By Rick Conrad
PERU — “It was everything I thought it’d be, and then some. [It] was just electric and was by far the best basketball environment I’ve ever been a part of.”
Peru athletic director Brian Strong’s assessment was surely shared by many others after Peru hosted Wabash Friday night in a boys basketball game.
This wasn’t just another game on the Bengal Tigers’ schedule though. After more than a year of planning, the old Tig-Arena came to life once again to showcase the best of Hoosier Hysteria.
The last high school game played there before Friday night was back in 1990 and the Miami Nation of Indians purchased the building the following year when the new high school opened. It is now primarily used as a bingo hall but there is also a daycare center located there. While dropping off his child at daycare one day, the idea to play a game there again hit Strong.
“I’d heard about this place, but when I saw it, I just knew we had to play a game in here,” he said.
Strong first took his idea about playing at the original Tig-Arena to coach Eric Thompson and convinced him that the community would love it. Both then took the idea to John Dunningan, vice chief of the Miami Nation of Indians.
“John was receptive of the idea right away and was crucial in getting this thing done,” Strong said. “He bent over backwards at times to help us with this. All in all it was a total community effort to pull this off. A lot of people put in time and labor for this to happen.”
A great venue
The original Tig-Arena first came to life way back in 1940. Year in and year out for 60 years she gave us some truly great memories of what high school basketball is supposed to be about — the packed house on game nights, the school band blasting its music, and the crowd so close to the floor you felt like it was a threat to block your shot from the corner. A lot of this gets lost when a school moves to a bigger gym, but for awhile Friday night everything was as it should be. There was the sold-out crowd and there was the band proudly supporting their Tigers. The atmosphere was electric.
Before a game could be played, work needed to be done. Breakaway rims needed to be installed, the north goal needed to be re-installed, the floor had no finish on it whatsoever and the bingo hall needed to be deconstructed. Thanks to the efforts of many, these things were just stepping stones to making this game a reality.
From the opening tip of the junior varsity game it was apparent Tig-Arena’s return night was truly going to be a special night. When the final horn sounded at the end of the varsity game there wasn’t a soul in the building that was disappointed.
The crowd was near capacity by the end of the first quarter of the JV game. Shortly before halftime, the band made its entrance and took its place and the excitement grew. The night had just about everything a nostalgic basketball junkie could want. Really, the only things missing were polyester pants, feathered hair and a Pep Club doing organized routines. Everything else was in place including an old-fashioned coat check as you walked in the door. Throughout the evening you could hear memories being passed from parent to child and from grandparent to grandchild.
Parade of stars
Thanks to an exciting ending to the JV game, the crowd was in a frenzy when the varsity took the floor for warmups. There was no letting up by the time halftime rolled around. The halftime was a special treat for all that were fortunate enough to have an admission ticket.
Nearly 75 former Peru players were introduced to the crowd and memories of playing days surely flooded the minds of all who were there. All that were announced were greeted with warm applause and a thunderous ovation when 1975 Indiana Mr. Basketball Kyle Macy was introduced. Some of Peru’s greatest players came home for this game — along with Macy there was John Garrett, Don Fuller, Mike Burt, Tim Rice and Tim Comerford to name just a few.
Before his introduction to the crowd, Macy said he was glad he made the trip home.
“It’s always fun to come back to see a high school game and to see old friends,” he said. “To play in this old gym was a lot of fun. It has just so much atmosphere and [this] is reviving so many memories of this place and it’s made [Friday] really enjoyable.”
Daryl Mitchell, a former player who graduated in 1982, also was overjoyed with the evening.
“[Friday] was really nostalgic,” he said. “I spent countless hours in here and the memories are irreplaceable. But really, this a big shot for the community. We’ve had our challenges the past couple of decades so to see a game back here is special. I just wish coach [Bob] Macy was still alive to have seen this.”
Standout Don Fuller was a 1976 graduate from Peru. When he heard this reporter was working for the Pharos-Tribune and was from Logansport, Fuller smiled and said one of his fondest memories was the game against Logan that ended 29-27.
“Logan had Mark Lozier and we didn’t feel like we could run with them so coach Macy wanted us to slow it down,” Fuller said. “He was simply a brilliant coach and he adjusted our game to who we were playing. He’d also speed us up if we needed to.”
He also added that he loved the atmosphere in here Friday night.
“It was just awesome to see a game in here again. The crowd, the adrenaline, I always felt like I could touch the ceiling on game night. An event like this can do nothing but bring this community closer together.”
Current Peru player Wes Zimmerman was asked about his thoughts on the night’s activities.
“Wow, it was amazing. It really was,” he said. “Coming into [Friday] we’d heard all the hype about how every player from Peru who played here just loved it. Nobody had ever said anything bad about it.
“We were still in the locker room when all the former players were introduced and we couldn’t hear that well, but we heard the crowd erupt when Kyle Macy was announced. It was just awesome having all those guys back here to watch us.”
Strong stated after the game that he felt it had a tremendous impact on the current players.
“Prior to [Friday] the kids enjoyed the hype but were just ready to get this thing over with,” he said. “Just after the game several of them came up to me and thanked me. I was just happy they got to see what high school basketball is really about.”
As for the game, Peru defeated Wabash 81-35. In a basketball game you have a winner and a loser, though Friday night there were no losers, everyone was a winner. Every fan in the stands to every player on the floor had the chance to be transported back in time to get a glimpse of what made Indiana high school basketball truly special.
