Hoosier Hysteria: Basketball, Gymnasiums

and Community in the State of Indiana

Adam Julian

English Teaching Resource Center

Chisinau, Moldova

6/03/2012

Dr. James Naismith, inventor of Basketball.

The State of Indiana

• Located in the Mid-West of the U.S.A.

• Economy primarily based on agriculture (corn and soybean) with some coal mining in the southern part of the state.

• Population of over 6.5 million.

• 1.8 million reside in Indianapolis.

• The rest of the population live in rural communities throughout the state.

The History of Basketball

• Invented by Dr. James Naismith in Springfield Massachusetts in December of 1891 at Springfield College.

Naismith Wanted to:• Create a game that could be played

indoors during winter.• Create a game that could be played

with minimal physical contact so as to avoid injury.

• Create a game that didn’t require much space to play.

An early example of a “peach basket.”

Basketball in Indiana• The first game of basketball

outside of Massachusetts was played in Crawfordsville, IN on March 16th 1894.

• Basketball immediately became popular in Indiana and every community began to field their own team.

• The hometown team became a source of pride for each community as they competed against their neighbors.

Why did basketball become so popular in Indiana?

• Agricultural Economy and Growing Season

• Population Distribution

• Community Pride

• Lack of Other Entertainment Options?

• Zydeco Culture?

The Gymnasium-Building Boom

Knightstown, IN. Constructed 1921

• The embodiment of Indiana’s love of basketball is best represented by its gymnasiums.

• As each town’s team became a symbol of pride for the community so too did the gymnasiums in which they played.

• Every community began to build gymnasiums that were bigger and better than their neighbors’ and rivals’.

Types of Indiana Gymnasiums• Indiana is home to 15 of the 16

largest high school basketball gymnasiums in the world.

The largest is the New Castle Field House in New Castle, IN which has a seating capacity of 9,300 even though the population of the town is only 18,000.

New Castle, IN. Constructed in 1959

Gymnasium Architectural Styles

Gymnasiums in Indiana are dominated by 4 distinct styles:

• Crackerbox or Bandbox Style

• Sunken-gym Style

• Fieldhouse Style

• Multi-use Style

Orleans, IN. A good example of a small gym done in the Sunken-gym style.Built in 1957, capacity 2500.

Multi-use Style

• Designed to be used as a location for all sports, not just basketball.

• These types of gymnasiums save schools money because of the various needs they fulfill.

• The most common type of gymnasium built today.

• Popular from the mid-80’s to present.

Plan Your Own Gymnasium

• If you had to design a gymnasium for your school what type of gymnasium would you build and why?

• What design elements would you choose to represent your school?

• What colors would you choose and what about those colors represent your school or community?

• What would you choose as your school’s mascot or logo and why?

Scattegories!• A game designed to increase active vocabulary. • Split your students into teams of 3-5 students.• Give them a set amount of time to complete the answers. More time

for less advanced students. Less time for more advanced students. • Select a letter. Certain letters such as Z, J, V and Q will be more difficult. • The students must then find an answer to every question that begins

with the letter you select. • No proper nouns are allowed as answers. i.e. Chisinau can not be an

answer for “Things you find in Moldova that you don’t find in America.”• Have each them read their answers aloud. If any two teams have the

same answer no points are awarded for that answer.• After a set number of rounds (or letters) the team with the most points

wins.