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Tracks
of the Richwood Tiger
Gymnasium
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1962,
page 82 |
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At
the floor-level entrance to the gymnasium and auditorium, the large
plaque on the wall honored RHS students who served in World War II
and the Korean War.
When
admission was charged, all that was needed was a table with two
chairs and a cash box. |
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1954,
page 48 |
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The
gym itself was laid out much like a plastic model
that I constructed at home.
The
permanent seating was on the west side.
At
the top of the stairs, double doors provided access from the second-floor
hallway.
Each
of four sections contained about 80 wooden theater-type seats on
metal frames. In front of the first row was a steel-pipe railing. |
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1954,
page 48 |
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The
basketball players’ bench backed up to that same railing.
While
I was sitting in the close quarters on this bench, I found myself
narrating the play-by-play of the action taking place a few feet in
front of me. That experience
eventually led to a college career as a sportscaster. |
What
was I, a non-athlete, doing on the bench? I was a student manager.
That’s
me below as a freshman in 1961-62, awkwardly holding onto the ball
in a portrait of our freshman team. The coach is Bob Tuttle.
1962,
page 50
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What
did a manager do? During games, my specialty was stats.
During
practice, we spent most of our time cleaning the basketballs.
Here I am as a senior with Gary Glass, Larry Grose, and Harlan
Burnside (front row) and Bernie Decker (back row). |
1965,
page 46 |
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Our
backboards were white-painted wood; there was no need for glass, as
there were no fans in the end zone who would need to look through
transparent backboards to watch the game.
The
gym was so small that there was no out-of-bounds space underneath
the baskets. I explain here
how we handled this situation.
Our
only tall player was 6’5” Frank
Carter.
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1964,
page 52 |
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PET
PEEVES: ED
MUSIC
Crowds
at high school games (prefer Church League basketball)
PET
PEEVES: REX
RADER
Smashed
hats |
The
overflow crowd sat in temporary bleachers erected on the stage on
the east side of the floor. A “full house” would have
been about 525 fans.
1965,
page 53
In
the Richwood Gazette for December 5, 1963, athletic director Fritz
Drodofsky detailed the seating arrangements.
The
Richwood High School athletic department wishes to apologize for the
action that was necessary this past Friday evening. We are
deeply sorry [that] the doors had to be closed with so many of our
faithful followers still on the outside.
There
are 357 permanent seats in the gym. The bleachers on the stage
will hold approximately another 200, with about 30 of those [able to
see] only ¾ of the playing court.
A
block of 90 permanent seats are set aside for reserved tickets and
student tickets have been on sale all week. Ridgemont fans were
on hand and quickly filled the remaining seats.
Looking
forward to the remainder of the home schedule, it is not likely that
a closed-door situation will arise again this year. Two games
which were felt might overtax capacity have already been switched to
other venues: the Elgin game to be played at Elgin and the
Buckeye Valley affair to be played at Marion Coliseum.
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Before
the building (then known as North Union Middle School) was
demolished in 2009
This
appears to be the warmup period 12 minutes before a game against a visiting
opponent
wearing light blue. The benches and scorer's table are located on
the stage.
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