(2-1-23) If they had only taped ‘Hoosiers’ in the Pine Village Gym they might not be getting ready to tear down this special gym.
High school basketball fans love the gyms there teams compete in….memories of the years are instilled in them. But when you have one like Pine Village’s it hurts to think that it will be torn down pretty soon. Pine Village has a population of 212.
The Pine Village Gym was built in 1940 as a Works Progress Administration (WPA) project and housed Pine Village HS basketball until 1973 when the school consolidated with Seeger High School in Warren County. The estimated cost to keep the gym updated is around $2million and the main reason it will soon come down.
The greatest basketball moment in Pine Village History came in 1972 according to A Pine Knot Through and Through–
In the 1972 State Tournament Pine Village was the smallest school to win the boys’ basketball sectional when they upset Seeger in the semifinals of the Fountain Central Sectional and went on to beat North Vermillion 76-68 for the second time in that season and claim the championship. The Regional would find Pine Village, the smallest school to win a Sectional in the state in 1972, facing a much larger Benton Central squad.
Dan Dawson, from Benton Central, always liked playing on the smooth Pine Village courts with the fan-shaped backboards in those summer games. Dawson and his mates were familiar with the Burtus-led Knots. Dawson and Brutus went head to head in a foul-heavy game. Brutus, in limited minutes scored 23 and Dawson fouled out with 22 points. Benton Central, 17-7 that year, ended the Knots’ dream in 71-69.
1951-52 Pine Village Basketball Team
1962-63 Pine Village Basketball Team
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Memories last forever, old Indiana gyms don’t. Immortality lost in Pine Village–by Gregg Doyel of the Indianapolis Star
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