Mississinewa (Old) (2,200?) Built 1951
June 13, 2026
June 13, 2026
Freshman basketball. It's certainly not what you think of when you think of Hoosier Hysteria. No gym has ever been packed out to watch what is essentially the "C" teams of two high schools play one another. If you're not good enough to make the JV team as a freshman, unless you're at a huge school like Carmel, the scribes probably are not going to be writing ballads about your high school basketball career. Most of the guys who play freshman basketball are there because they love the game, played it growing up, and aren't ready to give it up yet. With sports specialization happening at a younger and younger age now, and overall participation numbers dropping all over the state, freshman teams are actually starting to become a thing of the past. As someone who was a part of one, that's a little sad. I was one of the better players in our grade growing up largely because I was taller and could shoot a little. Then we got older, people caught up to me in size, and I was just a slow bigger guy who could still shoot a little. I played freshman basketball while some of my best friends played JV. I got the opportunity to be the focal point offensively on that freshman team, and it helped me develop my game a lot. It motivated me to work harder and not give it up, and eventually I worked my way up to being a varsity starter my senior year on a very good Westview team. I wasn't a star, but I had a big role and I loved every minute of it. So when I see the rare guy start out on a freshman team, stick with it all four years, and see it pay off in the end, I have a lot of respect for that journey. It had been a long time since I took in a freshman basketball game until I stopped in for some summer hoops back in June.
In recent years, Indiana Wesleyan has been hosting the biggest summer "school ball" tournament I know of outside of Charlie Hughes each year. They host all three levels of teams: varsity, JV, and freshman. They have so many teams come in from across the state that they use schools and gyms all over Marion to host games, including right up State Road 15 in Gas City. Some of the freshman games get played over there at RJ Baskett Middle School. I'd been wanting to get to RJ Baskett for awhile, so I figured this would be a good opportunity. RJ Baskett was originally built as the new Mississinewa High School back in 1951. Gas City had just absorbed nearby Jonesboro in 1948 and was renamed Mississinewa, but it took them a couple of years to complete the new school. The old Gas City High School gym is still standing which I'll be writing about soon. The old Jonesboro High School (which they played high school games in during the early-20s) was just torn down in the last year. You can read more about that consolidation and the old Gas City school on my friend Ted Shideler's blog HERE. A new gym was built with the new Mississinewa High School, and it served as the home of the Indians until 1977 when their current gym at the present high school was built. At that time, the 1951 gym was pressed into middle school service, a role it has held ever since. The Indians captured a pair of Marion sectional titles while playing in this gym in the early 50s, including one regional title in 1954. That was the last sectional Mississinewa would win until 2021 when they finally broke through and won a class 3A sectional on their home floor. That's a long drought for a school and town that has had a ton of community support and pride over the years.
With it being a summer freshman basketball tournament, I wasn't exaclty sure what I would find when I rolled up to the old Mississinewa gym. There were two games going on at once, running sideways across the court on the practice hoops. It was about 9:00 a.m. so the energy wasn't exactly off the charts. I think I was the only spectator in the entire gym. Everyone else was either a player, coach, or official. The lower bleachers were all rolled up except for the very bottom rows on each sides. Along each sideline are 9 rows of red plastic bleachers. Some old school beige cinder blocks make up a little wall above the top of the lower section of bleachers and separate it from the upper level. This gym is obviously over-qualified to be a middle school facility, and the floor design is as well. I love it. There is an Indian chieftain logo inside the half-court circle which sits with a solemn yet dignified posture. Most of the floor is stained a light-gold color, with slightly darker shades inside the three-point lines. There's a narrow red border around the perimeter of the court. "RJ Baskett" is written across one baseline in clear lettering and "Indians" across the other. It all matches the brilliant red color scheme used throughout the whole gym.
After realizing there wasn't going to be anywhere to sit down below, I looked for an exterior entrance to the upper level since there wasn't one inside the gym. The first one was closed off, but luckily the other side wasn't. I made my way up top, and got a magnificent lay of the land. Each upper level has 14 rows of permanent wooden bleachers climbing up the concrete steps. They're all painted red, which again matches the rest of the gym nicely. Way up at top, right above the last row of bleachers, are small windows letting in some natural light. In the very upper corners are actually exit doors with little landings that presumably lead into the school somewhere. You don't find that too often, especially in gyms from this era. The view down to the court from the very top is incredible. I would kill to watch a big game from up there. After taking some pictures, I made my way down to the bottom of the second level to get a better view of the baseline walls. On one side you have some middle school athletic accomplishment banners hanging up next to one of the biggest and most fantastic murals I've come across. In it, an Indian warrior on horseback thunders straight ahead with a brilliant nature scene in the background. While this normally would be surprising, it wasn't because the current Mississinewa gym has a mural just as impressive that I saw a couple years ago. Opposite of that baseline wall is one of the biggest stages you'll ever find. It runs the entire length of the wall and takes multiple sections of red curtains to cover it. It's a stupendous sight, and the focal point of the gym.
I'm not going to sit here and tell you I was locked in on the action happening on both of the sideways courts. I took my pictures, watched a little over a half of the games, and left. I had a long drive ahead of me as I was going to make my way down to Connersville and then Lawrenceburg to watch some more summer basketball. What I did see in the little bit that I watched was what you would expect from a bunch of guys getting their very first taste of high school basketball action. There was a lot of coaches barking super specific directions, there were a lot of badly missed jumpers, and there were a lot of scrawny kids not sure of where they were supposed to be on offense or defense. I remember at the end of my first freshman summer of high school basketball, I asked our JV coach what I needed to work on most the rest of the year leading up to the season. He shook his head and said, "Everything." Not exactly super specific or helpful advice, but he was right. I took it to heart, and in the long run it paid off. I hope some of the kids I watched in that gym that day have a similar experience like I did. High school basketball in Indiana is a special thing, but it's not always an easy road. It comes with a lot of ups and downs, just like life. That's why I'm so glad I stuck with it. It prepared me for a lot of things I faced in the years that came after it, on and off the court. I hope some programs are able to keep hanging onto their freshman teams, just like the old Mississinewa gym has been hanging on for all these years. Freshman teams and old gyms may not get the headlines, but they still serve an important purpose in keeping the spirit of basketball alive in Indiana.
