Swayzee (1,600) Built 1955
February 21, 2025: Elwood vs. Oak Hill (Boys)
February 21, 2025: Elwood vs. Oak Hill (Boys)
I first heard about throwback games a couple years ago when I saw my old NECC nemesis Eastside advertise that they were having one in their old gym. I didn't even know Eastside had an old gym growing up (it turns out it is one of the most beautiful in existence), and the idea of watching an actual varsity game in an old gym instantly piqued my curiosity. What an incredible way to honor the history and traditions of current schools and the ones that existed before consolidation. I did a little research, and the earliest accounts I could find of throwback games were in Peru and Brazil about 20-30 years. It doesn't seem like they were regular occurrences though, and they didn't really seem to catch on other places. This has changed over the last decade. Places like Eastside, Jasper, Crawfordsville, and others started hosting them a little more frequently, and they became a hit. They're the best possible way to drum up some old school nostalgia and school spirit in communities that haven't felt that way in quite some time. Sometimes the schools will even wear old uniforms and honor teams from the past. Now it seems like every school with an old gym capable of hosting a decent crowd is hosting throwback games, even in some places that are so small I can't believe they're trying it out. Holland and Wolf Lake even participated in the trend this year! I applaud the gumption, we cannot have enough of them. They are such a special event for the towns that take the initiative to put them on. While I cheered on all these efforts from afar, I never had the chance to attend one myself until the past weekend. The town of Swayzee, which can boast not only of having participated in the game with the most overtimes ever (nine), having an incredible team nickname (the Speedkings), and maintaining a fabulous old barn of a gym, hosted a lovely throwback game against Elwood. It was everything I imagined these games would be like in person and more.
The old gym at Swayzee has truly stood the test of time. It started out as the home of the Speedkings which lasted until 1965 when the school consolidated with Sweetser and Converse to form Oak Hill. It actually held varsity games for Eastern High School for one year after that as well when its home gym was destroyed by a tornado. Since then it has served proudly as the gym for Swayzee Elementary. It's not uncommon for old high school gyms to be turned over to elementary or middle schools, and it honestly saves most of them from a much worse fate that befalls many old gyms. To say the Swayzee gym is overqualified to merely host elementary gym classes is an understatement. This gym was built to host big time basketball games, which is why the occasional throwback game here is extra special. My whole family came out for the game, and I luckily had a local friend in Jeremiah Munsell to show me around and point out little details I might not have noticed on my own, along with what has changed slightly over the years. The good news is that the heart of the place hasn't changed much at all. The biggest modification is one that is unfortunate but was also unavoidable.
A couple of years ago, a tornado ripped through Grant County and tore part of the roof of the gym off. During the storm, the old floor suffered a lot of water damage. Luckily the main structure of the gym was spared, and repairs to the floor and roof were possible. Swayzee's gym wasn't the first old gym floor that needed to be replaced due to water damage, and it certainly won't be the last. What made it particularly devastating here was that the old floor was one of the only in the state that utilized a herringbone parquet design. It was truly distinctive and beautiful. Look up some old pictures of the gym, it's mesmerizing. The school board thankfully did their due diligence and found a way to not only replace the floor, but to incorporate herringbone into the new design as well. That's the kind of thing people who truly care about their heritage do. Most schools would have simply slapped down the cheapest replacement floor they could come up with. The people of Oak Hill and Swayzee in particular went the extra mile to ensure they paid homage to their past. I have so much respect for that. They actually utilized the throwback game as an opportunity to dedicate the new floor which was cool to witness. A ceremony for a gym floor may seem silly to outsiders, but to people who love Indiana basketball, it makes all the sense in the world.
The only very small quibble I have with the new gym floor is that they went with a very modern paint job that is exclusively centered around Oak Hill. The Golden Eagle logo sits at center court. "Golden Eagles" is written in big navy blue letters along the inside of the sidelines and "Oak Hill" is written in transparent letters against a navy blue background across the baselines. It is very modern, and honestly if it was used as the home court design at Oak Hill, I would really like it. The problem is that this isn't Oak Hill's home gym, this is the rightful home of the Swayzee Speedkings. With a brand new court design, they had a chance to do something really retro and cool that would reflect that. It's not bad by any means, it just feels like a missed opportunity. On to everything else now, which is essentially all positive. The defining feature of the gym is the curved wooden beams that start at the floor, run up the walls, and span the length of the ceiling. It harkens back to Pleasantville and a few other gyms like it. It gives the whole place a churchy feel. It's beautiful. The beams also drew my eye upwards to the very top of the sideline walls which are also made of wood and stained a rich mahogany color. Little rectangular windows line this section and give it even more character, which the whole place is already dripping of.
The seating in the gym consists of two short levels. There are 6 rows of navy blue plastic retractable bleachers along each lower sideline. Jeremiah informed me that they used to be the old wooden kind with see-through slats that you had to manually push in and out by hand. That sounds like a lot of work to maintain, but I wish they would've found a way to keep them. Each lower sideline section is split in two with a door in the middle leading to the areas beneath the upper levels. The new bleachers look a little out of place because they clash in color with the gorgeous light blue permanent wooden bleachers that sit above them. Each upper sideline section has about 10 rows of these beauties. They span from wall to wall. On one baseline side they are accessed from inside the gym by tight staircases that lead down to the older locker rooms. On the other ends are straight staircases that lead down into the exterior hallway. On the ends by the old locker rooms, there are a couple of landing areas that are either empty or provide access to the big HVAC system. In between those landings along the baseline is a short, squat stage. The stage is built out into the gym instead of flush with the exterior wall which you don't see to often. It's painted navy blue along the bottom, white in the middle, and light blue across the top. On this night it was used as the press row. Hanging in the corner of the gym is the original scoreboard that was used during the famous nine overtime game at the old Marion Coliseum in 1964. It's permanently set to the final score of that game against Liberty Center which is really cool. The opposing baseline wall is pretty bare, but with all the exposed dark wood I don't even care. It looks great. Right outside the doors to the gym you can find a mural of a Garfield Speedking, which if you're from Grant County makes perfect sense. There are also some neat little white picket fence gates that can be used to block the entrance to the upper level of the gym during school hours.
Not only were they dedicating the new gym floor on this night, but they were also honoring the legendary 1964 team. Many of the surviving members of that team and their family were in attendance. It was really cool to see that in person. The team is probably best known now for playing in that nine overtime game, but back in the day I'm guessing they were remembered even more for winning the school's only sectional that year. There are plenty of David and Goliath stories from the golden age of Hoosier Hysteria with small schools upsetting the big city team from the county seat in sectionals, but nowhere was this more difficult to pull off than in the Marion sectional. Maybe only Kokomo dominated their own sectional historically more than Marion. Pulling off that feat was truly a once in a lifetime type of accomplishment. To see it recognized in the same gym where that team captured the hearts of their community over the course of that season 60 years ago is something I'll never forget. I can only imagine how much it meant to the people in attendance who are actually from this community. Oak Hill has sustained a very strong following for their basketball teams over the last 30 years when it has waned in so many other places. It's easy to see why. They care about the lineage of their basketball programs and what makes them special. They refuse to let the spirit that was sparked so many years ago die out. That in itself is worth recognizing.
