1972 Illinois Game

[so cal lurker]

Originally Posted by Mark T. DeNucci, Sr.

What I find amusing in this video is the fan shaped backboards.

I graduated from H.S. in 1969 and started playing when I was 9 years old being that being that our next door neighbor coached the boys' varsity basketball and golf teams and later the girls' varsity golf team. I attended H.S. basketball games early on and never saw a fan shaped backboard. Even the small farm schools in the county in which I lived had rectangular backboards in the late 1950s and on.

MTD, Sr.

I don't recall seeing any in HS (early 80s) on the main court, but was in a number of gyms (SF Bay Area) that had fan boards on the side courts in the gym. And in junior high played in a few gyms with fan shaped boards (including one that had never repainted the court to remove the key shaped key and had those weird dual mid-court lines because the court was too short . . .)

[BillyMac]

Originally Posted by so cal lurker

... number of gyms that had fan boards

The old high school in my town is now an elementary school, with a large gymnasium that is used for recreation games, travel games, etc.

It has rectangular wooden framed backboards with half glass (from the rim up) and half wood (from the rim down) backboards. I have been told that, back in the 1950's, these were the first glass backboards in the state of Connecticut. The entrance to the gymnasium is right under one of these backboards and the old timers in town tell me that visiting fans used to just stand under the backboard and stare for a few minutes as they entered the gymnasium.

When I first started officiating, one of our high schools had an unused analog clock scoreboard on the wall. It eventually was taken down. I hope that they kept in in storage and didn't just send it to the landfill.

[BillyMac]

Originally Posted by so cal lurker

... those weird dual mid-court lines because the court was too short ...

I officiated a few high school varsity game on one of those courts at a private prep school. Smallest gymnasium that I've ever officiated a high school varsity game in. Team benches were against a side wall, and if players just sat on the bench naturally, their feet would be on the playing court.

I was quite pleased when school finally built a new gymnasium. Unfortunately, the new gymnasium has a lot of windows. During afternoon games (common in Connecticut for private prep schools), the sun, as it moves across the sky, will occasionally shine brightly on the floor of the court producing a lot of glare that makes it very difficult to officiate. It makes me want to wear my polarized sunglasses, that I wear while kayaking, to cut down on the glare.

[paulsonj72]

The IHSA(Illinois association) has a lot of games up on YouTube and I noticed that in the late 1970's and early 1980's future NFL official Larry Nemmers officiated in the Illinois State Tournament.