Thorntown to Celebrate 100 Year Old Basketball Championship

Cliff Woody (from left), Gordon Wait, David White, Martha Randel, Florence Emma Peery and Cliff Beesley surround the trophy for the 1915 Indiana state basketball champions of Thorntown High School at the town’s Public Library, 124 N. Market St. (Photo: Kyle Neddenriep / The Star)

A link came across Twitter today that caught my attention. My grandparents lived for many years (not sure how many) in the little town of Thorntown, Indiana. Most of my memories of Thanksgiving and some Christmases are at the house they lived in on Locust Place. They are both buried at the cemetery in town.

So, it was kind of surprising to see a link to an article titled “100 years after winning boys state basketball championship, Thorntown’s ready to party.” The article gives the story of the boys championship that happened in 1915. The article talks about where they played some of their games and gives some of the scores. The final score of the championship game was 33-10. Not a very high scoring affair.

Having a connection to Thorntown made the article interesting for me. For anyone who likes basketball, especially the mystique that comes with Indiana high school basketball, you’ll enjoy this article. It is kind of reminiscent of the movie Hoosiers.

One of my favorite family pictures is of my grandpa after his high school team beat their rivals New Albany. The article just reminded of my grandparents and the town where they lived.

You can read the article on the Indy Star website.

Here’s the text from the article for your reading pleasure:

THORNTOWN — Why would a community go out of its way to honor a high school basketball state championship team from 100 years ago?

“Pride,” said Florence Emma Peery, a 1946 Thorntown graduate and former teacher at the school. “It’s the one thing we have in a small town. It’s the thing we can be proud of.”

Thorntown, a community of 1,500 in Boone County, hasn’t had its own high school since the last senior class graduated in 1974. But back in the early portion of the 20th century, Thorntown was part of the “Cradle of Indiana Basketball.” The first eight high school state champions came from a 30-mile radius — Crawfordsville in 1911, Lebanon in 1912, ’17 and ’18, Wingate in 1913 and ’14, Thorntown in 1915 and Lafayette Jeff in 1916.

On Saturday at the Thorntown Elementary School, the alumni association will celebrate the accomplishments of the 1915 team at its annual banquet. It’s been a long time coming, according to many of the alums, who hope to eventually raise money to put signs outside of town to honor the championship. There are also plans for the downtown merchants in Thorntown to dress up their businesses in the blue and white of the school’s colors this weekend, as well as invite graduates of the rival schools near Thorntown. There will be displays available for viewing beginning at 9 a.m. and a buffet lunch served at noon.

“The whole town has kind of embraced the idea,” said Martha (Maiden) Randel, a 1965 Thorntown graduate who has played a major role in coordinating the event. “That championship (in 1915) is kind of our one claim to fame in basketball.”

Fifteen years after Thorntown won the title, the Thorntown Centurian recalled the aftermath of the championship. “Thorntown had one of its greatest celebrations of its first century when the boys came home. Every business closed its doors and the citizenship gave vent to its enthusiasm. This began with a big street parade of the school children, citizens and visitors headed by a band of volunteer musicians.”

As with many schools at the time, Thorntown in 1914-15 did not have its own gym. Previous Thorntown teams had played games in the opera house downtown, but local historian David White and others believe Thorntown played most of its home games in 1914-15 on the third floor of the grade school, in a large room that was also used as a science lab.

“There was an independent team called the Thorntown Americans that played at the opera house,” White said. “But that court had posts in the middle of the floor, so people didn’t really like to play there.”

The 1915 postseason was the first with a sectional round. Thorntown, coached by a young Chet Hill (who would later go on to Martinsville, Lebanon and Kokomo and was inducted into the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame), won the sectional at Lebanon by avenging a regular-season loss to the host and knocking off Rossville in the championship.

Thorntown was one of 14 teams to advance to the state tournament in Bloomington. Thorntown won 46-20 over Hartford City and avenged a 14-point loss to Rochester, winning 17-14. In the final four, Thorntown defeated Manual 30-16 and blew out Montmorenci 33-10 in the championship. Al Smith, a senior, was the star of the seven-player team.

Thorntown, later nicknamed the “Kewaskees” in the late 1920s, went back to the final four in 1919 — played that season at Purdue — and lost to Bloomington in a semifinal. Thorntown star Walter Cross, named the Gimbel (Trester) Award winner in 1919, was the grandfather of former Park Tudor coach and current UCLA assistant Ed Schilling.

Thorntown never again reached such great heights in basketball, though the teams were successful and the passion ran high. Thorntown won sectionals in 1944, 1957 and 1960. Part of the legacy of the 1915 team was that it became immediately apparent that the community needed a larger gym than a third-floor science lab could offer. The following season, a gym was built-in the space between the elementary and high school buildings (all of which are now gone).

“The ceiling was low,” said Marvin White, a 1943 Thorntown graduate. “If you shot it too high, the ball might hit the rafters. We had an old hardwood floor and in the wintertime when it was freezing it would get a little uneven. The Thorntown players knew you had to pass the ball in that gym instead of dribble. I remember a team from Sheridan came over to play us and the coach swore after the game he’d never come back to play us in that gym.”

Thorntown built a new, modern gym in 1954. For the gym’s dedication, Milan — fresh off its famous state championship win that spring — made a visit for a game.

“To me, the Thorntown Kewaskees were kind of like the Boston Celtics or New York Yankees,” said Gordon Wait, a 1963 graduate who followed the teams closely. “For a lot of teams, even if you were having a lousy season, if you could beat Thorntown it was a good season.”

But by 1974, Thorntown had gone the way of many small towns and lost its school to consolidation, in its case into Western Boone. Even after 40 years without a graduating class, Thorntown is still proud of his basketball heritage. Larry Campbell, a 1958 graduate and former player, was a part of a float in 2010 that honored 100 years of high school basketball in Indiana. With him that day was the trophy created in 1915 by coach Hill, which featured half of the basketball from the sectional title and half of the basketball from the state championship game.

To Campbell and other Thorntown graduates, the 1915 championship is worth celebrating — even 100 years later.

“It exemplifies the best of Indiana high school basketball,” he said.

Call Star reporter Kyle Neddenriep at (317) 444-6649.

Coming Back From Injury

In the past I’ve re-posted some information from Jim Dabbelt’s blog. He does a great job promoting girls high school basketball in the state of Ohio.

On October 25 he had a post about some of the girls in our area coming back from injury. It included Syd and one of her Angel teammates, Olivia Philpot. He did a nice job with the article and is a great voice for the girls in our area. Stop by his blog to keep up with what’s happening this season.

Everyone knows that Christmas is set for December 25 as it is every year, when the small children run downstairs to rip open their presents before the crack of dawn.

For several young ladies around Ohio, it will seem like Christmas morning as they wake today, because they know that all of their hard work they put into the game of basketball all summer long is about to pay off. Today is the day a lot of us have been waiting for.

Today…. is the start of basketball season.

Girls’ basketball teams can begin practice today across Ohio, and while several girls look at this as the beginning of a new season, a few area girls are chomping at the bit even more, as they prepare to prove to everyone that they are back.

It has been a rough year for injuries, as several girls around Ohio are out to make a statement to everyone that they are back… and better than ever.

Seniors Sydney Brackemyre, Olivia Philpot, and Amy Bullimore are all recovering from knee injuries, while sophomore Sydney Bates had shoulder surgery in the fall and is ready to return to the court soon.

Brackemyre, a 6-1 senior at Clinton Massie who verballed to the University of Louisville, suffered a season-ending ACL tear on December 29 of last year, and while she has suffered through the long road to recovery, she knows the extra time she has been away will ultimately be worth it.

“My recovery seemed like it was never going to end, but now I’m back and playing,” Brackemyre said yesterday. “It feels good to know I had the extra couple of months to recover. Most people come back from an ACL team in about 6-7 months, but in my case it was a full nine months.”

The Massie senior was frustrated waiting to get back, but she understands it will help her prepare better for a return.

“My doctor was very cautious with the things he would allow me to do, which was entirely frustrating at the time, but I know it will pay off,” she said. “I have had so much support from family and friends that told me the waiting would be worth it.”

Brackemyre has been working on her physical part of the game while she has been out of action. She stated she is stronger than she has ever been, and worked on the things she was allowed to. The future Cardinal will be wearing a brace until December.

Philpot had her ACL surgery on July 5, as the Middletown Madison senior will miss most if not all of her senior season. Her goal to return in January will be based on a functional assessment next month by Dr. James Klosterman, and that will determine if a return mid-season is even going to be reasonable.

Philpot, who opened up her recruiting back up after choosing not to attend Youngstown State as earlier planned, has been doing physical therapy and training at Ignition for the past several months, making solid progress each week. Philpot understands the risk of returning too soon, and knows there is a bitter prize down the road, playing basketball in college.

Bullimore also hopes for a strong senior year after suffering the same injury last season. The 6-1 senior, who has yet to choose a college, was recently cleared to begin playing again, and knows it has been a long road back.

“I did rehab at least three times per week with my therapist, but everyday by myself,” Bullimore said, very much looking forward to the season to begin. “Sometimes it was so painful or hard I didn’t think it would ever get easier.”

“I’m not sure there was a day that I didn’t find a hoop to shoot on, and continued to improve my shot daily,” she added, who credited Dr. Shaw, therapist Shaun Tubbs and trainer Tammy Pollack with a huge role in her recovery. “I had the right support from my coach and others to get my mind off the setback and look to the bigger picture.”

She also learned a lot about herself while she was on the sidelines watching her team last season.

“Recovery played a big role with my personality,” she said. “It helped me to learn what it’s really like to be a teammate. I sat on the sideline cheering on my teammates, with a sense of pride and urgency to get back on the court.”

Bates, one of Ohio’s top sophomores, also looks for a successful return after suffering a shoulder injury this summer that hampered her play through her summer season. After battling the pain for the month of July, she finished the summer with shoulder surgery on July 31. She had the ligaments and cartilage of her shoulder stabilized was told that recovery would take her 12-16 weeks.

For the first six weeks of rehab, Bates would be forced to wear an immobilizer the majority of each day, but even though she couldn’t do much to work on her game, Bates would keep her stamina up by walking 6-8 miles each evening. She also spent time ball handling and shooting with her non-surgical arm.

Bates was cleared to run at eight weeks, and for the next four weeks, she would cardio at least 90 minutes per day, and work on therapy. This past Tuesday, Bates was cleared to do all aspects of basketball except for contact. During the last three months, Bates has learned a lot about motivation, commitment, and effort and never to take your health for granted.

Also, Alter’s Emma Bockrath, one of Ohio’s top players in her class, looks to put her ACL injury behind her and come out strong and leave her mark on the new basketball season.

For these five, plus others recovering from injuries, today is the beginning of new hope and new dreams.

Top 100 Girls in Class of 2014

ProspectsNation.com just expanded their rankings for 2014 class in girls high school basketball. Even though she has been off the court since the end of December, 2012, Sydney is listed #82 in the class of 2014 and is #24 at her position. Syd is one of nine players on the list from the state of Ohio.

Visit to U. of Louisville

Last Saturday afforded a visit to the University of Louisville to take a look at the school and the basketball program.  Syd is beginning to narrow down the schools on her list and this was our first look at Louisville.

Ironically, many years ago (before Syd was born), our family resided in Louisville. Other than passing the football stadium on the highway and going on to campus one time for a meeting, I didn’t really know a lot about the university.  Obviously the men’s basketball program is pretty well-known and the women’s program has enjoyed success over the past few year.

The campus and facilities were quite nice.  The KFC Yum! Center where the games are held is quite a venue.  Compared to the gyms we sit in during high school basketball season, it is a monster.  While the university doesn’t own it, they have very nice locker rooms and practice areas that are reserved just for U of L.  We took in a volleyball game and got a chance to look around the Yum! Center.

 

This is the women’s locker room at the Yum! Center.  The ladies also have a locker room in their practice facility.

This is a picture of the video room. They also had a training room and a place for the girls to hang out before and after practice. Very nice.

Syd Featured in Battle in the Boro Recap

Brandon Clay is a contributor to ESPN HoopGurlz, a section of the ESPN website that focuses on girls high school basketball players.  Several girls from our area are ranked on the site and Syd received a profile on the site earlier this year.

This afternoon, Clay posted a recap of The Battle in the Boro, a huge AAU tournament in Tennessee.  He identified seven players that made an impression on him during the tournament.  Syd was one from the class of 2014 he wrote about.

You can see the entire article, called Seven Wonders at Battle in the Boro.  This is what he wrote about the 2014 players.

Sydney Brackemyre (Harverysburg, Ohio), Cincinnati Angels: Brackemyre has been one of the most impressive forwards during the club season. From Nike Skills in Indianapolis to the Boro, the 6-1 forward has been effective and productive. She scores it inside and outside and is a big factor on the glass. She’s a tough matchup as she willingly posts up smaller guards and faces up on bigger forwards. Her versatility is a big reason why schools from across the country want Brackemyre to join their programs.

Olivia Smith (Yarmouth, Maine), Maine Firecrackers: In a state that isn’t known for producing a lot of Division I prospects, Smith is a bona fide next-level forward. At 6-2, she has a nice combination of size and skill, making her a probable power forward in college. Her consistent play on both ends of the floor was noticeable throughout the event. Smith should be able to create match-up issues with her ability to rebound or knock down the trail jump shot.