INDIANAPOLIS — The Indiana Historical Society (IHS)’s newest exhibit, Going Pro: Basketball Origins in Indiana, opens Sept. 23 at the Eugene and Marilyn Glick Indiana History Center, located at 450 W. Ohio St.
Visitors to this exhibit will explore Indiana’s game of basketball and its impact on professional sports, including stories of iconic games, teams and players through amazing photographs, one-of-a-kind artifacts and a digital media experience that will bring these stories to life like never before.
The foundations of professional basketball in Indiana were found in humble gyms with players “splitting up the nickels” after a game. It wasn’t long before Indiana and its passion for the game played a foundational role in building national basketball leagues, playing in the nation’s largest fieldhouses, and players flying to games aboard private planes. Dozens of professional teams made their mark on the Hoosier state with teams in several cities including Anderson, Richmond, Indianapolis, Fort Wayne and Hammond.
Going Pro: Basketball Origins in Indiana includes stories about Fred Zollner and his first pro-basketball squad, local sporting goods business Em-Roes and their impact on the game, and Dave Dejernett who became the first Black player to win a state basketball tournament on an integrated team in the U.S. — as the Washington Hatchets beat the Muncie Central Bearcats 32-21 in the Indiana State Finals at Butler Fieldhouse, the largest basketball venue in the country at the time.
The exhibit will also include the Indiana Pacers, which started in 1967 as one of the inaugural teams of the new American Basketball Association. The Pacers were stars of the league with hall of famers like Mel Daniels, Roger Brown and George McGinnis. The ABA’s finances led to a merger with the NBA in 1976.
The Going Pro: Basketball Origins in Indiana exhibit opens Sept. 23, and runs through Feb. 2024. The exhibit is presented by Pacers Sports & Entertainment.
For more information about other IHS offerings, call (317) 232-1882 or visit www.indianahistory.org.