Ay-Ziggy-Zoomba.com

This past week I was at a couple of meetings on several Big Ten campuses (Indiana, Illinois and Purdue) where I had complete facility tours (football, basketball, baseball, etc.), which was very cool. However, as much as I appreciated the tours of those venues, they fell way short of what I had the opportunity to do and see in Indianapolis and Knightstown, Indiana. If any of you are fans of the movie Hoosiers like I am, you MUST stop by a few of these place. First, we stopped at Butler University and the historic Hinkle Fieldhouse. I never had the opportunity to go inside before, but was able to not only visit the facility, but was also able to step up onto the raised floor and shoot hoops in the old barn. What a rush! Aside from the championship game scene in the movie being filmed here, thinking about the history and all the actual games played over the years in this venerable facility was awesome. After shooing hoops at Hinkle, we went to Plump’s Last Shot restaurant over in Broad Ripple. Bobby Plump was an actual player from Milan’s 1954 state championship team. The place is littered with memorabilia and the food was good too. Saving the best for last, we made the trek to the sleepy little town of Knightstown, Indiana, about an hour east of Indianapolis right off I-70. There, we visited Hoosier Gym, the tiny little gymnasium they used for filming Hickory’s home games in the movie Hoosiers. If you like this movie, this is a MUST SEE! Stepping into the tiny lobby that is cluttered with memorabilia, gifts for purchase and an extremely friendly staff of volunteers, you can enter the actual Hoosier Gym. I spent about four hours in the place spending half of the time talking to one of the older gentleman who is a volunteer and knows everything there is to know about the facility, from its history to the filming of the movie (he was an extra in the crowd scenes). I got to walk around the gym, go down underneath the gym to the old locker room, and by far the best part of the trip - play basketball in Hoosier Gym! A group of guys from Indianapolis had rented the gym out for the afternoon and invited me to play. Fortunately, I had a change of clothes in the car. What a rush! What’s more, after they left, I had about 45 minutes to shoot all by myself in the gym. Amazing!!! I picked up a couple t-shirts and bought an actual piece of the playing floor that they had on sale at the gift shop. For anyone who is a fan of the movie and lives in Ohio or within driving distance of the greater Indianapolis area, this is a must see. Whether you are a fan yourself, or if you have children who like the movie, or if you have some friends who are fans and would like to see the place, I highly recommend you stop by. You can actually rent Hoosier Gym for $25 an hour!!! You won’t be disappointed. Send me a PM if you want more info or what me to send you some pictures or video I took of the place. Here is the website: http://www.thehoosiergym.com/contact.htm

An hour east of Indy? Couldn't get the ol' horse and buggy up to speed? Though come to think of it, it might be on the long side of 35 minutes. It's only about 10 minutes east of me and I haven't been there yet. My folks stopped once when they came to visit and can vouch for the coolness.

Hinkle is a damn sweet place to watch a game. I've heard there is a weekly shoot-around I could get in on for media types, but I haven't dug up details on it.

I am glad you enjoyed it. High school basketball is huge in Indiana. I would say a majority of the high school gyms have a seating capacity greater than AA.

Another gym to check out is Anderson High School Wigwam. It gets really loud and if you are in the locker room, you can feel the gym shake. It can be very intimidating for visitiing teams.

Anderson is about 30 miles north of Indy off of I-69. It is about 15-20 minutes south of Muncie.