Stendal (300) Built 1949
October 17, 2024
October 17, 2024
Stendal, Indiana sits in the southern most section of Pike County. Driving through you'll find a post office, a Lutheran church, and some run down buildings that remind you of a time when modern convenience meant less and basketball meant more. The history of basketball in this little town is an interesting one. The Stendal Aces had a really nice run of success in the 1930s, capturing three Jasper sectional titles. This was an impressive feat for a school with around only a dozen boys in each class. Capturing sectional titles during the era of the Great Depression and leading into Word War II meant knocking of all the other schools in Pike County along with the big boys at Jasper. What makes it even more incredible is that they managed to do it while having no home gym of their own. The Stendal ballplayers were known as "The Gymless Wonders" as they found a lot of success while playing the majority of their games on the road. Even when they had a "home" game, it was played over at neighboring Winslow. This also meant they didn't have a regular place to practice indoors. According to Historical Hoosier Gyms by Kyle Neddenriep, they spent most of their days practicing on dirt courts outside or if they were lucky, a haphazardly put together court in an old feed mill. Glamorous? No. Effective? Apparently!
By the time I made it to Stendal on this fine October day, I had already made it to gyms in Owensville and Haubstadt with old mascot names like the Kickapoos and the Elites. Those are hard to top, but the Aces come pretty close. It might not be quite as exotic, but I think it beats them in terms of the "cool" factor. How can you not walk onto a basketball court with confidence when you're wearing "Aces" across the front of your jersey? While I loved the name from moments I read about it in different old Indiana basketball books, I never knew what it meant until I visited the gym for myself. My guide this day informed me that the Stendal gym was actually an airplane hangar in a previous life. This is why the basketball team adopted a name that honored the pilots that worked in the space before them. The gyms at Adams Central and Churubusco have always been called "hangars" for their resemblance to the resting places of planes, but this one actually was! Ironically on the inside you wouldn't really know it, at least not now. When the the old high school was torn off in the 90s, the gym was also remodeled and a drop ceiling was put in. From the outside, an overhang has been added on along with a new roof. It more closely resembles a church than an airplane hangar, but that doesn't diminish the fact that the bones of the building hold the title for coolest original use of any gym I've ever visited. One mystery that is still unsolved for me is where exactly the planes that once utilized the building took off from and landed. Stendal sits in the middle of a hilly section of forest with no long stretch of flat ground in sight. We may never know, but as long as this wonderful place still stands, I'm okay with that.
The inside of the gym looks a little different than it did when the Aces were flying up and down the court. The walls are all white around the entire gym. In Historic Hoosier Gyms, it says there used to be a stage at one end, but it has since been filled in and I honestly can't even tell which side housed it. Behind one baseline wall, a large dining room and kitchen has been added to help serve the gym's current purpose as a community center. In this room you can find some lovely pictures of old sectional winning teams, an old school sweater, and a beautiful painting of the old school building. Hanging up high on this baseline wall inside the gym are modern vinyl banners honoring the three sectional winning teams from the the 30s. The opposite baseline wall is completely bare, but a single grey wooden bench runs along the length of it. I don't know for sure, but I have a hunch it may have served as the bench for both teams. It wasn't uncommon for the team benches to be behind a baseline in this era, and since it's only one row it would be odd for it to be used for spectators.
The two sideline sections of bleachers are the highlight of the whole gym. They only run about a little more than half the length of the court, they're offset from one another if you're looking across from the other side, and they are actually built into the wall itself in a fashion similar to what you will find at Williamsburg. Also like Williamsburg, there are a couple support beams partially blocking the view from the bleachers. Mercifully for the players there is some heavy padding wrapped around the bottom of each of them. The permanent grey bleachers run five high on each side. There are some quaint little rectangular windows above them letting in natural light. There isn't a lot of seating here, but the small inset sections definitely make an impression. Finally, the original hardwood floor has been stained a slightly darker brown color that seems to fit the era in which it was formed. It runs a little short in both length and width, but that only adds to the old school charm of the place.
On my way out of Stendal I stopped and took a few pictures of some of the old buildings that are still standing around town. Some are in better shape than others, but all serve as a reminder that while time always marches on, we should never forget where our roots run deep. Visiting the gym today made it easy to imagine what it would have been like to come watch the Aces take on the Eskimos, Millers, Cardinals, or any other Pike County rival on a Friday night. I thought about how much of an undertaking it would have been for the community to turn an old airplane hangar into a gymnasium in which everyone could gather, and how proud they must have been when it was complete. I thought about the thrill it must have been to travel all over southern Indiana as road warriors because they didn't have a gym to call their own, and silencing opposing crowds as they won big games on their opponents courts. This place truly took me back. There may be better known gyms in the area, but I really hope people who love Indiana high school basketball like I do don't overlook Stendal. They have a hidden treasure down there, and one of the most unique histories to go along with it.
