Mount Vernon (Fortville) (2,984) Built 1972
December 10, 2024: Anderson vs. Mount Vernon (Girls)
December 10, 2024: Anderson vs. Mount Vernon (Girls)
I could not for the life of me remember what Mount Vernon's mascot was when I walked up to their gym on Tuesday night this week. I knew it was something off the wall, but it just wouldn't come to me. When I made it in and saw the signs for the Marauders, I had two more thoughts: How exactly do you pronounce that? What exactly is a marauder? I'm still not a hundred percent sure on the answer to the latter, but to the former I was thinking of some sort of renegade member of the Crusades. I wasn't that far off as the dictionary definition is "one who roams from place to place making attacks and raids in search of plunder." I also remembered when I got home that in Dale Lawrence's essential classic The Hoosier Hysteria Roadbook, he talks about how Mount Vernon's mascot is the only one in the state that is rooted in illegal activity. You would think a school that evokes the name of such ruthless pillagers would have a home court that strikes some fear into the heart of opponents, but alas that is not he case. The house of hoops at Mount Vernon is the ultimate example of the 70s multipurpose gym. There are some quirks and nice touches that help perk it up a little bit, but it doesn't exactly scream "BEWARE" when you walk through the doors.
The quintessential 70s multipurpose gym has two levels of bleachers on each side with 10-15 rows on each level. A small section of lower level baseline seating is optional. There are side stairs leading to the upper levels, but there are no walkways connecting the two upper sides. All bleachers are retractable so there's lots of room for additional activities during gym class. The upper levels are most likely used for wrestling practice when the bleachers are rolled back. Mount Vernon hits all these notes. There are two levels of dark beige (think of a really dark dijon mustard color) plastic bleachers. MVHS is printed across them in black on each big section. There are 11 rows on each level. On the side behind the scorer's table, the upper bleachers run the full length of the court. There is about ten feet of space behind the bleachers here as well that doesn't seem to serve a real purpose. On the opposite side the bleachers run much shorter due to a large room that is just hanging out where the bleachers should be. Judging by the big mat-lowering machine above the door, I'm guessing it's the wrestling room. Behind the upper bleachers on this side there is also a huge open room. The off-centered bleachers combined with all the open space just gives it a really weird feel. The access points to the upper levels are also odd. One side has your standard set of side stairs on the interior of the gym. The other side has exterior access stairs that lead up to a small windowless door. It feels like you're entering a restricted area when you go through it. There are also two small baseline sections of the mustard bleachers on the floor level well (I should give a little love to the mustard bleachers, the "MV" logo is imprinted on the side of each one which gives them a bit of an upgrade over normal plastic bleachers. I've never seen that before).
The walls of the gym have enough going on that you can't accuse them of being bland at least. The baseline wall above the main entrance displays the girls' athletic accomplishment banners. They're actually pretty cool with the sport logo at the top and yearly accomplishments working their way down like a ladder. Some standard state championship and runner up displays in the shape of Indiana are off to the side. Above the main door to the gym is a mural of what I think is supposed to be an intimidating marauder swinging an axe, but it looks more like a Nordic gentleman doing a TikTok dance. It's not exactly helping the fear factor. The opposite side houses the boys' athletic accomplishment banners which also look great in the same style. In the corners of the gym opposite of the scorer's table are tall rectangular prisms that I can't exactly determine a use for. The tops don't appear to be accessible and I can't see a door anywhere on the inside of the gym at least. They're a mystery. On the side of one facing the bleachers is a very unique Hoosier Heritage Conference team display. It's very flashy with the logos for each school, but the names of the schools are not listed anywhere which I think is kind of important. The court design has a lot going on as well. It's hard to win when your color scheme is black and dirty beige. Most of the court is a greyish brown color. The foul lanes are black, and the interior wing areas are standard light brown. A marauder sheld is the center court logo which matches the aesthetic and is fine.
I had a really hard time ranking this gym. It's extremely basic, but it has some little eccentric details to it. The color scheme really makes it tough. It also feels like a gym was just kind of plopped in the middle of a giant space and it wasn't planned very intentionally. The pieces of the puzzle don't seem to fit together very cohesively. My wife is the designer, not me, but I've been to enough gyms to realize when things just feel off. Having said all that, there are still enough little things that I like and I don't think it would have any problem creating a good environment for a big game. It's a mixed bag in a lot of ways. It's certainly not menacing like its mascot would suggest, but there have been plenty of players who have called it home and managed to strike terror into the hearts of their opponents on their own. Maybe they should put a mural of those guys and gals instead of the TikTok Viking.
