Martinsville (Current) (5,500) Built 1976
March 15, 2025: Indianapolis Lutheran vs. Hauser (Boys)
March 15, 2025: Indianapolis Lutheran vs. Hauser (Boys)
Visiting both defunct and active Hoosier gyms over the last couple of years has really made think about the impact these places can have on the communities and the basketball games that are played at them. Many of them are a point of pride and a gathering place for the people in those communities. Some really add to the overall environment of a game. Others are simply sterile, boring structures that happen to house sporting events. What always saddens me is when I see a community that went from once having a beautiful gym with a lot of character to one that is lifeless and sucks the air out of a big game. Lapel, South Ripley, Bluffton, and Vincennes Lincoln all immediately come to mind (I'll never forgive Princeton for doing what they did to their old gym, but at least their new one isn't bad). I can't think of any schools on the opposite end of the spectrum, going from a boring old gym to an awesome one, but it's probably happened somewhere. There are a precious few communities that have gotten the best of both worlds and gone from a magnificent old gym to another one that is almost as special. Seymour, Anderson (old Wigwam to now shuttered Wigwam), Lafayette Jeff, Logansport, Frankfort, and Shelbyville are some of the ones that quickly come to mind. There's one more that not only can lay claim to having two phenomenal houses of hoops, but also to being the home of one of the most important basketball figures in the history of the world in John Wooden. That place would be Martinsville.
Martinsville isn't usually mentioned in the same breath as the Marion's and the Muncie's of the world when it comes to Indiana high school basketball royalty, but they should. Few programs have been as successful as them over the course of the last century, especially in the early days. Coach Glenn Curtis led the Artesians to three state titles in the 20s and 30s. They were one of the first schools (along with Franklin) in the southern part of the state to find this kind of sustained success. The 1927 championship had a star player named John Wooden who would go on to play Purdue and become one of the greatest and most influential basketball coaches of all time at any level. The program's success carried well into the 60s and 70s. While it has been a little more hit or miss over the last few decades, few schools can boast of a richer history of Hoosier Hysteria than Martinsville. The gyms they've occupied over the last hundred years are simply an extension of this. From 1924-1975 they occupied a lovely old gym named after the legendary coach who did so much winning in it. Looking at old pictures, it has an interior design you simply don't see any longer. The gym still stands, and while the architecture on the outside is still original and just as stunning, what they've done to the inside is beyond the pale. It was gutted in the mid-70s when they opened the new gym, and it's now unrecognizable. It still holds middle school games so I'll hopefully get inside to see it in person some day, but it hurts my heart knowing what it used to look like in all its glory. The only saving grace in the situation is that the new gym is a pretty special place itself.
Martinsville named their new gym in 1976 after their most famous son, John Wooden. It feels almost as big as the impact he left on the sport in Indiana. Before I get into all of the things I love about the place, I'l quickly the mention the only real drawback I found. Only one upper wall in the place is shared with the school and is made of typical cinder blocks. The rest of the high walls are just metal which gives it all kind of a warehouse feel. It's not a big deal, but it takes away some of the intimacy that I think would otherwise be here. The rest of the gym really stands out in a positive light. There are two levels of seating, with the upper level having bleachers on all four sides. The lower levels only have it along the sidelines and they go up about 13 rows. The upper sidelines have about 17. The uppermost rows reach the back wall, but still have a safety barrier going across the whole back side. The upper baselines have 9 rows of retractable bleachers as well. A small issue here is that because of how high the lower baseline wall is, if you're sitting in the first couple of rows along the baseline you aren't going to be able to see any action around the basketball directly below you. All of the bleachers in the gym seem to be newer wood. They are some of the nicest looking modern wooden bleachers I've seen anywhere.
If you like a red and blue color scheme, you are going to LOVE this gym. It's not typically my favorite, but it really works here. Rarely is the center court logo my favorite part of a gym, but anyone who has seen the one in Martinsville won't be suprised. They got the Artestian name due to mineral water sanitariums in the area that were popular in the early 1900s. They signify this at center court with a giant painting of an old fashioned well. As if this isn't unique and cool enough, the whole thing is painted in a red and blue speckled pattern. It's beautiful. Hands-down the best and most artistic center court design I've seen anywhere (though South Bend Washington and Jay County will always be up there too). The rest of the court is classy and simple. All of the hardwood is a light-gold color except for some red inside the foul lanes. "Artestians" is written in white font, outlined in red, against a blue backdrop across the baselines. The sideline borders are actually red which is a cool contrast for the perimeter of the court. The lower baseline walls are pretty high and have "Martinsville" written across them in big red letters.
The upper levels have a lot of different things going on worth pointing out. Each corner has a big room that juts out up against the sideline bleachers. Two of them are concession stands which were both open for regional Saturday, and the other two are presumably storage. Three of the four have little landing areas above them that could be used for filming or broadcasting I suppose, but there are already media rows sitting at the ground level of the upper deck in all four corners. I didn't take pictures of them, but the concession stands here have pretty cool menu displays which is not something I usually notice in a gym. In one corner on the wall is a nice Mid-State Conference team display with circular plaques for each school. One baseline wall has the normal Indiana All-Star jersey displays (featuring NBA legend Jerry Sichting) on one side and some retro looking state championship plaques on the other side. This is the one wall that is cinderblock, and it's painted a solid blue with a big white "M" in the middle. Two corners display typical scoreboards while the other two have big electronic screens that thankfully actually display useful information during the game.
Walking into the game through one side of the gym, I spent some time studying the ancient state championship trophies from the 20s and 30s. They look similar to what I saw at Lebanon last year from the same time period. They along with the team pictures are just fascinating. Walking out of the gym on the opposite side of the hallway, I about jumped out of my shoes when I saw a life-sized John Wooden mannequin (?) (I guess that's what you would call it) inside a glass display case. I'd love to know the origins of who felt this needed to be commissioned and displayed and why, but regardless it's certainly original if nothing else! There was also a large red and blue bell that I'm guessing is used at home games in some form or fashion. They're just a couple more quirks that really will stick with me when I think about this gym in the future. It was pouring rain as I ran to my car to try and make it over to Seymour for the next game of the day. The parking lot at Martinsville is apparently designed to drain all of the water directly into the middle, so as I ran across to my car that was parked in the very back, I went from running through what looked like a normal puddle to muddling through water that was literally up to my ankles. I had two more games to attend on the day along with about 5 hours of driving, and my socks and shoes never really dried out. I didn't mind though. This gym was worth enduring soggy socks, and that's saying a lot.
