How Old Is Your Gym?

[*67]

I do recall it.

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

Delphos Jefferson and Vanlue play their varsity games on stages, if that counts?

 

[Thavoice]

Delphos Jefferson and Vanlue play their varsity games on stages, if that counts?

Dont think either were the ones I am thinking of.
Are they like in an auditorium I presume? Seems crazy varsity teams still do it.

 

[Thavoice]

Speaking of older gyms.

A number of Ohio schools have been playing at the Hooser Gym in Indiana, where Hoosiers was filmed. Was there a few weeks ago, pretty cool place! Local teams played on it this weekend and watched it on TV>

 

[Mr. Slippery]

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.

Additional research indicates that it is indeed the Stewart HS that eventually became part of Federal Hocking. Stewart HS won the Southeastern Class B District title by defeating Wheelersburg.

Back up in the NE, I can tell you that like Mahoning, the top 3 teams from the Stark Class B tournament qualified to compete in the NE District held at Kent (not 100% sure, but think it was held at Kent State University). North Canton won the Stark Class B tourney held at the Canton YMCA, Waco was runner-up, and Beach City was the consolation winner over North Industry (the Stark Board of Education eventually spearheaded a shotgun marriage of the Beach City Pirates, Brewster Railroaders, and Navarre Rams to create the Fairless Falcons).

 

[ru4ml]

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.

Yep I played in the Pit.....Had that stage like Marion where the students were and was packed and rowdy.....
Someone mentioned Mendon - Union old gym, that was a dilly..... I remember playing in there and the over and back line
was back by the opposing teams foul line.....That was before the 3 point line came into play as that line probably could not have been used
because would probably have been out of bounds on the side.....Celina I C gym was tiny also. Sidney Holy Angels seemed to
have a small gym as well. McBroom was a bigger old gym , liked the standing area behind the bleachers on east side...
Oh those were the days........Forgot Wapak St. Joe was small too....

 

[Thavoice]

Yep I played in the Pit.....Had that stage like Marion where the students were and was packed and rowdy.....
Someone mentioned Mendon - Union old gym, that was a dilly..... I remember playing in there and the over and back line
was back by the opposing teams foul line.....That was before the 3 point line came into play as that line probably could not have been used
because would probably have been out of bounds on the side.....Celina I C gym was tiny also. Sidney Holy Angels seemed to
have a small gym as well. McBroom was a bigger old gym , liked the standing area behind the bleachers on east side...
Oh those were the days........Forgot Wapak St. Joe was small too....

Been to Mendon Onion a time or two. I wanna say in the corner the 3 point line was non existant, or there was like a few inches where you would have to stand on your tip toes.

Wapak St Joe...wanna say we had to change in a classsrom as they didnt have locker rooms?

 

[BigK72]

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.

I found a few on Facebook. I used to love that gym; though I never played basketball. I just liked how the seating was split at midcourt instead of sideline vs sideline how you see in a lot of places now. That whole school was great

 

[ysuindy]

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.

Thanks for the research on the Fitch 1931 state championship. I knew they had won but I never knew that they twice lost to Newton Falls on the way.

I spent many a day at YSU way way back in the Dom and Duzzer days across the street in the basement of the Youngstown library looking at microfilm for Poland football, basketball and track results. I was quite surprised the first time I realized that everywhere along the way in Class B that multiple teams advanced to the next round. County to Sectional to District to State. I think there may have been one season in World War II where only winners advanced, but I may be mistaken. Maybe I can dig in to that some time (Google News Archive is great)

I was never in any of the gyms at McDonald. They hosted that Sectional for many years. Was it case of being centrally located? How big was the gym and how long did McDonald play in it?

Having lived in Indiana for 25 years now I appreciate older gyms and unique gyms much more that I did back in the day in the Valley. I always liked the older gyms like East Palestine, South Range and Columbiana and the old gyms at Poland, Fitch, Springfield and Boardman, but I never sought them out. I wish I had. I never made it to a game at Lowellville, Sebring or Wellsville - among the places I wish I went.

I know a lot of schools have built new gyms since I moved. I'm sure they are much more useful for the schools and are nice places to visit, but I'm guessing most of them lack character and personality.

Thanks for the trip down memory lane.

 

[DDoubleG]

I found a few on Facebook. I used to love that gym; though I never played basketball. I just liked how the seating was split at midcourt instead of sideline vs sideline how you see in a lot of places now. That whole school was great

Those are much newer pictures then when I played. I have been looking for a panoramic picture of it in the early 80s

 

[The Dock]

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.

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.

In ‘30, St. Mary’s won the “B” title over Rome HS (today consolidated into Fairland, deep southern Ohio) 34-3(!) In ‘31 state title game, they were up 22-14 heading into the fourth quarter only for Fitch to shut them out 8-0 to force OT.

My favorite fun fact is they beat Toledo Whitmer in the quarterfinals at “The Barn” in ‘31. Imagine that… 90 years later, Whitmer is one of the largest high schools in Ohio and Fisher Cath is one of the smallest. I’m sure those widening disparities as time grew on became apparent by the 70’s or 80’s, LOL.

 

[BigK72]

Those are much newer pictures then when I played. I have been looking for a panoramic picture of it in the early 80s

Yeah those were from when the building was getting ready to be torn down.