By CHUCK GODBY
The 1921 Hamilton County boys’ basketball tournament was on the move again. This time Sheridan’s Opera House played host.
I’m not exactly sure where the Opera House was located 99 years ago, but my late grandpa, Harold E. Godby, used to tell me about basketball games being played on the top floor of the building I’ve always known as the O.T. Kercheval building, which still stands on the corner of Second and Main streets. So I’m going with that until someone tells me differently.
By now, the now-defunct Hamilton County Athletic Association administered the tourney. The Executive Committee consisted of Earl Hinshaw, Carmel; Frank Hartley, Arcadia; Lee Harshman, Westfield; and Prof. A.E. Harben, Noblesville.
Admission prices were set at 75 cents for the whole day, 35 cents for the first half and 50 cents for the championship game. It was hoped that 50 cents for the championship would keep the crowd more manageable. An estimated 1,000 fans were expected to attend the tourney.
It was also announced the winning school would receive a pennant and the game ball. Also, a mental attitude award winner would be announced at the end of the tourney.
Power-packed Arcadia returned to the field after two years away and the Dragons steamrolled the field. They opened with a 35-10 win over Noblesville; embarrassed the host school, Sheridan, 60-6 (There was still a jump ball after every basket); eliminated Fishers, 45-17; and defeated Westfield in the championship, 48-24.
Vallie Etchison, of Arcadia, was named the mental attitude winner.
It was reported that more than 500 people were turned away from the championship game.
The county tourney returned to Sheridan in 1922.
Boxley was considered the favorite and its fans showed their support by purchasing 170 advance season tickets.
Fishers was considered another favorite since Arcadia, the defending champion, had lost several key players because of low grades.
Some highlights from the ’22 tournament included Ernest Carter of Noblesville making a three-quarter court shot against Westfield; William Rayle of Carmel making nine of 11 free throws; and Westfield’s girls beating Sheridan’s girls, 8-6, in a preliminary game played prior to the championship.
Once again it was Arcadia, despite losing key players, playing in and winning the championship game, 27-19, over Westfield. Arcadia also beat Cicero, 23-7, and Boxley, 29-11, on its way to a second felt banner and game ball.
Robert Dawson, from the winning Arcadia team, won the mental attitude award.
Next in the series, the 1923 Hamilton County Tourney moves out of the opera house and into a real gymnasium built for basketball.