Triton Central (2,500) Built 1962
June 18, 2024: Anderson vs. Triton Central (Girls)
June 18, 2024: Anderson vs. Triton Central (Girls)
My summer reading list has primarily just been a 600 page bonanza of Indiana basketball history. Emerson Houck's book Hoosiers All is a boon for nerds like me who love to get in the minutiae of every school's history and traditions, both past and present. It specifically focuses on the names of each school, their mascots, and how they came to be. This was at the forefront of my mind as I walked into Triton Central and saw three beautiful banners honoring the past schools that came together to form Triton Central in 1958. The Boggstown Panthers, Fairland Hornets, and Moral Hawks (who knew there was such a pious fowl?) all had their own unique colors, heritage, and basketball teams that their communities were proud of. Tiny Fairland even had an undefeated regular season in 1948! They then joined forces to form a new school which has had a good amount of success on the hardwood (especially on the girls side) itself over the last 65 years. That's not a small period of time, and they've made the most of it.
Triton Central has a typical-sized multipurpose gym that feels like it was built a bit later than it actually was. It's been around for over 60 years of Tiger basketball. There are single sections of retractable bleachers along each sideline going up about 15 or so rows. They replaced the wooden bleachers a few years ago, but at least they chose one of the most vibrant green colors possible when putting the new plastic ones in. I actually like how it looks. The space inbetween the stair sections isn't egregious either which helps. The side that houses the team benches has a completely bare, white wall across the top which doesn't match the rest of the wall space in the gym which we will touch on in a minute. This side also only had a white folding table for a scorer's table. I was here for a summer league game, so I sure hope they have a proper's scorer's table during the regular season because it looked like a pretty trashy setup. The opposing upper wall has some clean and clear conference team displays. This is the first gym I've been to in the Indiana Crossroads Conference.
Looking down on the hardwood floor, it definitely was redone very recently. It's one of the most modern designs I've seen, and I think I like it overall. It has the two-tone, heathered, matte finish across the majority of it, similar to the new Barr-Reeve floor. Inside the wings of the three-point line there is a much darker brown hue, and green inside the foul lane. There's a silver and black tiger head at center court with green eyes. The border around the whole court has a white section on each side at midcourt, then has black going around one side of the court and green on the other. There is A LOT going on here, but it works. I like that they took a risk and did something different. That's something a lot of AD's are too scared to do these days.
The opposing wall when you walk into this gym is what grabs your eye immediately. Much like the floor design, there is a lot going on. The bottom of it has a neat row of typical athletic accomplishment banners in the same sharp green as the bleachers. Above that are two rows of giant framed pictures honoring past postseason winners in a multitude of sports. I'm always torn about putting these in the gyms themselves instead of hallways. It makes it really hard to actually see the sport and athletes unless you stand right under them and crane your neck up awkwardly, but having them all up there looks really cool from a distance. I'm going to count it as a positive. It gives off the same vibe that you get at Tippy Valley. At the top of the wall you'll find the very cool banners honoring the preconsolidation schools. They're really well done, and showing the years active is the cherry on top. In the corner of this wall are some individual displays honoring past coaches and Indiana All-Stars. The baseline wall above the entrance is pretty full itself. In the middle is a very modern looking mural of a tiger prowling in a green and black jungle with :"Triton Central Tigers" painted above and below it. Scattered across the rest of it are a ton of displays posting various school records in almost every single sport. I've never seen anything quite like it anywhere else and it's an awesome addition. There are also 4 rows of matching bleachers along each baseline wall.
I wasn't expecting a ton out of Triton Central's gym. It's not a place I was very familiar with before doing a little research, and from what I saw it didn't seem like anything to write home about. Modern revamps are usually not a net positive when it comes to high school gyms. I actually think they did about as good of a job here as you can expect, especially in a place that does not have a lot of character to begin with despite it's relative old age. The baseline walls do an incredible job tieing in the past with the shiny new additions in the bleachers and on the court. It isn't big, it isn't grand, but it's something I think everyone in the community can be proud of whether they're a panther, hornet, or hawk at heart. The eye of the tiger is present here in all.
