Shenandoah (2,500) Built 1967
December 26, 2025: Anderson vs. Warsaw (Boys)
December 26, 2025: Anderson vs. Warsaw (Boys)
The basketball tradition in Henry County gets pushed a lot more than other places in the state for a couple of reasons. It's home to three pillars of Hoosier Hysteria. The first is the largest (and allegedly finest) high school gym on the planet which resides in New Castle. The second is the Hoosier Gym in Knightstown which is probably akin to Mecca for anyone who enjoys everything this blog is about. The third is the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame, which is criminally underrated. I don't think people truly realize how blessed we are to have an entity that preserves and promotes the history of high school basketball in such a careful and comprehensive way. I cannot say enough about the good work that they do over there. One of the things they do to promote the Hall of Fame is advertise and recognize all the gyms you can see in the county. New Castle and the Hoosier Gym obviously take center stage, but there are also a few other nice active gyms to go along with some older gyms that are still standing and many people don't even know about. They didn't make a movie about Spiceland, New Lisbon, Middletown, Cadiz, or the old Church Street Gym in New Castle, but those gyms still meant a lot to the people of those communities, and they still stand tall today (if anyone has a contact to look inside the New Lisbon or Cadiz gyms, please reach out! I've only viewed those from the road). Two of those old gyms ceased holding high school basketball games when a new school was formed in the late 60s. Consolidation was tough on everyone, but the new school has found considerable success in a "newer" gym that has some pretty good character itself.
Shenandoah High School was born in 1967 out of a merger between Cadiz, Middletown, and Sulphur Springs. The new school quickly found success, winning sectionals in 1970, 1981, and 1982. The 1981 year was one to remember. Even after combining three schools, Shenandoah was still pretty small. That didn't stop them from going on a near Hoosiers like run all the way to the state finals weekend. They lost the morning game there to Vincennes Lincoln, but that didn't in any way diminish what they accomplished. That squad is still talked about to this day, and rightfully so. After a little lull, the program has been very strong again recently, taking home five sectionals in the last decade. Shenandoah was actually one of the places I interviewed at when I first moved to Anderson. They offered me a job and even asked if I would be interested in helping coach. It wasn't the best fit for our family at the time, but in another dimension where it would work out, I think I really would have enjoyed it. They also have a girls program who has been dominant in the class basketball era. They have two 2A state title banners hanging on the wall to show for it. All of this is to say that they have two programs that deserve a great gym to call home, and thankfully they do.
The Shenandoah gym is one of those that has always confused me when looking at pictures of it. At times I've had trouble understanding which pictures were current, and which were older. This is primarily because of the bleachers. In one picture they looked like the normal retractable kind, and in another they looked permanent, but in both they looked fairly current. I didn't know what was going on. When I finally got to the gym to watch the Anderson boys play in a holiday tournament, I kind of felt dumb, but it finally made sense. The gym has both permanent and retractable bleachers. Part of my confusion I think was due to the fact that at center court sits a big yellow "S" which looks the same regardless of which side of the gym you're sitting on. So in pictures, it looked like I was viewing the same side of the gym, but they were actually opposites. In reality, one side of the gym has 16 rows of gorgeous medium-brown wooden retractable bleachers (some of the rows have "Rowdys" painted on them. I'm assuming this is what they call their student section maybe? Not sure, but it's cool). The other side has 16 rows of permanent metal bleacher seats that are bolted into concrete (this side also has a staircase on the far end leading to a door in the baseline wall that's inaccessible from the bleachers. Never seen anything like it, and I'm very curious what's behind the door). The contrast is bizarre, and I'd love to know what the reason is behind it. The only other place I can think of with anything like this is Northwestern over in Howard County. I adore the wooden bleachers here, I don't love the outdoor style metal bench seats.
Hanging in front of and above the back sideline walls on one side are really classy cloth athletic accomplishment banners. They also then turn and hang up on the baseline wall above the entrance as well. The very dark navy blue background and yellow lettering looks awesome on them. The wall above the sideline with permanent seating has advertisements and sponsors plastered all the way across it. The baseline wall opposite of the main entrance is just a masterclass in how to use wall space in a gym. There are seven massive cloth banners honoring state championship and runner up teams in various sports. The two girls state championship banners specifically are some of the classiest I've ever seen. Again, the color scheme is just perfect. There is also a brilliant mural of a couple of Shenandoah Raiders standing in front of an American flag with a basketball and liberty bell of some sort sitting in between them. It's not entirely sensical, but I love it, and it fits the gym perfectly. The main entrance to the gym deserves some discussion. You walk into the gym and stand under a little overhang. On the back wall of this overhang is a Shenandoah quilt hanging on the wall. There are two big support pillars, and between them are some press row tables. The whole thing provides a lot of out of bounds space on this side, but I kind of dig it. The floor design has some unique flairs as well. Most of the court is a very light-tan color, with that same dark navy blue inside the three point arcs. The big yellow "S" is at center court. "MEC" is written inside the the sidelines in support of the Mid-Easter Conference (I forgot to mention the Mid-Eastern Conference teams display on the far baseline wall. It is completely and utterly pathetic. The only part of the gym I don't like). The distinct feature on the floor is that "Shenandoah Raiders" is written across each baseline, but the outside letters are yellow and the interior letters are white on both ends. "Raiders" also has it's little special logo worked into the lettering. It definitely catches your eye.
Shenandoah reminded me a lot of its Henry County rival over at Blue River Valley. Two rural schools made of up a lot of farm kids with gyms that were built in the 60s but still have a lot of character. I greatly enjoyed my visits to each place. Middletown blew me away when I saw it a couple of summers ago. Cadiz is a place I would kill to get inside, and am holding out it will happen some day. Sulphur Springs is long gone, but I read a book about some of their own accomplishments, and I'm sure that gym meant a lot to the people there as well. Losing high school games in those gyms must have hurt when it happened, but the Shenandoah Raiders have put together a tradition of their own that is strong enough to help smooth over some of those wounds. This is a great place to watch a basketball game, and I look forward to coming back some time for a Raider home game to get the full experience.
