goes that long ago the school took on the name "Argylls" because a farmer in the community told the school he would buy them new band uniforms if they would name the mascot that. Apparently it had something to do with his family crest. We lost a ton of incredible team mascot names when so many rural schools consolidated in the 60s and 70s, it's nice to see one of the zaniest ones still around.
You would hope with such an unorthodox name for the mascot that the gym would also take on a certain sense of unique zest. Alas, that is not the case. The gym was built in the early 70s, but lacks a lot of the character and quirks many other venues from that time period possess. It has two matching sections of single level retractable bleachers along each sideline. They both utilize standard, blase plastic bleachers that honestly just look dirty. On the walls above the bleachers is a large, painted "Madison-Grant" on one side and "Argylls" on the other in big block letters. It seems to have been repainted fairly recently and does look pretty sharp. You really can't go wrong with the black and gold color scheme. The court also has a pretty modern design and finish to it that looks nice. The interlocking "MG" logo at center court works well. Along one baseline wall are newer, boring athletic accomplishment banners (side note on these if people haven't caught on yet through these blogs: older looking is almost always better when it comes to these displays). On the opposite baseline wall is a really cool older mural of what I can only describe as a member of the Hun army taken straight out of the Mulan movie, bursting through the wall. Or maybe it's supposed to be a viking? Who knows. What I do know for sure is that it has absolutely nothing to do with anything argyll. A nice dress sock breaking through the wall probably wouldn't have the same intimidating presence I guess. On each of the baseline walls are two really slick, modern scoreboards. There's nothing fancy about them in terms of features, but they're a kind of matte black and you can just tell they're a modern innovation of what basically every other gym has. The Indiana map conference team display is present here again which must just be standard in most CIC gyms. One thing I noticed throughout the game was how worn and soft the rims are on both hoops. I don't think they've been touched since whenever they installed the first breakaways in the late 80s. Finally, on one baseline wall you can find a nice tribute to Kyle Runyan who is a bonafide 1990's Indiana basketball legend. Right below it is a random, very short door (window?) of some sort high up on the wall. I kept waiting for it to burst open at some point and a member of the royal Argyll family to deliver an important speech to their subjects. It just gives off midieval balcony vibes. Pretty cool!
While the game I attended tonight was a pretty sleepy one (both teams were well under .500), Madison-Grant has a pretty rich basketball history. Many talented teams have passed through this gym over the years. There's even a nice little window display outside the gym paying tribute to past teams with nostalgic memorabilia. The gym itself isn't much to write home about, but I get the sense that it would be a good environment to catch a game when the team is a little stronger or a rivalry game is afoot. Another excellent book, Dale Lawrence's "Hoosier Hysteria Road Book," talks about how in the 90s they would actually serve meals before the JV game for fans and sell homemade pie at the concession stand. I didn't get there early enough to see if this is still happening, but I could still feel the sense of community amongst the Argyll faithful, even though it wasn't a packed house. That isn't the case in all the gyms I go to anymore, and it's something you need to hold onto when you have it.
