How Old Is Your Gym?

wildcat71 said:
Does anyone have pictures of the New Boston Glenwood gym I think? It was really small
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Glenwood New Boston old high school gym. It had a balcony the length of the floor that was above the benches and hung out over the sideline and had a part of a step n the corner going up to the balcony. I graduated from Glenwood and I attached a sports reporter newspaper article about covering one of r high school basketball games one night and his description is 100% accurate lol amazing place to play a game unless u was the visiting team lol
 

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ohiopup said:
For What It's Worth...

Back in the day when there were only 2 Classes (A & B): Youngstown South
Fieldhouse was the host for many Class A District games; sometimes shared
with Kent State's Gym or the Goodyear Gym (in Akron). McKinley advanced to
Columbus for the OHSAA final-16 many times thru Youngstown.

:>---

SALT
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Buckeye4-life said:
Glenwood New Boston old high school gym. It had a balcony the length of the floor that was above the benches and hung out over the sideline and had a part of a step n the corner going up to the balcony. I graduated from Glenwood and I attached a sports reporter newspaper article about covering one of r high school basketball games one night and his description is 100% accurate lol amazing place to play a game unless u was the visiting team lol
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It was a great place to play in. But it wasn't a great place to officiated in as you can imagine.
 
fantastic memories of growing up in the 60's and going with my father to the South Fieldhouse on Friday night's for the CITY SERIES tripleheaders.....you watched 3 games and unbelievably only cost 1 dollar !! I even remember the old ticket-taker at the door...a guy named HAROLD FRIED.....Also remember a jam packed fieldhouse in FEBRUARY of 1966 ,when RAYEN defeated CARDINAL MOONEY 55-50 to win the City championship.....Yes, back then URSULINE and MOONEY were both members of the CITY SERIES ,along with Rayen,South,East,North, Wilson and Chaney.....Back in those days, YOUNGSTOWN STATE UNIVERSITY also played their home games there.....I witnessed a game ,in which JOHN Mc ILROY scored 72 points vs. WAYNE STATE [ a record that most likely will never be broken }..I had the honor of playing there in the 70's,when we did pre-season previews and some doubleheaders.....The aroma of popcorn and marijuana is still inbeaded in my mind.....Other great gymnasiums that I played at were ALLIANCE HIGH SCHOOL, in the 70s when it was a brand new building ..Oddly, our benches were located underneath the baskets.instead of the traditional along the sidelines.....When you entered the game you literally had to scamper all the way to the half-court scorers table to check in ..A favorite venue for me ,though, was the CANTON FIELDHOUSE,where we were treated a couple times a year playing the likes of McKINLEY with PHIL HUBBARD and TIMKEN with MIKE MIDAY and MICHAEL ROBERTS.....Because the arena was bowl shaped with an upper deck ,it was the first time I actually shot foul shots ,in which I could see people looking back at me through the backboard glass [ lol ]..Another cool thing there was the fact that we played those games on television to a live audience ! I am thinking it was the old Channel 17 out of Canton.....In closing ,I still must agree with a couple others that the STRUTHERS FIELDHOUSE is the very best building to watch-play -coach or referee a basketball game [ and I have done all those things there }..Thanks so much for allowing me this venue to share some of my great lifetime memories !!
 
Benedictine has one of the older "modern" gyms in Ohio. Unique slanting roof with no exposed support beams, even with the added acoustic banners it amplifies the crowd noise and makes it very loud. The fans are right on top of the floor with no balcony or raised stands; players are in spectators laps quite a bit during play. For sold out games the standing room is right there next to the base line, gives that band box feel to the gym. How many gyms have windows let alone as many as this place has? Also the drive in through a highly urban area is intimidating and gives you that city experience. Rumor has it that the Walsh Jesuit parents complained to their Admin about the drive and how they didn't feel safe in the neighborhood; asked them to drop Benedictine from all events scheduled at the school location.

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James x2 said:
St. Joeseph AKA VASJ. The purple palace.....1950 . Originally nicknamed for the purple hue the lights gave off in the arena. Since renovated a few years back with brighter lighting. Tile floor that the visitors hate. View attachment 15203This picture shot from the upper deck behind the basket. Small and loud when full. Lots of history in this place though. Clark Kellogg #32 at midcourt.
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I actually don't mind the place except for the tile floor, actually I don't know any player that likes a tile floor. Channel also had one when they were open too and they took grief for it.

Back in the day old Cathedral Latin had an unique gym, one of those pit style places with a raised seating area but the spin was no seats or bleachers, just concrete steps you had to sit on. Also this huge stylized painting of a Lion that was on a baseline wall. One of a few things that they brought over to NDCL when they sold their name to SND's.
 
To add onto James x2’s post, here some before and after pics of VASJ’s Purple Palace/Viking Village. The first couple of pics were taken around 2012 and 2013, right before the Palace was renovated and after photos. Since these photos were taken, VASJ has removed the center hung scoreboard and replaced the wall scoreboards with new ones. And yes, the tile court is still in use. Nothing beats a Euclid/Iggy/Ed’s/Bene vs St.Joe’s games when this place is packed.
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When I first went to Ignatius the gym was state of the art. Unfortunately that was in 1961. The gym has been refurbished many time since, but I think the seat capacity has been severely cut back. Incidentally, the main school building on the campus was built in 1893 and is still going strong.
 
arizonawildcat said:
When I first went to Ignatius the gym was state of the art. Unfortunately that was in 1961. The gym has been refurbished many time since, but I think the seat capacity has been severely cut back. Incidentally, the main school building on the campus was built in 1893 and is still going strong.
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And Sullivan is still considered to be a tough place to play. I get what they were trying to do with the seat backs but honestly you fit more with actual bleachers
 
tom 48 said:
Ignatius' Sullivan Gym was built in 1953. Individual seating cut down capacity to 1,350.


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I'm going to bet new construction can't get away with aisles so far apart. Today, there would probably be one more up the middle. Re-hab over re-do everytime. And KEEP the wooden seats as I mentioned earlier in the thread. Generations have carved school history into those. Turn them into something memorable or just keep them for seating. Hate that plastic stuff. REALLY hate that aluminum stuff. My butt was made for wood. Ask most of my teachers.
 
Struthersfan said:
I love the classic old school gyms.
With all the new schools and their "cookie cutter" designs, they're not much to look at. With the exceptions of what Gilmore and Defiance have done.
I too am missing the Elmton pizza, need to get back there like yesterday. LaVilla also has great food.
Some great eating joints in Y'town. Always was. Hope none of them have folded due to the Rona.
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Didn't the old St. Joes gym have a tile floor that was slippery as mud?
 
Ignatius used to have an ancient gym where the intramurals were played, Carroll Gym. Only gym where I was ever able to touch the rim.
 
 
Have to imagine Carrol is a prime candidate to get knocked down if the school needs more space. The gym is hardly used for anything. There are a couple random classrooms upstairs and visitors locker rooms for sporting events at Wasmer, but I think that’s about it.
 
arizonawildcat said:
Didn't the old St. Joes gym have a tile floor that was slippery as mud?
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I can report the tile floor at St. Joe's is still the surface of The Purple Palace. Only Chanel had the other tile floor but since they've been closed, St. Joe's I believe is the only school with a tile playing surface.
 
 
eastisbest said:
I'm going to bet new construction can't get away with aisles so far apart. Today, there would probably be one more up the middle. Re-hab over re-do everytime. And KEEP the wooden seats as I mentioned earlier in the thread. Generations have carved school history into those. Turn them into something memorable or just keep them for seating. Hate that plastic stuff. REALLY hate that aluminum stuff. My butt was made for wood. Ask most of my teachers.
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New construction can’t get away with as many rows of bleachers. You’ll never see a new gym like Euclid or Medina with 30+ rows of bleachers. New regs don’t allow it!
 
ysuindy said:
Interesting - I had never researched the Class A tournament back in those days. South High Fieldhouse opened in December 1940. I'm not sure if there was another venue in Youngstown that could have hosted. The old Rayen gym seems like it would have been too small. The Mahoning County Class B tournament was played at Boardman until South Fieldhouse opened.

From looking at the 1957 version of the OHSAA record book, it looks like they went to the regional format for Class A in 1942 and Class B in 1943.

South High Fieldhouse appears to have hosted 11 regionals - with quite the Stark County representation in those games.

1942 Class A - Canton Lehman beat Warren Harding in final
1944 Class A - Canton Lehman beat Canton Timken
1944 Class B - Akron Ellet beat Bellaire St John
1948 Class A - Canton South beat Canton McKinley
1948 Class B - North Canton beat Midvale
1949 Class A - Niles beat Struthers
1950 Class A - Garfield Heights beat Youngstown Rayen
1950 Class B - Geneva beat Norton
1951 Class A - Canton McKinley beat Martins Ferry
1953 Class A - Girard beat Canton Timken
1954 Class B - Copley beat Columbiana

My apologies to Blue Jay Fan as we've kind of hijacked this thread for a Mahoning Valley history discussion :)
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Many, many years ago when I found out that Fitch won the 1931 "B" state championship I did a little research on their trip to the title. It's the only local hoops history I have ever researched and I had no idea how the tourney worked back then.

The Mahoning County "B" tourney was played at Rayen in 1931 and Fitch beat Sebring in the final. North Jackson beat Springfield Local in the consolation game, which I didn't even know was a thing, and all three of those teams qualified for the sectional which was played at McDonald. Scienceville, being an exempted village at the time was eligible without playing in the county tourney and joined Fitch, Sebring & N. Jackson.

I think there were 13 teams playing in the sectional at McDonald, two from Ashtabula county. At McDonald, Fitch beat Howland, McDonald and Scienceville and then lost to Newton Falls in the final. Again, I had no idea that a losing team could continue on in the tourney. It seems even if a team lost in the final they were eligible for the next step, which in 1931 was the NEO region at Kent. I think it was played at Kent St. high but the articles I found never really said where the games were played.

At Kent, Fitch beat Waco, a school I had never heard of but they came out of the Canton district and I guess it was located somewhere between Canton & E. Canton. I'm sure ohiopup would know. Fitch then defeated Garrettsville & Brush in the semi before losing to Newton Falls in the final again. Again, even though they lost they were eligible for the state tourney in Columbus. They took 8 teams to "state" then.

In Columbus Fitch beat Stewart, another school I had never heard of, while Newton Falls beat W. Milton. Fitch then defeated McConnelsville while Newton Falls lost to Lancaster St. Mary's, the defending "B" state champion, 18-4! In the final Fitch defeated St. Mary's 26-24 in (2OT). It may have been fortuitous that Fitch did not have to play Newton Falls again for the title.

I also agree about Struthers Fieldhouse as a great place to watch hoops.

PS: I should probably add that the class "A" tourney took place in Warren in 1931. I wasn't really looking for Class "A" but some of the results were in the same pages as the Class "B" results. I believe Harding defeated Salem in the final and both the qualified for the regional in Akron. I think Canton McKinley and Akron West then came out of that region to the state tourney in Columbus.
 
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YTOWN said:
Many, many years ago when I found out that Fitch won the 1931 "B" state championship I did a little research on their trip to the title. It's the only local hoops history I have ever researched and I had no idea how the tourney worked back then.

The Mahoning County "B" tourney was played at Rayen in 1931 and Fitch beat Sebring in the final. North Jackson beat Springfield Local in the consolation game, which I didn't even know was a thing, and all three of those teams qualified for the sectional which was played at McDonald. Scienceville, being an exempted village at the time was eligible without playing in the county tourney and joined Fitch, Sebring & N. Jackson.

I think there were 13 teams playing in the sectional at McDonald, two from Ashtabula county. At McDonald, Fitch beat Howland, McDonald and Scienceville and then lost to Newton Falls in the final. Again, I had no idea that a losing team could continue on in the tourney. It seems if they lost in the final or won the consolation game after losing in the semis they were eligible for the next step, which in 1931 was the NEO region at Kent. I think it was played at Kent St. high but the articles I found never really said where the games were played.

At Kent, Fitch beat Waco, a school I had never heard of but they came out of the Canton district and I guess it was located somewhere between Canton & E. Canton. I'm sure ohiopup would know. Fitch then defeated Garrettsville & Brush in the semi before losing to Newton Falls in the final again. Again, even though they lost they were eligible for the state tourney in Columbus. They took 8 teams to "state" then.

In Columbus Fitch beat Stewart, another school I had never heard of, while Newton Falls beat W. Milton. Fitch then defeated McConnelsville while Newton Falls lost to Lancaster St. Mary's, the defending "B" state champion, 18-4! In the final Fitch defeated St. Mary's 26-24 in (2OT). It may have been fortuitous that Fitch did not have to play Newton Falls again for the title.

I also agree about Struthers Fieldhouse as a great place to watch hoops.
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You are correct in that Waco is a few miles SE of Canton on Rt. 43, possibly best known for the Smith’s Market convenience store at the main intersection. I had a HS teammate who lived there in an old school building. IIRC, Waco and North Industry (south of Canton on Rt. 800) eventually consolidated to form Canton Township HS. The name changed to Canton South in 1947.

Unless there’s another one, Stewart HS would be in SE Ohio (Athens County) and part of present-day Federal Hocking HS.
 
YTOWN said:
Many, many years ago when I found out that Fitch won the 1931 "B" state championship I did a little research on their trip to the title. It's the only local hoops history I have ever researched and I had no idea how the tourney worked back then.

The Mahoning County "B" tourney was played at Rayen in 1931 and Fitch beat Sebring in the final. North Jackson beat Springfield Local in the consolation game, which I didn't even know was a thing, and all three of those teams qualified for the sectional which was played at McDonald. Scienceville, being an exempted village at the time was eligible without playing in the county tourney and joined Fitch, Sebring & N. Jackson.

I think there were 13 teams playing in the sectional at McDonald, two from Ashtabula county. At McDonald, Fitch beat Howland, McDonald and Scienceville and then lost to Newton Falls in the final. Again, I had no idea that a losing team could continue on in the tourney. It seems if they lost in the final or won the consolation game after losing in the semis they were eligible for the next step, which in 1931 was the NEO region at Kent. I think it was played at Kent St. high but the articles I found never really said where the games were played.

At Kent, Fitch beat Waco, a school I had never heard of but they came out of the Canton district and I guess it was located somewhere between Canton & E. Canton. I'm sure ohiopup would know. Fitch then defeated Garrettsville & Brush in the semi before losing to Newton Falls in the final again. Again, even though they lost they were eligible for the state tourney in Columbus. They took 8 teams to "state" then.

In Columbus Fitch beat Stewart, another school I had never heard of, while Newton Falls beat W. Milton. Fitch then defeated McConnelsville while Newton Falls lost to Lancaster St. Mary's, the defending "B" state champion, 18-4! In the final Fitch defeated St. Mary's 26-24 in (2OT). It may have been fortuitous that Fitch did not have to play Newton Falls again for the title.

I also agree about Struthers Fieldhouse as a great place to watch hoops.
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Great information here.

Guess it kind of explaines how tonight in college football we will be watching a team that did not even win it's own conference play for a potential national title. Sometimes you lose but accomplish enough that you just may be able to say were number one in the state, but number two in our region and district.

Actually, I like the AAU like qualifying from those days. It offered teams another chance if it was simply a matchup problem. 18-4 indicates one team struggled in that matchup.
 
DDoubleG said:
One of the coolest places to play a HS game. My preference on the mid-west side of the state:
1. The Pit - Piqua, OH, it is still standing but I believe only used for youth basketball now
2. Celina Field House - Celina, OH, Above, still used today
3. The Vatican - Delphos St. Johns HS, Still used today
4. The Tub - Lima Bath HS, still used today
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Played in the first three if the Pit is what the gym Piqua Catholic played their home games was called. Remember getting dressed
down below seemed like under the court? Remember it being red,while, and blue.....The Field House was the big gym back in the
day and where we played sectionals and i think districts there also , but could be wrong as we, Marion Local, didn't reach the
regionals back then although we did have eventual state champ Ft. Recovery tied at 28 at halftime of the sectional finals in 71....
 
ru4ml said:
Played in the first three if the Pit is what the gym Piqua Catholic played their home games was called. Remember getting dressed
down below seemed like under the court? Remember it being red,while, and blue.....The Field House was the big gym back in the
day and where we played sectionals and i think districts there also , but could be wrong as we, Marion Local, didn't reach the
regionals back then although we did have eventual state champ Ft. Recovery tied at 28 at halftime of the sectional finals in 71....
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Your gym was pretty damned small too! Did you ever play in Coldwater's Pit?
Celina Fieldhouse was the area "Large Gym"! Most are always surprised to hear it only has.....9 rows, but it is is around 3/4 of the court so it holds a a good amount.
 
ru4ml said:
Played in the first three if the Pit is what the gym Piqua Catholic played their home games was called. Remember getting dressed
down below seemed like under the court? Remember it being red,while, and blue.....The Field House was the big gym back in the
day and where we played sectionals and i think districts there also , but could be wrong as we, Marion Local, didn't reach the
regionals back then although we did have eventual state champ Ft. Recovery tied at 28 at halftime of the sectional finals in 71....
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1641840411030.png


1641840431935.png

Piqua, HS old gym. Called Roosevelt gym, we called it the pit. Floor is lower than street level. Still up and used today for youth games
 
thavoice said:
Your gym was pretty damned small too! Did you ever play in Coldwater's Pit?
Celina Fieldhouse was the area "Large Gym"! Most are always surprised to hear it only has.....9 rows, but it is is around 3/4 of the court so it holds a a good amount.
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Then more than likely you would remember St. Marys McBroom Gym, which I felt had its own uniqueness. Even though our teams in the past were not that good, I still liked the gym. I cannot seem to find a picture anywhere of that gym.
 
Mr. Slippery said:
You are correct in that Waco is a few miles SE of Canton on Rt. 43, possibly best known for the Smith’s Market convenience store at the main intersection. I had a HS teammate who lived there in an old school building. IIRC, Waco and North Industry (south of Canton on Rt. 800) eventually consolidated to form Canton Township HS. The name changed to Canton South in 1947.

Unless there’s another one, Stewart HS would be in SE Ohio (Athens County) and part of present-day Federal Hocking HS.
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I would bet a little bit that Stewart is indeed part of Federal Hocking now. My first thought when I saw the name Waco was what the heck is a team from Texas doing playing in the Ohio basketball tourney. :) Thanks for the info on them.

D4fan said:
Great information here.

Guess it kind of explaines how tonight in college football we will be watching a team that did not even win it's own conference play for a potential national title. Sometimes you lose but accomplish enough that you just may be able to say were number one in the state, but number two in our region and district.

Actually, I like the AAU like qualifying from those days. It offered teams another chance if it was simply a matchup problem. 18-4 indicates one team struggled in that matchup.
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The SEC is just that much better than everybody else right now.
tiger76 said:
fantastic memories of growing up in the 60's and going with my father to the South Fieldhouse on Friday night's for the CITY SERIES tripleheaders.....you watched 3 games and unbelievably only cost 1 dollar !! I even remember the old ticket-taker at the door...a guy named HAROLD FRIED.....Also remember a jam packed fieldhouse in FEBRUARY of 1966 ,when RAYEN defeated CARDINAL MOONEY 55-50 to win the City championship.....Yes, back then URSULINE and MOONEY were both members of the CITY SERIES ,along with Rayen,South,East,North, Wilson and Chaney.....Back in those days, YOUNGSTOWN STATE UNIVERSITY also played their home games there.....I witnessed a game ,in which JOHN Mc ILROY scored 72 points vs. WAYNE STATE [ a record that most likely will never be broken }..I had the honor of playing there in the 70's,when we did pre-season previews and some doubleheaders.....The aroma of popcorn and marijuana is still inbeaded in my mind.....Other great gymnasiums that I played at were ALLIANCE HIGH SCHOOL, in the 70s when it was a brand new building ..Oddly, our benches were located underneath the baskets.instead of the traditional along the sidelines.....When you entered the game you literally had to scamper all the way to the half-court scorers table to check in ..A favorite venue for me ,though, was the CANTON FIELDHOUSE,where we were treated a couple times a year playing the likes of McKINLEY with PHIL HUBBARD and TIMKEN with MIKE MIDAY and MICHAEL ROBERTS.....Because the arena was bowl shaped with an upper deck ,it was the first time I actually shot foul shots ,in which I could see people looking back at me through the backboard glass [ lol ]..Another cool thing there was the fact that we played those games on television to a live audience ! I am thinking it was the old Channel 17 out of Canton.....In closing ,I still must agree with a couple others that the STRUTHERS FIELDHOUSE is the very best building to watch-play -coach or referee a basketball game [ and I have done all those things there }..Thanks so much for allowing me this venue to share some of my great lifetime memories !!
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You just brought back some memories for me too.

I also saw that Rayen-Mooney City Series championship game you mentioned. The thing I most remember is that #@$^ Dan Piluga of Rayen banking in about a 40-footer at the 3rd quarter buzzer to give Rayen a lead going into the 4th quarter. Joe Gromada was Mooney's best player. He followed Mooney's Fred Holden to Louisville where he was a captain of the freshman team but he transferred to Xavier and played there. Rayen had a very tall player @ center named Homer Warren who went on to play at Maryland I think it was.

What I most remember about seeing Mr. McElroy's 72 point game is that about 2 months before that Wayne St. game I saw him break Tony Knott's school record of 50 points in a game when he scored 52 against Illinois Wesleyan at Struthers Fieldhouse. I think they played at Struthers due to a teacher's strike in the City but I may be wrong on that.

Anyway, fast forward two months and at halftime of the Wayne St. game they gave him a trophy for his new record set against IW. I remember joking with my father that maybe they should hold up on that presentation because he had 34 or 35 points in the first half against Wayne. Sure enough he went on to shatter the mark they gave him the trophy for.

A lot of great memories of games there and at Struthers. I always enjoyed the Golden Gloves at Struthers too.
 
DDoubleG said:
Then more than likely you would remember St. Marys McBroom Gym, which I felt had its own uniqueness. Even though our teams in the past were not that good, I still liked the gym. I cannot seem to find a picture anywhere of that gym.
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I do recall it.

Some place in West Central Ohio played their JH games on a stage..forget where that was.
 
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