LOST GYMS: After 100 years, Sharpsville gym 'still a place to get together with the neighborhood'
This is the second of a 10-part series featuring some of Indiana high school basketball 's "Lost Gyms."
SHARPSVILLE, Ind. – Leon Baird's introduction to following high school basketball came at the perfect time. In 1955 and '56, a player named Oscar Robertson was capturing the imagination of basketball fans, setting a standard that has arguably never been reached again.
'At my house, it was church and work,' Baird said. 'But I got interested in basketball and some of the history and started following in 1955 and '56 when Crispus Attucks won the state.'
That is when basketball started nudging its way into the conversation with church and work for Baird, who was always more interested in playing the game than watching. Growing up in the Tipton County community of Sharpsville, there were plenty of fans — including the cheer block known as the Bulldog Barkers — ready to root on their high school team.
Need a break? Play the USA TODAY Daily Crossword Puzzle.
'The years I played, in my mind, the gym was always full,' said Baird, who graduated in 1963.
The Sharpsville gym, celebrating its 100 th anniversary this year, remains a beautiful reminder to the high school teams that once played here and remains a vibrant part of the community of 550 residents, hosting reunions, youth sports and community celebrations. The community park directly east of the gym sits on the grounds of the old Sharpsville school, which was torn down in 1987.
Prior to the construction of the gymnasium that was named O.H. Hughes Memorial Gymnasium after the school's first superintendent, Sharpsville played home basketball games above the J.G. Romack hardware store. One of the Sharpsville teams to play in the new gym, in 1926-27, won the first sectional championship in the school's history and proceeded to upset Noblesville and Tech to win the Anderson Regional in front of 5,000 fans, most of them cheering for the underdogs.
'When the news of Sharpsville's victory in the afternoon (over Noblesville) reached Tipton County, the little town of 700 inhabitants closed up shop and moved to Anderson,' the Anderson Herald reported. With the win over Tech, Sharpsville advanced to the 1927 state finals, which was then a 16-team tournament played at the Exposition Center at the state fairgrounds. The Bulldogs battled, but lost to powerful Muncie Central, which went on to fall to John Wooden and Martinsville in the championship.
The following year, in February of 1928, Sharpsville nearly lost its $15,000 gymnasium. A fire that started in the basement of the school destroyed the structure built in 1908. The Tipton Daily Tribune reported firemen from Tipton, Kokomo, Sharpsville and Kempton saved the gym 'after a stubborn battle.' The night before the fire, Sharpsville defeated visiting Frankton, 37-33.
Sharpsville won the sectional again in 1928, then waited 20 years before winning another. Jerry Fernung grew up in Kokomo in the 1950s, attending games at the massive Memorial Gymnasium built in 1949. But he also tagged along with his father, Andrew Fernung, the principal at Sharpsville to school.
'Anytime I had a break from school, I would come out with him,' Fernung said. 'When they were in class, I was in here shooting baskets.'
Fernung ended up coming to Sharpsville for high school. He joked it made him nervous at first to go to school with 'hick farmers.'
'The first day of school when I walked into school, they were so friendly and so nice,' he said. 'The just took me under their wing. I felt like I belonged. … I grew up coming out here to ballgames, so it was kind of like a homecoming. The student body just brought me in like I was one of them.'
The brick gym featured eight rows of wood bleachers on both sides of the floor and a stage on the south end. Long vertical windows on the north end allowed the sun to shine on to the wood floor during afternoon pickup games.
'When you took the floor before a game, a lot of times people were just standing around (the court),' Fernung said. 'They put chairs up on the stage. It was a full house with a lot of excitement.'
Gerald Manahan was the coach at Sharpsville starting in 1956. He stayed for eight years, compiling a record of 113-54, and doing it with a level of discipline Baird came to appreciate later in life. In his first season, when one of the Sharpsville standout players refused to run 100 laps for breaking a team rule, Manahan removed him from the team.
'He said when you run the laps, you can play,' Baird said. 'He never did. Manahan set the tone. You have to go with the rules, which is a good lesson.'
Baird and Fernung played on one of Sharpsville's best teams as seniors in 1962-63. After graduating standout Dave Moon from the previous season, the team went 19-1 in the regular season in their final year as the Sharpsville Bulldogs. Fernung and Baird were two of the three leading scorers, along with Jim Pyke.
'The class in front of us only had two seniors who played and the class ahead of that only had one,' Baird said. 'So, you gotta be ready to play.'
Consolidation was soon coming for Sharpsville, as it was for many smaller schools after the School Reorganization Act of 1959. After the 1963 school year, Sharpsville and neighboring Prairie Heights combined to become the Sharpsville-Prairie Spartans. In 1970, the schools at Sharpsville-Prairie and Windfall closed and a new school, Tri-Central, opened as a consolidation of the three. Each of the three communities continued to have its own elementary school until Tri-Central Elementary was built in 1983.
A few years later, the school in Sharpsville was torn down. But through money raised by the Sharpsville Park Committee and a grant from the Tipton County Foundation, a community park was put in its place. And the gym continues to serve a purpose.
'I think it's wonderful,' said Fernung, who went on to coach at Tri-Central. 'I think it was a good thing they kept it.'
In Fernung's playing days, Tipton was the big school that the smaller county schools wanted to defeat. Prairie Heights and Windfall, the schools that later joined with Sharpsville, were rivals. But when Fernung was coaching at Tri-Central, he saw those different groups come together.
'Everybody likes their identity,' he said. 'If you asked kids in the hallway, they'd say, 'I'm from Windfall,' or 'I'm from Sharpsville,' or 'I'm from Prairie.' But it wasn't long before you would ask them that question later and they would say, 'I live in Windfall,' or 'I live in Prairie,' or 'I live in Sharpsville.' They are from Tri-Central. It took a couple years to get that done.'
It takes people like Lester Rood to put time and love and work into keeping the gym a source of pride 100 years after it was built. Rood, 78, graduated from high school here and is the resident handyman when the gym needs work done. A brick addition to the front of the gym houses team photos and other community mementos.
'I'm really proud of Lester and the other people here in town,' Baird said. 'It took someone with loyalty to the town to keep (the gym). … it pleases me. They have a nice park here and it's still a place to get together with the neighborhood.'
Here is to the next 100 years for the Sharpsville gym.
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'The years I played, in my mind, the gym was always full,' said Baird, who graduated in 1963. The Sharpsville gym, celebrating its 100 th anniversary this year, remains a beautiful reminder to the high school teams that once played here and remains a vibrant part of the community of 550 residents, hosting reunions, youth sports and community celebrations. The community park directly east of the gym sits on the grounds of the old Sharpsville school, which was torn down in 1987. Prior to the construction of the gymnasium that was named O.H. Hughes Memorial Gymnasium after the school's first superintendent, Sharpsville played home basketball games above the J.G. Romack hardware store. One of the Sharpsville teams to play in the new gym, in 1926-27, won the first sectional championship in the school's history and proceeded to upset Noblesville and Tech to win the Anderson Regional in front of 5,000 fans, most of them cheering for the underdogs. 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Jerry Fernung grew up in Kokomo in the 1950s, attending games at the massive Memorial Gymnasium built in 1949. But he also tagged along with his father, Andrew Fernung, the principal at Sharpsville to school. 'Anytime I had a break from school, I would come out with him,' Fernung said. 'When they were in class, I was in here shooting baskets.' Fernung ended up coming to Sharpsville for high school. He joked it made him nervous at first to go to school with 'hick farmers.' 'The first day of school when I walked into school, they were so friendly and so nice,' he said. 'The just took me under their wing. I felt like I belonged. … I grew up coming out here to ballgames, so it was kind of like a homecoming. The student body just brought me in like I was one of them.' The brick gym featured eight rows of wood bleachers on both sides of the floor and a stage on the south end. Long vertical windows on the north end allowed the sun to shine on to the wood floor during afternoon pickup games. 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Fernung and Baird were two of the three leading scorers, along with Jim Pyke. 'The class in front of us only had two seniors who played and the class ahead of that only had one,' Baird said. 'So, you gotta be ready to play.' Consolidation was soon coming for Sharpsville, as it was for many smaller schools after the School Reorganization Act of 1959. After the 1963 school year, Sharpsville and neighboring Prairie Heights combined to become the Sharpsville-Prairie Spartans. In 1970, the schools at Sharpsville-Prairie and Windfall closed and a new school, Tri-Central, opened as a consolidation of the three. Each of the three communities continued to have its own elementary school until Tri-Central Elementary was built in 1983. A few years later, the school in Sharpsville was torn down. But through money raised by the Sharpsville Park Committee and a grant from the Tipton County Foundation, a community park was put in its place. And the gym continues to serve a purpose. 'I think it's wonderful,' said Fernung, who went on to coach at Tri-Central. 'I think it was a good thing they kept it.' In Fernung's playing days, Tipton was the big school that the smaller county schools wanted to defeat. Prairie Heights and Windfall, the schools that later joined with Sharpsville, were rivals. But when Fernung was coaching at Tri-Central, he saw those different groups come together. 'Everybody likes their identity,' he said. 'If you asked kids in the hallway, they'd say, 'I'm from Windfall,' or 'I'm from Sharpsville,' or 'I'm from Prairie.' But it wasn't long before you would ask them that question later and they would say, 'I live in Windfall,' or 'I live in Prairie,' or 'I live in Sharpsville.' They are from Tri-Central. It took a couple years to get that done.' It takes people like Lester Rood to put time and love and work into keeping the gym a source of pride 100 years after it was built. 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