Mark Bennett: 'Magical' old Wabash Valley Tournament to fill exhibit, film

Nov. 26—People sit shoulder to shoulder in a gymnasium's bleachers, from the courtside row to the rafters. Some lean over the railings in the aisles.

The only open spaces belong to the high school basketball players on the court. Even with that breathing room, a few of the players appear as breathless as the excited fans, leaning over as a player shoots a free throw.

An enlarged photograph captures that moment and hangs on a wall inside the Vigo County Historical Museum. It depicts the Wabash Valley Tournament, an event that consumed life in small and large communities in western Indiana and eastern Illinois for 56 years through the middle of the 20th century. At its peak, the tournament's field included 124 teams.

The tournament launched in 1916 — before World War I — and continued until the last Apollo mission to the moon in 1972. Aside from state tournaments, the Wabash Valley Tournament was the largest and longest-surviving high school basketball tourney in American history, according to late tournament historian Dean Kendall. A total of 188 schools participated through its history.

If Terre Haute and its surrounding towns ever wonder what a community of this size can do, a prime example is the tenacity and perseverance it took to perpetuate the old Wabash Valley Tournament.

This city and others along and around the Wabash River were at its heart.

A half-century later, the Vigo County Historical Museum will unveil an exhibit commemorating the tournament. "Return to the Valley: The Wabash Valley High School Basketball Tournament (1916-1972)" debuts at 2 p.m. Nov. 29 at the museum. Just before its opening, the pairings will be drawn at the museum for the 23rd annual First Financial Bank Wabash Valley Classic — a 16-team, 21st-century iteration of the original tournament scheduled for Dec. 27-30 at Terre Haute North High School.

"Return to the Valley" will remain on display at the museum through "March Madness," when Indiana's state high school tournament and the college-level NCAA Tournament unfold.

If the exhibit sounds like an attraction only for sports geeks, museum curator Suzy Quick sees it differently. She's a casual basketball observer, but finds the exhibit to be an exciting dive into Terre Haute, Wabash Valley and Indiana history.

"I feel like you don't have to be a basketball fan to enjoy this exhibit," Quick said Tuesday morning, standing beside that vast photograph of the tournament's action long ago. "There will be things in here to wow anybody. You just have to love a good story."

Conversation starters for such stories will abound at the exhibit. Wabash Valley Tournament trophies, photographs, basketballs, trivia boards and mementos such as pre-Chuck Taylor basketball shoes, a pair of uniform shorts from a State High School player, jerseys and more will be on display.

The tourney always packed a David vs. Goliath drama, pitting the mighty Terre Haute Gerstmeyer, Garfield and Wiley teams against rural underdogs like Illinois' Flat Rock Wildcats, who beat Garfield for the 1940 Valley title. A photo of the Flat Rock team will be included in the museum exhibit. Towns coveted a Valley crown as much, or more so, than a sectional or regional in the state tournaments.

Former tournament players will make appearances at the museum during the exhibit's run. Those include Duane Klueh (State High), Oscar Session (Glenn), Glenn Andrew (Rockville), Howie Johnson (Marshall, Ill.), Harley Andrews (Gerstmeyer) and Tim Sutton (Monroe City). Their biographies, and those of Garfield greats Terry Dischinger and the late Clyde Lovellette, will be featured in the "Return to the Valley" room on the second floor.

The stories and legends of the Valley Tournament sparked a fascination in Andy Johnson as the crew from Terre Haute marketing and media company Envisionary Media — led by its president Mark Gibson — began researching a documentary about that unique slice of local history. Their film, "State of the Game," is expected to be completed by the end of 2023, Johnson said Tuesday. A trailer should be ready later this year. It will be the company's third documentary, all directed by Gibson, following "The Hoosier Way: Trails of Indiana earlier this year, 2020's "A Rural Revolution: Indiana's Round Barns" and "The Story of Terre Haute" in 2016.

The filmmakers have filmed at surviving gymnasiums from the Valley Tournament's era, conducted 40-plus interviews, gathered vintage footage of the games, archival photographs and some relics loaned by various entities and history-minded people. One of those items — the trophy won by Rockville High School's team in the inaugural 1916 tournament — led Johnson to talk with Quick, museum executive director Marla Flowers and museum volunteer and Valley Tournament aficionado David Compton about creating an exhibit featuring some of the items.

By then, Johnson was hooked on Wabash Valley Tournament history. One prime source of information Johnson combed through was a compendium of the tournament's history compiled and published in 1997 by the late Pimento Peppers player Dean Kendall, whom Compton inspired to tackle the project. The book's girth, at 630 pages, exemplifies the original tournament's prestige.

"It was a big deal," Johnson said, "not only just to win it, but to go to the finals."

Johnson played a couple of seasons of high school basketball himself, as well as baseball, at West Vigo before graduating in 1997. His uncle, sharpshooter Howie Johnson, played for the Marshall High School team that won the final two Valley titles in 1971 and '72, and holds the tournament's single-game scoring record with 46 points. Andy knew well that his Uncle Howie was a Marshall Lions icon, who went on to play for the University of Illinois and then the Indiana State Sycamores as a teammate of Larry Bird.

Yet, Andy hadn't heard of his uncle's exploits in the Valley Tournament, or the event's existence, until Envisionary began researching for the documentary.

"I discovered a very rich history in the Wabash Valley Tournament that I knew nothing about," Johnson said.

That's probably true of most Wabash Valley residents born after the Baby Boom. And that's why the museum exhibit, and the upcoming documentary, are so important.

"It's embedded. It's our story. It's part of who we are," Johnson said of the tournament's place in the region's history and its allure to all who participated. "There's something magical about it. It's that chance to represent your community."

Mark Bennett can be reached at 812-231-4377 or mark.bennett@tribstar.com.