New Castle Fieldhouse
The New Castle Fieldhouse is a 9,325-seat multi-purpose arena in New Castle, Indiana, USA. It is home to the New Castle Chrysler High School Trojans basketball team. Built in 1959, it is the largest high school basketball gym in the world.[1]
The New Castle Fieldhouse was built by the Ralph Hunnicutt & Sons Construction Company. The main basketball court is a "sunken" floor, meaning that one enters the building at the top of the bleachers and the playing floor is below. The distance from the level where one enters to the peak of the roof is the same as the distance from where one enters to the playing floor. Seven times around the concourse at the top of the bleachers equals one mile. Archie Richard Hunnicutt, the son of Ralph Hunnicutt, served as the General Contractor for this project. Archie was a graduate of Purdue University and served in the Army Aircorps in WWII.
With the addition of temporary bleachers the fieldhouse can be expanded to hold close to 10,000 spectators. Such was the case when future NBA players and Indiana University stars Kent Benson and Steve Alford called the fieldhouse home. In 2004 the USA Today toured the country in search of the best gym to play high school basketball. Despite the home Trojans losing to conference rival Anderson Indians (Anderson High School Wigwam, the 2nd largest high school fieldhouse with a capacity of 8,996) on the night of USA Today's visit; the paper still ranked the fieldhouse #1. The Trojans went on to win the Class 3A State Championship in 2006. The gym also hosts high school volleyball games, wrestling meets, gymnastics competitions, and gym classes during the school day. The top of the fieldhouse is bordered by a 1/7 of a mile rubber track. The track is used for gym classes as well as being open to the public in the mornings, evenings and during lunch period.