GREENFIELD — Tuesday marked the 64-year anniversary of the 1954 Indiana basketball state championships. Anyone who’s seen the movie, “Hoosiers,” is familiar with Milan High School’s legendary victory that inspired the film’s story, said historian Chandler Lighty.
But students of basketball history know that tale doesn’t hold a candle to the back-to-back championships of 1913-14 won by Wingate, a school with a student body of about 65.
Lighty, the director of the Indiana Historical Bureau, gave a presentation at the Hancock County Library on Tuesday about Indiana’s rich history with the sport of basketball. From its humble beginnings in the late 19th century to the modern day, Indiana basketball is intimately connected to the state’s history, Lighty said.
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Click here to purchase photos from this galleryThousands of people around the state think of basketball as more than a sport; it’s a crucial part of Hoosier heritage, Lighty said. Several researchers believe the first game of basketball was played at the Crawfordsville YMCA in 1894. Unprecedented popularity took the state by storm and exploded throughout the 20th century, Lighty said.
From a cultural standpoint, basketball played an essential role in developing the identity of several small communities across Indiana, Lighty said. Wingate makes a great example; today, the Montgomery County town has fewer than 300 residents, but right in town, a sign is proudly displayed celebrating their state championship victories that took place more than 100 years ago.
The sport has served as a vehicle for discriminated groups throughout Indiana history who had to overcome tremendous amounts of adversity, Lighty said. Such was the case when Crispus Attucks won the 1955 state championships, the first all-black team in state history to do so.
Lighty’s agency conducts ceremonies for the state’s historical marker program that often give people a fresh perspective, he said. Lighty said he remembers representing the historical bureau some years ago for a rededication ceremony put on by the NAACP for a marker honoring the first African-American basketball players in Monroe County.
The marker was rededicated after the original was damaged, with evidence of vandalism, Lighty said.
“I was sitting in the room listening to the stories of these African-American leaders in Bloomington, and that just struck a chord with me,” Lighty said. “I think we often know about (discrimination) factually, but hearing someone who’s actually experienced it really gets to you.”
Jeff Gielerak, a Greenfield local who attended Lighty’s presentation, said Hoosier hysteria culture is in his blood, having been raised in an IU basketball household. Gielerak grew up in Kokomo, and Memorial Gymnasium was packed to the rafters every Friday night, he said.
Gielerak said he was surprised to learn Rushville was the home of some of Indiana’s first basketball games. Gielerak also said he didn’t realize Rushville was the town that first coined the term, “March Madness,” describing high school basketball tournaments, a point Lighty addressed in his lesson. (Although historians debate the details regarding the term’s exact origin.)
Paul Gielerak, Jeff’s father, also enjoyed the presentation, noting how the story of Wingate’s consecutive victories in 1913-14 was an eye-opener for him. Paul Gielerak’s graduating class had 45 people, so hearing a story about a similarly-sized school dominating the Indiana High School championships is hard to wrap his mind around, he said.
“I’m surprised that it’s not mentioned more often in schools,” Paul Gielerak said. “They didn’t even have a gymnasium.”
Opportunities to learn and reflect upon the history of Hoosier hysteria help people come to realize the cultural significance of what some consider a mere sport, Lighty added.
“The lessons basketball teaches in some way connect nicely with our identities as Hoosiers,” Lighty said. “Self reliance, working hard, getting what we deserve. … I mean, you wonder why Hoosiers are a certain way. I think you can trace that back to basketball.”
