Looking for Insight on Basketball Ticket from 1928
 

All,

A friend told me about this forum and said someone might be able to help.
I am inquiring as to a find I came across in my travels over the weekend, in the hope that you can shed some light on what I found, and/or perhaps provide any insight to its worth or value to others.

Tucked into a book from 1927 was a ticket, a picture of which is attached showing the front and back and size. As it references the ‘New’ Butler Field House, and the basketball tournament, and is dated March 17th, which was a Saturday in 1928, the first year the tourney was held there, it appears to be a ticket from that first Indiana boy’s tournament held in the then brand new Field House.

I am generally expert at finding information I need online, but I am stumped to find anything that can verify this find. It’s rather cool as a piece of Indiana basketball memorabilia, regardless of value, and mostly I would like to verify it is what I think it is if you, or someone you know, can do so.

I appreciate your sharing anything you may know that could help. Thanks very much! Here is a link to the image: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?f...type=1&theater

What you have is a very important ticket for Indiana high school basketball fans. 1928 was the first year the Butler Fieldhouse was used to host the state championship finals. While Muncie Central won the state finals, John Wooden who played for Martinsville, also played in this tournament. It is difficult to place a value on this ticket as I have rarely seen it come up for sale. I do collect these tickets,but my earliest one is from 1931. If you're interested in selling it, please let me know.

Excellent insight - thank you, MK! I am now trying to figure out if March 17 was the date of the final game. I can't locate that info as most sites only indicate the year. Have anything you can reference there?

As for selling it, I want to get the rest of the story first. I might be interested, but not sure yet.

March 17, 1928 was the date of the state finals championship game. As for confirmation, your best source is a book called Hoosier Hysteria by Herb Schwomeyer. This book chronicles the Indiana state finals from its beginning until 1997, when the IHSAA destroyed the tournament by going to class basketball (IMO). By the way, I could not get the photo of your ticket to load.

Found a photo of the 1928 Martinsville team. John Wooden is on the far right.

Here is the image, MK< and thank you very much for confirming the date. I had a feeling it was since all of your tickets were on Saturdays as well from that era.

Congrats on a great pick up!

I have a few tickets and programs from the Indiana hoops tournament, but my earliest pieces are only from the 1940s - stuff from the 20s and 30s is super tough. By the way, the 1928 tournament was not the first one (it actually started in 1911), but it was the first to be held in this historic venue, which was later renamed Hinkle Fieldhouse.

Mike is correct - John Wooden led Martinsville to the 1928 runner-up finish against Muncie after having led them to the state title over Muncie in '27 (and another runner-up finish in '26). He then went on to an All-American career at Purdue before beginning his legendary coaching career. Nice picture, Mike!

Anyone who has a love of sports history should try to get to a game at Butler if they're in the Indianapolis area. The fieldhouse was the largest basketball arena in the country when it was built and is a true piece of American sports history.

I grew up in Indiana (graduated from a North Central Conference high school) and am a huge fan of the state's unparalleled basketball history. Up through 1997, Indiana placed every school into one big end-of-year tournament in (I believe) all sports except for football. When you won the title you truly were the "state champion."

You are absolutely correct Brad. Hinkle Fieldhouse is a shrine. I have seen many many games in this great facility over the years and many great players. I once tried to compile a list of all the great players who played there, and it is amazing. It includes John wooden, Oscar Robertson, George McGinnis, Rick Mount, Larry Bird, Pete Maravich, Steve Alford and many many more. I don't know if you knew this or not but the playing floor ran east to west when the Fieldhouse first opened. It was later changed, and now runs north to south. It's no longer used for the Indiana State high school basketball tournament, which is a shame.

Located a photo of Hinkle Fieldhouse when the floor ran east to west.

Awesome ticket! As a Purdue Alum , I would be interested in it as well if you were thinking about selling it. Would make a killer addition to my Purdue Boilermaker man cave. John Wooden did some wonderful things for Purdue University.
Love the rich history of Indiana basketball and the Field House!

Great stuff
 

Carlton,
Thanks for the kind words. As to your questions, I have no idea if people are more interested in basketball memorabilia. My interest in basketball is limited to Indiana High School, and generally between 1911 (The first year for the state tournament) and 1997. Programs from those early years are extremely difficult to find. Beginning in the 1950s, they show up from time to time, but some like 1954 command a high price. That was the year of the famous Milan win, which was the basis for the movie Hoosiers. I was lucky enough to obtain a program and ticket stub from that game and have posted a picture here.

I saw this thread which got me to pull out my Indianapolis Kautsky's scorebooks as I recall there were some High School games scored in it. Looks like one is from the 1937 State Championship games at Butler Fieldhouse. I thought is was the finals but, after looking it up online, I guess it was just the semi-final game (Fort Wayne Central v. Huntingburg).

These scorebooks cover 1935-1940. They were the NBL Indianapolis Kautsky's team scorebooks. John Wooden was on the team and his brother Maurice "Cat" Wooden played in a few games for them as well. They played a lot of their games in the Butler Fieldhouse, particularly when they played non-league games against the likes of the Celtics and Harlem Rens.

Rob M.


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Hey Rob, great scorebook. The game between Huntington and FW Central was the second afternoon game on March 27, 1937. Anderson beat Rochester in the first game. That night Anderson beat Huntington for the State Championship. If you notice, Huntington played their staters the entire game. May have "run out of gas" in the night game. The attendance was 14,983 which was capacity at the field house. 781 schools participated in the tournament as nearly every small town had it's own high school.

Off topic, but related to Indiana HS basketball. 25-30 years ago, my wife (then girlfriend) told me about an old guy in the nursing home she worked in. His name was Mr. Moore. He was in his 90's at that time, and in great health, but his wife was there and he moved in with her to take care of her.

Anyway, he was at the first championship game in 1911. He told me how he got there, and got in, I guess it was packed. I've forgotten many of the details. He was also the coach at Peru HS and before that Frankfort, where he gave a legendary coach his first coaching job as his assistant. The assistant was Everett Case and he won 4 championships at Frankfort before a legendary career in the ACC at NC State.

He said he coached against Wooden when Wooden played for Martinsville, and Wooden was a hot head with a temper, but a great player.