North Judson-San Pierre (3,516) Built 1975
March 14, 2026: Westview vs. Gary 21st Century (Boys)
March 14, 2026: Westview vs. Gary 21st Century (Boys)
In March of 2006, I had just turned 12. My cousin Justin Yoder was a sophomore starter on a Westview basketball team that had just won their sectional. I was in my formative years of learning what Hoosier Hysteria was all about, and I was an absolute loon when it came to Westview basketball. I wrote the names and numbers of all the players on my school binder and kept a running tally of wins and losses underneath it all. When they won that sectional, I was walking around school the next week like I had done it myself. It was Westview's first in six years, since the back to back 2A state titles. I heard we were going to a place called North Judson for regionals. I had never heard of it. Little did I know that this small town gym smack dab in the center of rural northwest Indiana would become my home away from home on regional weekends for the next twenty years. In the last two decades, Westview has played in 13 regionals. All but one or two have been at North Judson. I have so many memories of getting up and leaving for the early game just as the sun was starting to rise, watching Westview win, trying to find a way to kill time all afternoon (not an easy feat during March in Starke County), and then coming back to watch the nightcap. It always felt like we had to play a team with way more size and athleticism from The Region in the night game ever year. We managed to win a couple of them, but lost our fair share as well. Win or lose, I loved those long Saturday's so much. The crowds were always incredible, and it was just peak of excitement for a kid who loved basketball. I finally got to experience one as a player in 2012, and it lived up to all the hype even though we lost in the night game. I later saw my brother get over the hump his sophomore year here, and then watch his high school career end here two years later when he was a senior. Through it all I developed a deep love for this gym and the environments it created. After my brother's team lost to Fort Wayne Canterbury here in 2016, I remembering wodnering on the way out if I would ever come back here again. It took me ten years, but I did make it back, and man am I glad I did.
If you told someone that one school in the northwest was going to get to host a regional almost every year for two decades, I don't think anyone would pick North Judson off the top of their head. It's located in the southwest corner of Starke County, and isn't exactly a booming metropolis. This portion of our state is probably the closest thing we have to what you'd find if you traveled out to Kansas or Iowa. Sure there are other places in Indiana with lots of farmland, but it's different out here. It's endless, it's flat, and there's hardly any forests breaking it up. The one thing North Judson really has going for it is that it's very centrally located in the northwest quarter, and it has a high school that does a top notch job of hosting every single year. Whenever people online ask why one school gets to host a lot and another school doesn't, the common and correct response is that schools have to want to host postseason rounds of the tournament. It's a lot of work to put these on and do them well, and not every school wants that responsbilitiy or has the manpower to make it happen. North Judson is a top tier host. When I think of the school, I think of this regional. It's been such a positive constant for years. I honestly feel a little bad that I'm writing this from the perspective of someone who has never actually been to a North Judson Bluejay (yes, it is Bluejay, not Blue Jay here) game. This school has a neat history worth recognizing and a proud basketball program that's been representing small schools well for a long time.
North Judson has been kicking around the state tournament since 1920 when they defeated Crown Point and Kentland before falling to the Whiting Oilers. Over the years they played at a wide variety of rotating sectional sites. From Winamac, to Rochester, to Plymouth, to Knox, they were in the rare situation of not having one big town nearby that was the constant host. From 1920-1974, they won eight sectionals playing in all these venues. That's a pretty good number for a school this size. Then in 1975, everything changed. They built a new high school and gym, and started hosting the sectional themselves every year. From that point on they rattled off another ten sectional and three regional titles in the single class era, and another five sectionals and two regionals in the class era. That's a lot of good teams, and a lot of tradition laid down in this gym and on their home court. All of these wins are traditionally credited solely to North Judson. That's what I'm referring to them as here as it's what I always knew them as growing up, and it's what John Harrell refers to them as on his site, but I would be remiss if I didn't bring up the little community of San Pierre as well. San Pierre is 7 miles almost straight west of North Judson. They had their own team (the Bulldogs) up until 1964 when they were absorbed or consolidated into North Judson. North Judson was kind enough to officially hyphenate the name of the school into North Judson-San Pierre, but I've never heard them referred to as that. While the San Pierre name has slowly been lost to the legend of Indiana basketball over the years, I'm sure the people who went there haven't forgot it. They may not have had the postseason success over the years that North Judson did, but the Bulldogs still deserve their due.
Now to talk about the gym itself. When I started my blog a few years ago, I heard that North Judson had just gone through a big remodel, and my heart sunk. When I found pictures of it, I breathed a sigh of relief. It wasn't nearly as drastic as I feared, and what I loved most about it wasn't lost. When I think of my own memories of the gym, two things come to mind immediately. The first is the big single section of beautiful wooden bleachers along one sideline that we always seemed to sit on. They seemed to go up forever like the ones at Westview. The other thing I remember is the lighting. The bleachers always seemed to sit completely shrouded in darkness while it felt like there was a spotlight on the court. I'm sure it probably wasn't that dramatic, but it felt like that as a kid. With the remodel, the bleachers were replaced, but they thankfully installed new wooden ones that also look pretty sharp. Some of the magic of the lighting was lost as the new bulbs illuminate everything pretty evenly, but it certainly doesn't kill the overall vibe. This place is still awesome. Let's start with those new bleachers. There are about 20 rows running straight up along one sideline with no break in them. The opposite side does have two sections, 13 rows on the bottom and about 15 on the top. The new bleachers are a light gold color that look really nice. My only qualm with them is that they have so many wide walk ways up them that it takes out a decent chunk of the old seating capacity. This is the case with even the best new bleachers though, there doesn't seem to be anything you can do about it. They also extend down nice and close to the out of bounds lines without leaving a huge gap. This does buck the current trend with most gym remodels, and that's a good thing. It looks ridiculous when you can drive a car between the stands and the out of bounds lines.
One thing that helps the North Judson gym stand out a little bit is that the walls are not just a standard boring white color. The majority of the walls are painted a pale yellow color, while the bottom ten feet or so are painted a dark shade of Dijon mustard. This section then angles up when it hits the bleachers and follows that line upwards. You wouldn't think those colors would pair well, but I think it really works. A band of blue separates them. Those bands of blue behind the baseline baskets have different years painted on them. For years I always wondered what they represented, because there's no signage or anything indicating what they're for. Then when I came back as an adult, I thought, "Oh, I bet those are years they won the sectional." Sure enough, they are! The boys are represented on one side of the gym and girls on the other. Most of the years are painted on in white, while a couple select ones are painted on in the mustard color. Those are the years they won regionals as well. It's an incredibly unique and subtle way to recognize these accomplishments. I love it. Above that blue band on one baseline wall are your standard Indiana All-Star jersey plaques which are always nice to see. Above that is a beautiful mural of a Bluejay head. At the very top of the wall are neatly laid out circular plaques for each team in the Hoosier North Conference. They did a really good job with these. The opposite wall is pretty bare except for a few blue athletic accomplishment banners and an American flag that seems to oddly set inside a wooden frame. I wonder what the story is behind that? The floor design is really well done. The middle section of the court is a nice light-gold that matches the bleachers. The inside of the three-point lines are brown, and the inside of the lane is a blue that matches the rest of the gym. "Bluejays" is written across each baseline in white lettering against a blue background with little brown dashes on the ends. "The Nest" is written in blue cursive script inside each sideline. The big Bluejay head sits at center court. I have no notes, it's perfect. The new digital jumbotron above midcourt feels like a bit much, but it's not offensive by any means.
The reason I was drawn back to North Judson a decade after my brother played his last game was naturally Westview again. A team that had decent expectations coming into the year was really starting to put things together in a way that caught some people by surprise down the stretch. The only problem was they were about to run into a team in Gary 21st Century with a legit Division I prospect and two guys over 6'8''. They weren't exactly going to be favored, but the magic and possibility of Hoosier Hysteria drove me up there. In what was one of most fun games I've ever been to in person, Westview played an unbelievable game and pulled off the upset. Watching my cousin Pierce hit a couple huge threes in the process really brought my whole North Judson experience full circle. This gym is special to me in a way that is a little odd considering I never attended school here. I know it means even more to the players and community who have called it home for the last 50 years. It may seem random that one small town 2A school in the middle of nowhere gets to host a regional almost every year, but I wouldn't have it any other way.
