Wood Memorial (3,600) Built 1969
January 24, 2025: Barr-Reeve vs. Wood Memorial (Boys)
January 24, 2025: Barr-Reeve vs. Wood Memorial (Boys)
The first southern Indiana basketball game I went to was around 2011 or 2012 to watch the Buggy Bowl at the old Barr-Reeve gym. Over the course of the previous few years I had made a lot of new friends at Bible Memory Camp who were all from Daviess County, and we went down to see them and take in one of the most famous rivalry games in the state. Other than the insane environment of the crowd, I remember one random thing that stuck with me was that Barr-Reeve played in the Blue Chip Conference. I couldn't make sense of the name. The first thing that came to my naive young mind was poker. Surely they wouldn't name a high school sports conference after something related to gambling, would they? That didn't make any sense. Later on in the night I realized it probably had something to do with "blue chip" prospects or talent. I kind of thought that was also a little odd considering the conference is made up of some of the smallest schools in the entire state, and the idea of "blue chip" players usually is associated with big names that come from big schools that go on to play at big colleges. Thinking about it now from a much older and hopefully more thoughtful and mature perspective, it still doesn't seem to fit in some ways, but in others it does.. At least in boys basketball, the competition level across the conference hasn't exactly been stellar. Barr-Reeve, and to a lesser extent Loogootee, have run roughshod over everyone else for the better part of 4 decades. Those two programs are some of most historic (Loogotee) and successful (Barr-Reeve) we have in the entire state though, and they are "blue chip" in every sense of the term.
The newest member of the Blue Chip conference, who joined in 2001, just happens to be the school I visited while making my annual trip south this last weekend. Wood Memorial was formed in the late-60s as a consolidation of Oakland City, Mackey, and Francisco (though some people will say Oakland City "absorbed" the other two schools, as they were officially known as Oakland City Wood before the name of the combined schools was changed to Wood Memorial). Whatever the case may be, the new school was built, and with it an unassuming but unique gymnasium. Out in the lobby of the gym you can find pictures of past sectional winning teams at the now shuttered schools. Unfortunately, as far as I know none of the schools' gyms have survived. I haven't been able to find any trace of them online to even look at pictures. Like so many from that era, they've been lost to the sands of time. While it's always sad to lose those pieces of tradition and history, at least the gym they were replaced with does have some character to it, which isn't always the case.
For a school that is a consolidation of three others and is in a community with "city" in its name, you would think it would have a higher enrollment. Wood Memorial is still a 1A basketball school with about only 50 kids in a graduating class. You wouldn't know it from walking around its gym. Holding upwards of 3,000 people, at face value the setup isn't remarkable. There are two levels along each sideline with wooden retractable bleachers on both levels, 8 on the bottom and about 13 on the top. One key feature though sets it apart from any other gym I've been to. In between the two levels of retractable bleachers is a middle level of seating that is permanent. There are 6 rows of wooden benches bolted straight into the concrete risers. You can access them by walking up from the lower section or walking down from the upper level, they all connect. I have no clue why they did this, it doesn't seem to serve any functional purpose. All I know is that it is different and it is awesome. My only guess is that it has something to do with the locker rooms that are underneath the bleachers, but that's just speculation. The permanent section of wooden benches all have green lines painted on them to separate the individual seats and painted row letters on the concrete. It ages the gym even more in a good way.
One more quirk lies at the very top of the retractable bleachers. They don't quite pull the upper section all the way out so there are a couple extra feet of space for people to walk through between the levels. Generally I don't love this as it takes away one row of seating at the top. When I walked up there to check it out, I also found a little landing area about 4 feet wide between the wall and the last row of bleachers. It's cordoned off to presumably keep kids from running around up there. Again, I'm not sure why it exists, but I'm glad it does! On the wall up here you will also find little individual logos for each sport. There's no accomplishments or anything to go with them, they're just hanging out. More unusualness.
The upper levels of the gym are connected with a landing above one of the baselines but not the other which is unique. Along one side of that landing is a little press row for broadcasters and reporters. Watching from that baseline view gives a pretty good shot of the action below. Concession stand windows are tucked behind in the corners on this end as well. The wall above the landing is bare except for the brown and green stripe that makes its way across the whole gym. Below the landing along the wall at court level is a slight indentation with exits on both sides that lead to the locker rooms beneath the bleachers. It's very reminiscent of what you will find at Northwood. The opposite baseline wall is tall and proud and has a lot going on. In the middle of it is a conference team display with small banners for most of the schools, and a giant one for Wood Memorial right in the middle. The banners themselves look decent, but there are a couple conundrums. My first gripe is that the middle banner is made of completely different material than the others. My second gripe is that the name of the conference itself is nowhere to be found! How does that even happen? To the left of this are some big state championship displays in the shape of Indiana. To the further left and right are modern athletic accomplishment displays in the same hunter green color you find everywhere else. You can also find a couple of smaller signs underneath here honoring Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame members which is always nice to see. The hardwood is as simple as they come. A light color is almost everywhere except for some medium shades inside the wing areas. A simple green "W & M" sits at midcourt in a clever way that allows the letters to look correct no matter which side of the gym you're sitting on.
Wood Memorial has had a modest history of postseason success. They aren't typically mentioned when people discuss the prominent small school programs in the south. This doesn't mean they don't have a lot to be proud of, including their gym. The more I walked around the place and thought about it later when looking through pictures, the more I realized how distinctive it is. I just kept checking off little things I found that were a bit eccentric in one way or another. This is why this Hoosier Gym Journey is such a fun experience. I came down this weekend primarily to watch the Buggy Bowl on Saturday night. What I found on Friday night at Wood Memorial was just as exciting, and totally unexpected. That's the beauty in all of it, and this is a beauty of a gym.
