Union (Modoc) (1,963) Built 1956
December 9, 2025: Elwood vs. Union (Modoc) (Boys)
December 9, 2025: Elwood vs. Union (Modoc) (Boys)
"I was born in a small town, and I live in a small town. Probably die in a small town, Oh, those small communities." If you don't know those lyrics, you probably aren't from Indiana, or the Midwest in general for that matter. They're sung by one of Indiana's most famous musicians, John Mellencamp. He's also one of the most divisive. I haven't met too many Hoosiers who feel indifferent about him. Most people either love him because his heartland rock is so relatable to people from this state, or they hate him because they feel his music is simple and played out (he's also a bit of a gruff character which hasn't helped his cause over the years). I fall firmly in the former camp (I was in his top 100 listeners in the world this year according to Spotify, a fact that wasn't nearly as impressive to my wife as it was to me). His songwriting embodies everything I love about our state and the values we hold. Small Town is one of his greatest hits, and one that feels almost a little too on the nose for what I've been feeling lately and want to write about today. Indianapolis, South Bend, Fort Wayne, Evansville, are where life and business in Indiana seem to be centered today, but they aren't the places our state was built on. Places liked Quincy, Tefft, Modoc, Pimento, and Scott are what formed the backbone of the Hoosier state for a long time. The majority of these small towns that John Mellencamp wrote about back in the 80s are long gone. Those that somehow managed to survive are now being threatened again in a way that not only feels unnecessary and harmful, but downright malicious.
A quick refresher for those of you who don't read this blog regularly. In 1959 the state legislature passed the Indiana School Reorganization Act. You can read a very detailed account of it HERE. Basically every county was told they need to find a way to combine resources, cut costs, and consolidate small schools. A few counties had already started this on their own in the 50s, but the vast majority tackled it in the 60s and a few waited until the 70s. Most small towns that had schools with less than 100 students lost their high schools. The end result was astonishing. When Milan shocked the world and won their state championship in 1954, there were nearly 900 schools in the state tournament. By the time disco fever had infected the nation's youth, that number was down to about 400. The impact on the small towns in Indiana was devastating. With no local schools to keep families anchored in these towns, people migrated torwards bigger cities for jobs and community. Over time local businesses and community functions would dry up as well. Whenever I go to old gyms and talk to people who lived through it, the same refrain is heard: "When we lost the school, we lost the town." I've been reading a series of books written by the late Hoosier author Wendell Trogdon who spent much of his life traveling across the state talking to people in these lost Indiana villages. It was heartbreaking to read the stories of the decay of these places that people called home for generations. Most of it was driven by one legislative decision, and for what?
I grew up with and still try to carry what I would consider to be old school morals and values. I believe in living within your means and being a good steward of what God has given you. Being judicious with finances is important. I also believe that part of being judicious in this way means financing things that are important. You probably won't find this shocking, but as a teacher, I believe that investing in our youth is important! I also believe that when we continue to lose these tight-knit communities, we lose touch with where we've come from. We lose sight of the values that are supposed to be at the core of who we are. These towns, and in many cases these schools, are touchstones that keep us grounded. So yes, I do believe it is worth investing in them. There are more reasons like transportation, class sizes, etc, that show why small town schools are beneficial, but I don't want to turn this into more of a diatribe than it already is. With that being said, the reason I've written three paragraphs already without even mentioning a basketball gym, is because the school and community I visited recently is being attacked in a way we haven't seen since the 60s. The current state legislature is trying to shut down Union High School in Modoc for reasons that are self serving and unnecessary. They are also doing it in a very underhanded way that doesn't involve the members of the community it will be impacting whatsoever. You can read more about the whole thing in detail HERE. At the end of the day, another small town may lose their school, and in doing so their identity. All because of a desire to save money (and potentially make certain others more money), where frankly, it doesn't need to be saved. The cost of closing Union High School will greatly outweigh any perceived marginal benefits, but when the people making the decisions aren't personally impacted by them, they don't seem to care.
The reality of all of this has been weighly heavily on me recently, and it drove me to make the trip out to Union High School to hopefully get a better sense of the community in person and check out a gym that I've wanted to see for a long time. I first remember hearing about the Union Rockets when reading Dale Lawrence's Hoosier Hysteria Roadbook where he discussed a delightful pregame routine that involved a moonwalking mascot in an actual spacesuit that was inexplicably signed by Michael Jordan. This obviously piqued my interest, and when I looked up pictures of the gym, it reminded me of places like Daleville and Eminence in the best way. While the mysterious pregame routine seems to have been lost to the sands of time (if anyone knows anything about the story behind that spacesuit, please reach out!), there is still plenty of evidence of the history and tradition of the school. You have to do a little detective work to find the concession stand here, but on your way you'll find a couple pictures of past Union teams that have brought home some hardware for both the boys and girls programs. The boys main claim to fame was a 1970 single class sectional title to go along with two more during the class era. The girls also have two class era sectional championships of their own. My favorite thing I found though (other than a sweet Union Rockets hat) was a quilt featuring the four schools that came together to form Union in 1952. That's right, Union itself was a product of one of the first true consolidations the state saw, seven years before the foreboding law was passed. Blountsville, Losantville, Huntsville, and Modoc all came together to form a new, but still pretty small school. It's a beautiful quilt, and very unique way to display that heritage.
Believe it or not, this is still a blog about a high school basketball gym, so I should probably start talking about it. As I said earlier, the setup here reminds me of other 50s gyms like Daleville, Eminence, and even Cowan a little. There is about 10 feet of space between the sidelines and a short five foot wall on both sides. On one side of the floor that space is just empty, and on the other side there are rows of seats for the teams and the scorer's table with a little room left behind. Above the wall on both sides are 11 rows of permanent wood bleachers sitting on little risers anchored into cement. The tops are painted blue and the edges are painted yellow which creates a very sharp and bright contrast that is evident throughout the whole gym, and for the most part works pretty well. You cannot accuse this place of being lacking in color. The upper walls here are bare except for a few large rectangular windows that have been covered up in some way.
The one thing that this gym is missing that the others mentioned earlier all have is a stage. I'm a little surprised that a school this size from this era didn't include one. The baseline wall opposite the main entrance where you would kind of expect it to be is blank except for a couple advertising screens and a flashy mat across the bottom that screams "Let's Get Rowdy" at you. The exit that is in the far corner here features some old school doors that are worth pointing out because they've been painted Union Rocket blue and yellow in a creative way that looks really neat. The opposite baseline wall has a little bit more going on. As far as I know, Union is still a part of the Mid-Eastern Conference. I couldn't find any signage acknowledging that (which maybe means they aren't anymore? I'm not sure). What I did find was a large vinyl display recognizing the five Randolph County schools, which was a first for me. On both ends of this wall are athletic accomplishment banners for both boys and girls sports. They're made of older vinyl which at least gives them a little more character than the newer generic kind you see everywhere else these days. They also have banners honoring 1,000 point scorers in the school's history which are always appreciated. The floor design here isn't my favorite, but it doesn't look bad. It's very modern with the greyish hue used on most of the hardwood except for inside the three point lines which is a more standard light tan, and the foul lanes which are blue. A very modern font is used along the baselines for "Rockets" and "Union" at centercourt. The one thing it really has going for it is the absurdly wonderful Rocket logo, which looks like a bodybuilding banana shaking a weapon with one hand and a fist in the other with smoke coming out of its rear. You'll have to look at it for yourself and decide what you think, but I love it. My only real disappointment with the gym overall is that there used to be a really sweet old mural of a rocket taking off that my friend Ted told me about and I found an old grainy picture of. You know how I feel about painting over old murals. It's sad.
The crowd on the night I came was fairly sparse. It was a Tuesday and they were playing a school an hour away, so that's not surprising. There were still a lot of local fans who were loud and proud. It was obvious that they care about Rocket basketball. Even with everything going on, it still matters. As far as I can tell, Union is the third smallest true public school left in the state, only Cannelton and Medora are smaller. While Union is being targeted for reasons that go beyond just school size, I can't help but think that if the state has their way, it won't be long before other tiny local schools are attacked as well. One thing that has always struck me when researching the consolidation era of the 60s is that for whatever reason, a handful of tiny schools managed to hang on and avoid it like the few mentioned here. The state highly suggested consolidation, but they didn't do it forcibly. They left it up to local leadership. This is the opposite of what is happening today. This blog has never been political, and that's the last thing I ever want it to become. This post is not meant to be that at all, as I know people on both sides of the aisle who vehemently oppose what is happening here with Union. I just hope people realize what we are losing when we treat small towns like they don't matter. What message are we conveying to our kids when we make it clear that saving a few dollars (or funneling them to places in our interests) is more important than investing in their future? This kind of stuff just hurts me in ways that go beyond my typical nostalgia for the ways things used to be, it's affecting the here and now. The worst part is that it doesn't feel like the end of something, it feels like the beginning of something ominous. If we're not careful, there won't be any small towns left for Johnny Cougar to sing about in the state he still calls home to this day.
