Sharpsville (700) Built 1926
July 17, 2024
July 17, 2024
Ask anyone who knows me well and they'll tell you that the thing I probably hate more than anything else is confrontation or uncomfortable situations. As the middle child growing up, I quickly became a peacemaker and ran from any scenarios that potentially got prickly. The thought of haggling at a flea market makes my skin crawl. So needless to say, going up to strangers out of the blue and striking up a conversation about something I may need help with is typically the furthest thing from what I want to do. This is the situation I found myself in today as I walked around Sharpsville looking for any way to get access into their historic gym. I didn't really have a plan on the drive up, I couldn't find any information or contacts online to reach out to. I had a free day though and no one likes driving aimlessly around the state more than me so I thought it was worth a shot to at least see the exterior. I channelled the spirit of my mother (who has never met a stranger) and walked into the tiny town hall a few blocks over to see if anyone could help me, and boy am I glad I did. I met the coolest guy named Lester who graduated from the school in 1966 and he was kind enough to give me the grand tour.
When Lester opened the front doors into O.H. Hughes Gymnasium in Sharpsville I was overwhelmed by the amount of memorabilia and relics on display in the small foyer. Each wall is lined with glass cases meticulously displaying artifacts from the 20s all the way up to the school's closing in the 60s. Letter jackets, yearbooks, trophies, basketballs, you name it and it's there. The coolest part was the wall of large framed photos of all the old basketball teams. I was floored by how much history had been preserved. You don't even see this much in high schools that are still current. Lester said he even has more that is not on display yet. Once the decision was made to save the gym after the adjoining school had been torn down in the 80s, everyone in town donated many of their momentos to put on display, and donations have just kept coming over the years. The Sharpsville gym has actually been attached to two different high schools over the years. It survived a fire in 1928 soon after it was built when the first school burned down. The second school closed in 1970 and was later demolished, but money was raised locally to keep the gym going. It's still used today for a multitude of community events, including basketball games.
The gym itself is remarkably well preserved. It's a long brick building with a slightly curved roof. To the casual eye it could understandably be mistaken for the more famous but no more charming Hoosier Gym in Knightstown. It looks almost exactly as it did in its heydey except for one side of bleachers has been taken out for more room behind one sideline. The sideline that still has the original bleachers built by students from the school runs 8 rows high and stretches the length of the playing floor. They are painted baby blue and trimmed in maroon which matches the color scheme running halfway up the wall across the entirety of the gym. The steps leading up the middle of the bleachers are maroon as well. The opposing sideline has 4 small benches for players and coaches to sit on. An old scoreboard hangs perfectly centered on the back wall. The brick above the painted sections all around the gym are a beautiful dark hue. There are frosty glass windows set within the brick that let in some natural light onto the playing floor. The lettered sections are still painted above the bleachers as well.
The views of the baseline walls are what old gym dreams are made of. Opposite of the entrance to the gym is a large stage set into the brick. There's a big backdrop across it with the logos of the two schools that called the gym home (The Sharpsville Bulldogs briefly became Sharpsville-Prairie Trojans before the school closed for good due to consolidation with another nearby town school). On the upper left wall is the original scoreboard which is still operational and a clock that was actually painted onto the brick but is now missing the hands. The baseline side with the entrance to the gym now has a ramp put in from the foyer to make it more accessible which was tastefully done and doesn't take away from the aesthetic of the gym at all.
If you look up when you are in the gym you will see the gorgeous curved ceiling with exposed beams. I know this was designed for function not form, but it looks really cool. Looking up will also draw your eye to the two old glass baskets on each end of the floor which actually do have breakaway rims but still look quite weathered. The really unique aspect here is that on the end by the entrance, the main hoop actually has two practice hoops attached to the frame behind it that face the sidelines. This was definitely a new sight for me. I was told one side was used to practice free throws, and the other side actually used to have some contraption underneath it that would springboard you up for dunks! I could've used that back in the day. The last thing I need to mention is the hardwood court itself. The floor is at least as old as Lester can remember personally which takes us back to the 50s and 60s. It is a gorgeous, well-worn brown color. It's a little shorter than the standard 84 feet, and there's only about 2 feet from the out of bounds lines to the baseline walls which is very common in the gyms from this era. The single coolest thing about the hardwood though is that they kept a single square from the original 1926 floor and put it inside the center court circle. It clearly sticks out with a much darker shade of brown. It's my favorite fun fact Lester pointed out amongst the many incredible tidbits he gave me while I visited.
Sharpsville managed to win three sectionals during their time in this gym which was no small feat for a small country school playing in the vaunted Kokomo sectional every year. I can only imagine what the party was like on those nights when they final overcame their seemingly insurmountable rival and got the job done. I was able to get some sense of how much it meant to the whole town through the gym itself, the history displayed there, and the stories Lester relayed to me. I am so thankful that someone who cares deeply about his town and school took the time to share it with me. These gyms are extensions of the people who used them to make memories and form communities. Discovering them with the people who they meant the most to is the best way to do it.
