Musings Of A Hoopster/The Blue Chip story

January 23, 2024

by Shawn Martin

Excelhsports.com Columnist

Frankfort, Indiana  – The small mid-north Indiana city of Frankfort, has a deep high school basketball heritage and has influenced how the game is played – and celebrated – worldwide.

In late 1992 to early 1993, Hollywood Movie Director William Friedkin was putting together the film Blue Chips, a Blockbuster film about a hard nosed, big time college basketball coach and his travel down the wrong road to glory.

“Pete Bell”, the coach of the fictional Western Dolphins, was very much modeled after the intense and volatile personality of late Indiana University coach Bob Knight. Obviously, the shady dealings withstanding.

A big part of the movie would involve some of the biggest stars and personalities in college and professional basketball at that time, playing and coaching in very realistic “games” – including fans in the stands.

They began looking for a gym that had a college look and feel to it. Eventually their search led them to this blue-collar town of a little more than 15,000 people (1993 numbers) at the suggestion of Knight, and Tom Kubat, a Purdue beat writer for the Lafayette Journal and Courier.

Once the movie people set foot inside the massive Dome of Case Arena, they knew they had found the Dolphin Dome!

Case Arena opened in 1963 as a marvel of architectural design. More importantly, it allowed Frankfort to re-acquire hosting rights for the Indiana High School Athletic Association (IHSAA) Regional basketball tournament (second level of the state tournament) that had been lost to bitter and hated rival Lebanon, who had built a new gym fifteen miles south of Frankfort.

Case Arena is the 23rd largest high school gym in the world, seating over 5,000 in bleachers that encircle the court. Many refer to the design as a “Mini Mack,” as it resembles Mackey Arena, which is Purdue’s home court. Mackey Arena though, opened more than six years after Case did.

The gym is named in honor of Everett Case, who coached Frankfort – the “Fighting Five” before becoming the uniquely named “Hot Dogs” – to four state championships in the 1920’s and 1930’s. After that, he coached at North Carolina State University and was instrumental in forming the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC), he developed several concepts in basketball strategy – including the four-corners offense – and he also introduced the tradition of cutting the nets down from the rims after a championship win.

Filming of the playing scenes was done in the summer of 1993, which allowed the players and coaches to film while in their “off season”.

July in Indiana can be an inferno. In 1993, most gyms (and schools) in Indiana were without air-conditioning – many an elementary or junior high basketball camper can remember the sauna-like conditions that they endured during those weeks trying to capture the eye of the high school coach or win that little plaque denoting their dominant ball handling skills over their classmates.

For the filming of the scenes inside Case Arena, a temporary air-conditioning system was housed on a semi-trailer parked next to the gym. Large flexible round ducts went up to a couple of windows above the seats to deliver the chilled air. That worked very well to keep everyone comfortable in the hot, humid Hoosier heat during the four days of filming in Frankfort.

You can’t have a movie about big time college sports and not have a huge crowd to give it more energy. How do you get people to come and watch basketball games in July when nobody is in school and none of the teams or players are “local”?

You sell tickets (a couple of bucks each), you print up t-shirts in the color and name of the fictional Western Dolphins team, and you bring in a collection of some of the biggest stars in the game at that time!

A bonus for the production crew was this was Indiana, a state where basketball ranks right behind God and family in the pecking order of life priorities. These people know what the difference between a back screen and a box out is – and by-God #24 didn’t do either the last trip down the floor!

It certainly led to a very authentic atmosphere for the game scenes to be played.

Come on – this IS Indiana!

Whenever I have watched Blue Chips, I see many familiar faces. However, I was in Kingsport, Tennessee coaching in an AAU National Tournament while the game scenes were being filmed back home in Frankfort.

I remember many stories of “sightings” of some of the stars of the movie – notably Nick Nolte, Shaquille O’Neal, Penny Hardaway, Knight, and Dick Vitale –  in local places around the area. Frankfort, Clinton County, and the Lafayette/Indianapolis region were star struck for sure.

Eric Farley is the Chief Academic Officer at his Alma Mater school corporation. He is also the father of one of the current Hot Dog starters and is an assistant coach with the team.

Putting on a 30th Anniversary game of Blue Chips was his brainchild. The regular season matchup with neighboring Rossville was chosen. January 13th 2024 was the date secured.

“When I noticed that we hadn’t done anything for the 25th year, I had thought it was a missed opportunity.” Farley said in an email.

“I had just started out assisting the varsity at that time. So, fast forward to the 30th and being more cemented into the program, I was adamant that we had to do something.”

“Initially, my thought was to do something similar to the Hickory games, with jerseys and such” he added. “The more I thought about it – and the more I personally felt connected to it – the more I began to add and ‘dream up’ more ideas.”

One thing that came together fairly late in the preparations for this nostalgia game (the ‘dream up’ add-ons), was having both teams wear uniforms representing the climatic movie matchup between the Western University Dolphins, coached by Bell (Nolte) and the Indiana Hoosiers, with the General (Knight) roaming the sideline.

Frankfort was to wear specially made Western Dolphins uniforms for the game with Rossville. The idea to have the Hornets – a school that is located less than 20 miles from Mackey Arena – to wear Indiana uniforms was hatched.

Why not?!

Copyright access was gained, money raised, and the Hornets would don familiar colors, but, albeit a different name they would be playing “for”.

Actually, one of the more impressive things from the night was Frankfort’s long-time Public-Address Announcer, Gary Stock, didn’t once “mis-speak” when calling a basket, a substitution, or a foul on a “Dolphin” or a “Hoosier”. There were no Hot Dogs or Hornets called out that night! As someone who has done PA before, that IS impressive!

Almost five thousand faced frigid temperatures. The people in charge of the concession stands had to make a few Walmart runs to get more supplies. People from all over Indiana had come to watch the “Dolphins” beat the “Hoosiers” – err the Hot Dogs over the Hornets – 54-39.

 Hot Dogs and Hornets. None of those kids had ever played in front of that many people before. Very likely, no other high school players in the United States will play a regular season game in front of that big of a crowd this season! Or atmosphere!

“Our Athletic Director Ed Niehaus, was willing to adjust and pivot the schedule of the game to fit in the event” Farley said, adding, “Richard Sallee and Michael Taylor assisted greatly with the production side, ensuring media and special guests introductions were well planned and executed.”

“My wife, Vannessa, assisted me so much with ensuring we had all the products needed (anything from foam fingers, shirts, to big screens).”

Four big screen TV’s were rolled on the floor at center court to show video remarks from several of the principal celebrities that were part of the Blue Chips movie.

As anyone knows, absolutely nothing gets done with high school athletic events without significant contributions of the athletic department secretary! June Palmer was a tremendous force in pulling this off.

One of the actors from the movie, Anthony Hall, was a frequent contact for Farley to bounce ideas off of and to get into to contact with others.

Mark Masariu, a referee, helped with other contacts of guests that were able to attend. Shawn Chambers and his wife painted the windows of Case Arena, turning it back into the Dolphin Dome for the event. Seth Pennelton of Aidex Graphics turned the Case Arena playing floor into that of the Western Dolphins. Mulberry Telecommunications televised the game and they, and several other donors paid for the special uniforms both teams and the Frankfort cheerleaders wore for the game.

It truly was a community affair!

Farley concluded “Our Superintendent (Matt Rhoda) was supportive along the way, even to the point where he knew that I had to work on some of this during my regular workday. Additionally, it aligned with one of our district Pillars (goals). We have a Pillar of Literacy, Post-Secondary Outcomes, and Community. I took on ensuring that this was big in terms of having a positive result for the Community.”

As one that braved the sub-zero windchills on that brutal January evening to attend, it was a wonderful showcase of Frankfort, its school, and Clinton County as a whole!

Mission very much accomplished!