Hardly seems like it was 20 years ago when I sat with Tommy in the Hoosier Dome watching the school that sits 2 miles from our house in the last State Championship. I do not know the attendance but it filled the football stadium where the Colts played to see a tiny basketball floor in the middle of the turf. It was spectacular when the whole state followed the tourney and knew players from all corners devouring newspapers and Hoosier Basketball Magazine .

Times change and the principals took the coaches and ADs out of the vote. They voted to have 4 classes and Class Champions instead of a State Champ. Coach Keller left coaching and is my kids Pre Calc teacher these days. He spends time watching his daughter who is a killer Vball coach here at County Rival Yorktown. The players have moved on with careers and kids but still hold a place here, remembered as the guys who played in the last State Championship. Delta won a Class Title a couple years later but it is rare that anyone talks about it. That was one heck of a ride with that team defying the odds with a 6' 3 Center and a bunch of guys knocking off Goliaths along the way. The road through the legendary Wigwam at Anderson knocking off the home team, and then onto Hinkle where they chose to use the locker room in the basement where the mythical Hickory Huskers were filmed.

Good read for those hoopheads who are looking for one. http://www.ibj.com/articles/62676-lopresti-delta-was-last...

Are there any states left that still have a single championship in basketball?

I believe Delaware and Hawaii are the only others.

Nice memory. Ohio had only three classifications back in my day, AAA, AA and A, which I think is more than enough. How many now, six? I'm guessing that the DIV 6 state champ is from a one room school house?

There's only four now in basketball. In football I believe they just made the switch to seven. But yes the Division 4 schools can be very small. There was school in our conference that graduated 37 kids my senior year.

Some of the best and most fundamental basketball is played at those levels. Like borna's article states, they have to rely on the fundamentals more than their sheer athletic ability, which still makes the games enjoyable to watch.

I remember growing up in 1970s Columbus and QUBE (early cable company local in central Ohio) included an Indianapolis TV station. Forty years later, I remember three things from that station: one is Saturday morning pro wrestling with Dick the Bruiser and Bobo Brazil; one is an Indiana insurance company commercial with a young Oscar Robertson being called in for dinner by his mom as he's shooting hoops in the twilight on a makeshift basket hanging from a barn; the third thing was Saturday regional semifinals for boys h.s. basketball with the winners meeting later that same day.

My memory might be a bit hazy on the third recollection, but I believe the Indiana h.s. basketball tournament had regional semis and final in the same day.

Found these lines from that old Indiana Farm Bureau commercial:

"Oscar where you been?" "Outside shootin' baskets" "With that rusty old tin can?" "I got a surprise for ya" "A Basketball?!!!!"


Borna, and others from that area/era, might remember this iconic Indiana Farm Bureau commercial (Martha the "Mop Lady"):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=po_EtKSrqic


This commercial brought goosebumps after not seeing it in over 40 years. And I'm not even a Hoosier fan.

Looking through my Pops scouting reports and schedules when he was coaching at Bethel HS then Wayne HS in Huber there were only A and AA which changed after Chaminade went to Cols in 70 and Dunbar headed off in AAA in 71, when I was in jr High. My HS in 71, Tipp City, took runner up in AA with a team that routinely put up 90 points a night in a league that included Northmont, Trotwood madison, Vandalia and Greenville. A few guys here have those memories and have shared insights.