The Gym That Gets No Respect

(8-15-22) High school gyms that have lasted over the years, the older they get the more respect for what memories they hold for a high school.

The ‘Hoosier Gym’ in Knightstown, Indiana, the old Eastside Gym in Indiana, Beverly Hills (California) HS swim-gym and in past years even Van Wert has celebrated a turn back the clock time at their old gym.

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The Celina Fieldhouse, built almost 100 years ago, has been sort of a temple for Bulldog basketball. The memories and the design make it very special. The Fieldhouse will even survive the new buildings that will becoming to the Celina City Schools system over the next five years. Including recent updates, it really is quite a treasure of days gone by.

In 1964 a new high school would start housing students. The new building would have a gym, but with the Fieldhouse being very viable the new gym was not built to replace it.

The Celina High Gym was used primarily for pep rallies, band and choir concerts, phys ed classes and other non-sporting events. Some of those events continue to take place.

When Title IX came into being, that is when the gym in the high school became an important part of the athletic department. It became the home of the very successful girls volleyball and girls basketball teams…today it is still the home of the successful Bulldog wrestling team. Girls basketball now plays games at the Fieldhouse and the volleyball team plays at the Celina Intermediate Building.

In the past school plays were held on the stage….but they are now sent back to the Administration Building…which was once the old gym before the Fieldhouse was built.

Some issues with the gym included very limited bleacher seating on one side of the gym for athletic events, very small dressing rooms, etc. But it was filling in the gap when it was needed.

The last days of Celina IC the gym would see the Spartans play some varsity boys basketball games take place. Over the early years of WSU-Lake campus athletics girls volleyball and boys basketball would use the gym for home games.

The gym has always been referred to as the High School Gym, nothing fancier then that.

The future for the gym?

Celina City Schools Superintendent Dr, Schmiesing tells SSN in an email:

We continue to have discussions about the facilities on the east side of Celina. None of these decisions are set in concrete. 

The new 7-12 building is being designed to have two new gyms. This 7-12 facility is planned to be open in five years. Which means that we will have the gym at the high school still being used for the next five years, if not longer.

Construction will begin first on the west side of town for the PK-6 building which is planned to be open in two years. After we populate that building, then the current Primary and Elementary Schools will be demolished. The new 7-12 building will be built where the current Primary School building is located.

Let’s face it the gym at the current high school is kind of like the ‘red-headed step-child’. But you still have time to appreciate what the Celina High Gym has done for students for almost 60 years.

Building and Dedication of the HS Gym -1964