Hardwood Floors, Bleachers Stir Up Memories
By Hayden Goethe, Staff Writer

Basketballs dribbled down a court 84-feet long, 50-feet wide. A rectangular-shaped parquet slab, level to the ground, with seats on both sides. Now, put the floor on a stage six feet high, with two poles sticking out of it.
      Did I just destroy the image of the average basketball court? Maybe the average one nowadays, but a generation ago, the latter description could have been true. In baseball, for example, no one mentions those “cookie-cutter” ballparks of the 1970s as their favorites. When people name their famous parks, the ones that leave an indelible mark, you think of Fenway, Wrigley, or Camden.
      Basketball courts in northwest Minnesota are spoken of in much the same manner. However, with the high school courts of today mirroring regulation standards, one must delve into the courts of yesteryear to find some of the more interesting experiences.
      Warren, MN, boasts one of the more common oddities among basketball courts. Basketball on a stage, believe it or not, is fairly common, but also fairly dangerous. While the high school games have since moved off the stage, practices are still held in front of theatre-style seating, making for some interesting anecdotes.
      “The varsity still practices on it, and the junior high plays on it,” said Ross Howard, a Warren-Alvarado-Oslo High School graduate.
      Howard, a senior and a teacher’s assistant at Minnesota State University Moorhead, learned first hand the importance of a mental compass when playing at such an elevation.  “If you weren’t careful, you’d fall off. I actually fell off the stage one time,” Howard said, now able to laugh about it. “It didn’t hurt as much as you’d think it would.”
      A theater curtain serves as the warning sign on these courts, in order to let players know they’re getting a little too close to being reunited with the first floor. The same can be said for Ada High School, which has since joined Borup’s high school as a co-op.
      “Before the flood [of 1997], they had theater seats and a raised floor,” said John Otto, Twin Valley’s American Legion baseball coach, and a local expert on high school gymnasiums. “It was a unique thing,” Otto said.
      Before the merger, Ada’s close neighbor, Borup, had even more significant problems for players to overcome. “Years ago, they had a floor they used as a lunchroom. There was a couple of poles in the floor that you had to watch out for,” Otto said, with a chuckle. “It made for an interesting game.”

Hardwood floors Continued..........

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