Wish Granted for Old-School Basketball Fans

Grant's Move to Old Gym Makes for Great High School Basketball Atmosphere

When my son Dillon and I pulled into the parking lot at Grant last Friday night it was a bit surprising to find a spot so close to the Benedetti Center and the fieldhouse it uses for basketball. But hey, maybe we got lucky and someone had just left the preliminary game. 

There was a sign on the door about the varsity game being played in a different gym. That seemed kind of strange since it figured to be a good Northern Lake County Conference rivalry game against nearby Wauconda. Maybe they needed to clear the fieldhouse early for an event Saturday?

Dillon speculated that maybe they didn’t like playing in the modern but very expansive fieldhouse. Naturally, the brains of the operation, thanks to his mom, was right when we asked at the entrance why the game was being played in the old gym in the high school building. Grant coach Wayne Bosworth liked the idea of his team playing where he lit up opponents for four years en route to becoming the school’s career scoring leader when he graduated in 2000.

Last year the Bulldogs played a couple of games in the old gym but Bosworth said no one could hear anything with a sound system that was also a bit antiquated. When the sound system was fixed they decided to move permanently into the old gym with the goal of creating a “mini-Cameron Indoor Stadium” atmosphere like Duke.

Coaches Wayne Bosworth of Grant, left, and Ty Weidner of Wauconda talk before last Friday’s game in the school’s old gym.

The funny part was you still couldn’t hear a darn thing for most of the game. And as an old gym guy the cramped and raucous environment was perfect to cover Grant’s dramatic 57-52 victory for the Daily Herald. Senior Will Schubert said there were times “you couldn’t hear yourself” and he certainly had a hot hand in making that happen as his fifth 3-pointer of the game with 22 seconds to play broke a 52-52 tie.

Wauconda coach Ty Weidner said “the environment was great” even if the result wasn’t, along with having Mercer-bound star Braeden Carlsen stifled by foul trouble before he fouled out with 4:47 to play. The total foul numbers piled up along with the bodies that seemed to be all over the floor from the opening tip to the final buzzer. I don’t recall being able to hear that, either, as the Grant students stormed the court.

The game had a frenetic postseason quality as Weidner said neither team could get into a rhythm. Everything seemed more like two teams fighting to keep seasons and careers alive rather than two teams jockeying for position in what appears to be a crowded NLCC race with Antioch at 4-0 and defending co-champ Grayslake Central, Grant and Wauconda at 3-1.

Can a gym ratchet up the intensity? That’s tough to say but having two vocal student sections on top of the court seemed to pump up the players along with the decibel levels.

On that same night, the Chicago Sun-Times’ basketball guru Michael O’Brien raved about the atmosphere of Lincoln Park’s cramped Public League gym in a win over perennial power Whitney Young. Having been there for a game 30-plus years ago it’s another place that’s great for high school basketball.

And earlier last week we were at one of my favorite venues, Prospect’s Jean Walker Field House, to witness the hosts’ Jerry Drucker hit a buzzer-beating shot to hand Glenbrook North its first loss. One of my favorite Herald photos was from the 1975 Mid-Suburban League title game there, where it looks like numerous fire codes were violated, as a massive crowd watched future Cubs manager Mike Quade score a game-high 20 points in a 78-73 victory over Arlington.

I wish I had a better-quality photo of the huge crowd on all four sides of Prospect’s Fieldhouse for the 1975 Mid-Suburban League championship game. (Image credit newspaperarchive.com)

Walker Field House is big with a lot of room behind each basket but again has that older feel to it like Leyden’s Chuck Farina Fieldhouse or the ones at Oak Park-River Forest, Maine East or Crystal Lake Central.

It’s a bummer that New Trier moved out of ancient Gates Gym a couple of years ago. Hinsdale Central, Proviso East, East Aurora, Glenbrook South’s “Titan Dome,” Evanston’s Beardsley Gym and Waukegan’s “Dog Pound” are also favorites for an old gym guy. I wish I saw some of the sectional games that used to be a regular event with packed houses in Grace Gym before Arlington closed in 1984.

Admittedly, I don’t recall a team or school abandoning a shiny new toy for one that is a bit worn and some might say has seen better days. Here’s to Wayne Bosworth and Grant for moving back to a place that can make for the best kind of nights for high school basketball.