North Montgomery (4,200) Built 1970
March 8, 2025: Seeger vs. Western Boone (Boys)
March 8, 2025: Seeger vs. Western Boone (Boys)
Sectional week is the best week of the basketball season, and if we're being honest, that also means it's the best week of the year (sorry Christmas). It's the heart of Hoosier Hysteria. For over 80 years it meant you got to take on all your local rivals for bragging rights that lasted at least all summer, and in many cases for years and years. The saying "throw the records out the window" was coined because come sectional week, it didn't matter what had happened up to that point in the season. No matter how strong your resume was, with one false step it could all be gone in the snap of a finger. People love to say that class basketball killed sectional week excitement and tradition. It definitely has changed it, and no, not for the better, but it is far from dead. It's still what I look forward to the most each year. Over the years new rivalries have formed in sectionals that basically stay the same every year. There's also the excitment of playing a new opponent you don't often face, if ever. No it's not the same, but it's still pretty good. The unadulterated joy the winning team feels juxtaposed with the utter despair of those who fall short is what we love about sports. I experienced both sides in my own high school career, and I wouldn't trade those experiences for anything. I think you need both to truly appreciate it. The other thing that comes with sectional week is the silence that follows it. Yes there are further tournament rounds for the teams blessed to move on, but for most players and fans, that Saturday night drive home is a quiet one. One of reflection on what the season was, and one of slight depression over the coming weeks with no games on the schedule. I made this yearly drive home once again last weekend from North Montgomery, a place further away than I had anticipated traveling to, but it's a trip I'm glad I made.
Holy consolidation Batman! That's the first thought I had when I walked into the school and noticed a positively lovely display case. It holds plaques honoring the sectional and state champions from all the schools that consolidated into North Montgomery. Underneath those plaques are basketballs honoring all 1,000 point scorers from the different schools and North Montgomery itself. I didn't know who to thank for doing such an amazing job of honoring the heritage of those schools, so if that person ever finds themselves reading this, thank you! Other schools need to take note. I thought there were quite a few shuttered schools represented here, but I had no idea just how many were involved in the forming of North Montgomery until I walked into the gym and saw the fabulous mural further honoring them that I'll touch more on later. The display shows THIRTEEN different schools (though only seven were high schools) that once stood on their own in Montgomery County. Without hopefully leaving anyone out, they were: Wingate, Waynetown, Coal Creek, New Richmond (home of the majority of the exterior shots filmed in Hoosiers), Linden, Pleasant Hill, Bowers, Darlington, Sugar Creek, East Union, Mt. Zion, Sommer, and Northridge. Wingate is the only one most Indiana basketball fans may be familiar with as they won two of the earliest state titles led by the heroics of our state's first basketball legend, Homer Stonebraker (who can also claim the coolest name in Indiana basketball history). Wingate's old gym actually still stands, but is privately owned. It is one of my white whales that I hope to be able to see inside of someday. North Montgomery has had a modest bit of success of their own since the formation of the school in 1971, but it's obvious just how deep the history of our game runs in this community through the legacy of these old schools.
I can only imagine how difficult it was for all these small towns and townships to lose their own schools, basketball teams, and gyms. I hope they found some solace in the fact that the new home for hoops in northern Montgomery County was a mighty fine one. There's a reason this gym is often chosen to host sectional games. Not only is it huge for a 2A school, it has a lot of nice little features that help it stand out. One of them is simply the setup. Gyms that have one single section of seating on one sideline and two levels along the other aren't unheard of, but they are more rare. Usually in these cases the side with one single section isn't very large. North Mongtomery bucks that trend in a big way. The sideline with a single set of retractable bleachers here goes up 23 rows by my count. The opposing sideline has a lower section that goes up 13 rows, and an upper section that goes up about 18 more. The bleachers themselves are unique as well. They're the old school kind that have open gaps between the floorboards and bench seats. They give off a wonderful retro feel, but I wouldn't advise bringing a toddler with a lot of toys, you can kiss those goodbye. The floorboards are wooden, but the bleacher benches themselves are a kind of vinyl or metal. I couldn't tell exactly. What is very obvious is how orange they are. Orange metal gives off a different look that really works. I pray they don't replace them with cheap looking plastic anytime soon.
Finding the entry point to the upper level was a little bit of a challenge, the stairwell is tucked away inside the interior corner of the gym by the main entrance. Once I was up there, I got a great view of the rest of the gym. High above the big single section of bleachers are some fairly standard and modern blue and orange athletic accomplishment banners. The different colors for the boys and girls teams make them a little more distinctive. The baseline walls are what really stand out. Each side has a little jut-out right in the middle that extends forward a few feet towards the court. On the side above the main entrance are two really cool football state championship banners that look straight out of the 90s. In between them are two more modern looking state championship banners for other sports. In the lower corner on this wall is also a little sign showing current and future kids in the program who have completed a "summer basketball challenge" which is an awesome way to built the culture of a program for the future. The jut-out area on the opposite wall has a big blue and orange mural of the school mascot logo with "Home of the Chargin Chargers" written above and below it. While "Chargers" may not be the most unique school nickname, they do a great job of spicing it up in a neat way here. To the left of the mural is a neat and tidy conference team display in a grid pattern. To the right are a couple of standard Indiana All-Star jersey plaques and a few more state champion and runner-up plaques. Directly next to that you will find the crown jewel of the gym.
A large vertical mural outlines and pays homage to all 13 former schools that came together to form North Montgomery. Each school name and mascot logo is represented and loosely placed on a map of sorts that uses major roads for reference points. It's beautiful, original, and just incredibly thoughtful. I can't say enough about how impressed I was when I first saw it. As soon as I got home that night I started researching these old schools and their teams, and I hope to really dive into them more when I have time after the season is over. There is also a brick accent wall running across the bottom of both baseline sides which is a nice touch. Looking down onto the court itself I found one last aspect of the gym I really enjoyed. Most of the court is a really light-tan color, with a sharp dark contrast inside the wings and at center court. The center court area in question here is in the shape of Indiana (which I always love) with a simple orange "N" inside it. The perimeter of the court is all trimmed in dark blue. "Chargers" is written across both baselines which is common, but "North Montgomery" is also written across the sidelines which is unique. It's a little busy, but I think I like it. That's kind of the theme of the whole gym, there's really nothing to dislike.
When Anderson lost on Friday night, I wasn't sure where I was going to head on Saturday. I was considering a lot of options around an hour away from home. Looking at a map where I've plotted out all the old gyms I want to stop by at some point, I looked straight west and saw one I had marked in Frankfort and one in Romney. They were both directly on the way to North Montgomery which was further away than I had planned on going, but I figured it would be worth it to be able to stop and take some pictures of the old gyms on my way to see the sectional championship there. I stopped in Frankfort, and then made it to Romney right as the last of the daylight was falling behind the western sky. Much to my dismay when I pulled up, I found an empty park. I was too late. The fading gym was officially gone. There really isn't a worse feeling when you're doing the kind of documentation I am with these places. I admittedly felt a little defeated as I walked into North Montgomery. Luckily that feeling didn't last long. From the heritage display at the front entrance, to the beautiful mural in the gym, I felt at home the whole time. The season may be coming to a close, but I find joy in knowing I'll continue to stumble into wonderful places like this in the future to watch our state's greatest treasure: Indiana high school basketball.
