Featured Contribution by Corey Murphy
What are your favorite memories of the New Castle Fieldhouse?
Do you have a favorite game (volleyball or basketball)?
Were you stranded during the snowstorm of 1961?
Did you attend the Carpenter’s concert?
‘World’s largest high school gym’
Two high school basketball games stand out in my memory. The first one is the 2017 sectional championship between Connersville and New Castle. I snapped a smartphone picture of the packed fieldhouse from the concourse and have used it in conversation across the country with people who haven’t experienced a game, yet. The Indianapolis Star covered the game with this headline “Connersville, New Castle pack world’s largest gym.”
The second high school game was during last year’s regional finals game between Fishers and Kokomo. This game had more basketball fans than 2017. Locals told me this felt like the old days. The Indianapolis Star headline captures it all: “No. 1 Fishers lowers the boom on No. 4 Kokomo in front of 8,500 fans at New Castle Fieldhouse.”
In my opinion, there is no better place to capture the essence of Indiana and Henry County than inside the packed fieldhouse. Humans, young and old, are experiencing the joy of cheering on their favorite team.
‘The heart and soul of a small town’
The Fieldhouse would not have happened without local investment.
The community and students formed “Gym Now” and raised $200,000 in the 1950s to convince the local school board to construct the now iconic New Castle Fieldhouse. This is another testament in a long line of examples proving we invest in ourselves as a community.
Beloved retired English teacher Steve Dicken spent 15 years researching, interviewing, and writing what he called his magnum opus “Fieldhouse of Dreams”. The book was released in October 2024, shortly before Mr. Dicken passed away. In the book’s press release, Dicken wrote: “Fieldhouse of Dreams is more than just a book; it is an inspiration…it is a collectible keepsake, a valuable resource for historians, sports enthusiasts, and anyone who appreciates the heart and soul of a small town.” The book is available for purchase downtown at 1822 Vintage Boutique and Dance Studio, Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame, and on Amazon.
Sharing the Fieldhouse story
Over the last decade, it has been special to watch my three sons play for a few minutes in the basketball cathedral with their respective Optimist / YMCA teams at Green & White Night. The youngest son played for the first time last week as a 4th grader.
“Basketball lives here” is Henry County’s tagline for tourism marketing. Of course, there is more than basketball here, but we’re leaning into our unique experiences, including Knightstown’s Hoosier Gym made famous in the 1986 movie Hoosiers, the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame, the nation’s only basketball-themed hotel Steve Alford All-American Inn and the New Castle Fieldhouse.
Because the fieldhouse is part of an active high school campus and therefore is rightly the least accessible for spur-of-the-moment public visitation, our Henry County Destination Development team is launching two resources to share our ‘heart and soul’ with the world.
Visit www.HoopsInHenry.com/fieldhouse to watch a mini-documentary about the Fieldhouse and take a 360 virtual tour. The mini-documentary is narrated by Chad Nicuum with content contributions from Henry County Historian Darrel Radford and technical assistance by the Boss Hog of Liberty. Better yet, make plans to watch an in-season New Castle Trojans basketball game or the upcoming annual Hall of Fame Classic on December 27 and 28.
Welcome to the New Castle Fieldhouse, the world’s largest and finest high school fieldhouse in the world.
Corey Murphy is a lifelong Hoosier and basketball fan. He serves as the President and CEO of the New Castle-Henry County Economic Development Corporation. Corey also directs Henry County Destination Development’s efforts to promote tourism in Henry County.
