Anderson in the Fifties, Part Two

I was a basketball nut. We were all basketball nuts.

And there were two basketball shrines in Anderson.

Everyone knows about The Wigwam. It had a capacity for over 8,000 fans at a basketball game. It had so many sections that the corners were labelled XX and YY (well, actually the sections were A, B, C, AA, BB and the corner sections labelled XX and YY). There were actual basketball courts under the roll-back bleachers! And it rocked, even when it wasn't completely full!

Now it is ground central in the debate over how to restructure the diminishing school system. It's expensive to maintain. And it's not needed, since nobody... and I mean nobody... attends the games. Yet, do you really tear down a huge, functional building? Certainly, not a Dixon-like thing to do.

Even though I didn't attend Anderson High School, I loved to stroll the halls and scan the picture of past AHS athletic greats, including my uncle Don.

The other shrine is still there and probably underutilized... the YMCA. I survived my teen years because of the YMCA. Think about being a teen today without cell phone or texting capability. You could live, but life would be dull, right? We could play basketball in our driveways, but it wasn't like playing in the crackerbox YMCA gym with the wood floor. Where all ages came to play and only the winners stayed! Make the shot or take a seat ( or worse, go to the kids gym) until your turn came around again... maybe in 10 minutes, but maybe in an hour. Three on three... mano o mano... Indiana high school all-stars, college greats, future NBA'ers, farm boy hicks built like tanks, and 50 year lifers with a set-shot that was unbeatable. So cool. After three hours of basketball and a hot shower, the cold January day and cabin fever was manageable.

It's amazing how little has changed in the exterior (and interior) of these two shrines. Go today and you'll see the same exact thing that these pictures captured. The YMCA picture is from 1955. The Wigwam is from 1962, which may actually be the year it opened. The old Wigwam, also a pretty huge place, burned to the ground.