In Search of a Jimmy Chitwood Basketball Hoop

By Ryan Fagan
Sporting News’ Ryan Fagan is traveling the Hoosier State, watching every D-I team in Indiana over 12 days. He’ll write about all things Hoosier Culture for The Sporting Blog.
Photo Jay and I were taking a bit of a side route on the trip from Valpo to Ball State, cutting across the state on Highway 28. The goal was to find the perfect Jimmy Chitwood basketball hoop -- a hoop on a farm or nailed to an old barn or something like that.
We’d been on the road for about a half-hour, slowing down and craning our necks around at every little homestand, looking for that slice of Indianacana. I was driving and messing around with my iPod when Photo Jay says, “Stop the car and turn around. I’m pretty sure I just saw an old hoop right next to an American and Indiana flag.”
[img=http://i.tsn.com/i/photos/20080219/86813.jpg]
Sure enough, it was. And even better, about five feet off the ground, the pole had a tiny little hoop with a wooden backboard that had been painted white. And it was a windy day in Hoosier land, so the flags were flapping nearly straight out. Perfect.
It was there we met Calvin Henderson, one of the many immensely friendly folks I’ve run into on this trip. Mr. Henderson is an IU guy, even though he grew up just eight miles east of Lafayette in the tiny town of Monitor. He played ball for Monitor and graduated high school in 1941.
He’d put the hoop up for his grandkids, a few years after building the house in 1974. The little hoop was put up for his grandkids, about a decade ago.↵