Rivalry Game Different This Time
December 14, 2016 at 3:23 p.m.
By Roger Grossman-
Their games have been played by teams that went on to play in state championship games. Their rosters have contained the names of players who achieved all-area, all-conference, all-state, Indiana All-stars and Miss Basketball status.
Warsaw and Wawasee are two schools nestled in the “Cradle of Girls Basketball” that not only debunked the myth that girls shouldn’t or couldn’t play basketball, but helped prove that we here in our area were committed to being the best in the state at it.
But Saturday at roughly 5:10 p.m., the Lady Tigers and the Lady Warriors will suit up and run out onto a court in a gym in Knightstown and begin to go through their normal pregame preparations for the 58th meeting. That gym is the mythical home of the Hickory Huskers from the movie “Hoosiers” that starred Gene Hackman, Barbara Hershey and Dennis Hopper and featured Warsaw basketball star and dentist Steve Hollar.
You can picture that place in your mind, can’t you? A low ceiling hanging over 600 seats, walls three feet from the end of the court on one end and a stage at the other, the front row six feet off the floor with simple wooden benches between the wall and the sideline.
Oh … and a black and white team picture of the 1952 Indiana State Basketball Champion Huskers, coached by the controversial Norman Dale (Hackman).
A month ago the athletic department at Warsaw announced that Saturday’s game with Wawasee, originally scheduled for the Tiger Den, would be moved to the Hoosiers Gym as part of a day of girls basketball games called the Husker Classic. Two other days are scheduled for later this season involving 10 boys teams.
There will be five games played there, starting at 11:30 a.m. The Warsaw/Wawasee matchup is the fourth of the five games on Saturday’s schedule.
Admission is $10, so instantly the skeptic in you is thinking “yep, someone else is getting rich off this.” But consider that the $10-a-head charge is not going to any promoter’s pocket. It’s coming back to the participating schools, which is where you can buy the tickets from.
All the organizers of these games want to do is to give kids a chance to play in that special place – a place that has become a Mecca for basketball fans from around the country. A place that before the fall of 1985 was just an old, little-used gym that now is part of a modern, vibrant community center there.
It will be a unique experience for players, coaches and fans alike (with the exception of “Shooter” running out onto the court ranting and raving and stopping the game).
There is a lot of sacrifice in this. Warsaw is giving up a Northern Lakes Conference home game in a season they only have three home games to start with, and they seem to have a real shot at winning the conference title. Wawasee is giving up a short road trip to Warsaw for a 258-mile round trip trek to Knightstown, which is due east of Indianapolis halfway between Monument Circle and the Ohio state line.
I hope you go and take advantage of what, to me, is an incredible Christmas gift to all of us.
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Their games have been played by teams that went on to play in state championship games. Their rosters have contained the names of players who achieved all-area, all-conference, all-state, Indiana All-stars and Miss Basketball status.
Warsaw and Wawasee are two schools nestled in the “Cradle of Girls Basketball” that not only debunked the myth that girls shouldn’t or couldn’t play basketball, but helped prove that we here in our area were committed to being the best in the state at it.
But Saturday at roughly 5:10 p.m., the Lady Tigers and the Lady Warriors will suit up and run out onto a court in a gym in Knightstown and begin to go through their normal pregame preparations for the 58th meeting. That gym is the mythical home of the Hickory Huskers from the movie “Hoosiers” that starred Gene Hackman, Barbara Hershey and Dennis Hopper and featured Warsaw basketball star and dentist Steve Hollar.
You can picture that place in your mind, can’t you? A low ceiling hanging over 600 seats, walls three feet from the end of the court on one end and a stage at the other, the front row six feet off the floor with simple wooden benches between the wall and the sideline.
Oh … and a black and white team picture of the 1952 Indiana State Basketball Champion Huskers, coached by the controversial Norman Dale (Hackman).
A month ago the athletic department at Warsaw announced that Saturday’s game with Wawasee, originally scheduled for the Tiger Den, would be moved to the Hoosiers Gym as part of a day of girls basketball games called the Husker Classic. Two other days are scheduled for later this season involving 10 boys teams.
There will be five games played there, starting at 11:30 a.m. The Warsaw/Wawasee matchup is the fourth of the five games on Saturday’s schedule.
Admission is $10, so instantly the skeptic in you is thinking “yep, someone else is getting rich off this.” But consider that the $10-a-head charge is not going to any promoter’s pocket. It’s coming back to the participating schools, which is where you can buy the tickets from.
All the organizers of these games want to do is to give kids a chance to play in that special place – a place that has become a Mecca for basketball fans from around the country. A place that before the fall of 1985 was just an old, little-used gym that now is part of a modern, vibrant community center there.
It will be a unique experience for players, coaches and fans alike (with the exception of “Shooter” running out onto the court ranting and raving and stopping the game).
There is a lot of sacrifice in this. Warsaw is giving up a Northern Lakes Conference home game in a season they only have three home games to start with, and they seem to have a real shot at winning the conference title. Wawasee is giving up a short road trip to Warsaw for a 258-mile round trip trek to Knightstown, which is due east of Indianapolis halfway between Monument Circle and the Ohio state line.
I hope you go and take advantage of what, to me, is an incredible Christmas gift to all of us.
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