A Water Bucket & Long Johns: Playing basketball for the Modoc HS Indians – Warren Jones

Indiana high school basketball is a major component of Hoosier heritage, yet few people have stopped to record the diverse history and the game’s impact on peoples’ lives. Let’s capture Hoosier history while we can! Oral history is an excellent way for us to do this before it’s gone and lost forever.

Do you know somebody who played, coached, cheered, or worked as a student manager in Indiana before 1960 (especially pre-1950)? If so, grab a recording device, whether it be a video camera or your cell phone (audio works just fine), and ask them about their experience. Afterward, spread the word and encourage other people to do the same thing. If you need help with questions, or preparation, send me a message at mwerner97@gmail.com and I’ll be glad to help.

Below is an excerpt of my 2016 interview with Warren Jones. A 1939 graduate of Modoc High School, here Jones described his Indiana high school basketball playing days. Their practice gym had no heat and his brother coached at a rival school, but the good memories never failed this nonagenarian. Read More

The Patch Players – Basketball was a respite from life’s daily injustice

Dave Greer releasing a jump shot, 1953.

Dave Greer and I sat in his basement drinking coffee. Behind him was a wall covered with trophies: bowling trophies won by his wife, Vivian, his son and daughter’s awards from Rogers High School, a color silhouette of Greer in a basketball uniform. The largest one recognized Greer as an outstanding scholar-athlete at Elston High School.

Greer remembered the night he became the first area player to shoot a jump shot in a varsity basketball game. It was 1953 and many people considered a one-handed jump shot showboating. It was an away game at an all-white school.

“They called me all kind of negative names,” Greer said. “They called me everything but God. We were the only black thing in there,” referring to himself and teammates Bill Wright and Braelon Donaldson. “The word — never heard it so many times in one day.” Read More