1,000 games later, Roy Garvin's back at New Castle Fieldhouse after scoring 1st point

NEW CASTLE -- Roy Garvin was a 16-year-old junior on the reserve team for New Castle High when he pulled up for a shot on Nov. 21, 1959 -- the very first shot inside the newly opened mecca of basketball that was getting buzz nationwide as the largest and finest basketball fieldhouse in the world.

And he sank it.

With that, the crowd erupted and Garvin set himself up to become something of a local legend, though he didn't know it at the time, as the player who scored the first points inside New Castle Fieldhouse.

Garvin was back Friday night as the New Castle boys basketball program played its 1,000th game inside the gym, which for the past 66 years has been a destination for basketball aficionados near and far who visit the fieldhouse, just because.

Just to see its glory.

With a seating capacity of nearly 10,000, New Castle Fieldhouse, the centerpiece of a once-bustling factory town, was known for years as Chrysler Fieldhouse, a nod to the largest employer in the city.

When it opened in 1959, IHSAA Commissioner L.V. Phillips dubbed it the "Largest and Finest High School Fieldhouse in the World" in his dedication remarks.

At center court Friday before the game, Garvin was announced as an honorary captain with a special basketball for a ceremonial opening tip along with New Castle senior Mason Miller. The two posed for photos, the quintessential before and after portrait spanning nearly seven decades.

After taking his seat with his family and yelling out a fierce "come on Trojans" as the game began, Garvin started reminiscing. He isn't sure where 66 years have gone. How 999 games have been played at the fieldhouse before tonight.

"Very difficult to believe. You know, I was 16 years old in November of '59, and it just seemed like it was yesterday," Garvin said. "It's crazy how fast (it goes). The older you get, the faster it goes."

But the memories haven't faded and, of course, all the memories came flooding back for Garvin on Friday. That game where he scored 26 points in the first half against Muncie Central, then zero in the second because he sprained his ankle going for a layup.

The blizzard that cancelled sectionals and turned the fieldhouse into a makeshift home for hundreds of fans. The fieldhouse's steel collapse in June 1958 during construction due to high winds, which delayed its opening for a season.

And, of course, the memory Garvin has never been able to forget -- or live down -- not that he wants to.

Garvin may have spent his life as a revered veterinarian in this city, but what he might best be known for is as the junior varsity player who christened a legendary fieldhouse.

'The place was packed'

"Trojan fans, tonight we are here to celebrate a milestone event," Neil Thornhill, a New Castle basketball historian said before New Castle's game against New Palestine. "Tonight is game number 1,000. It is safe to say that no high school facility has hosted more great teams, great coaches and great players over the last 66 years."

In those 66 years, New Castle has won 719 games, scored more than 66,000 points and hosted 105 different opponents. Inside the arena, 43 Indiana Mr. Basketballs have played and nine coaches have led the Trojans with four going into the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame.

Garvin was barely 5 when he first picked up a basketball. His family lived in rural Henry County with a goal on their garage and his older brother, nine years older, played for the high school team. Garvin was always trying to keep up with him.

When it came time for his high school career, Garvin played for New Castle his freshman and sophomore seasons at the old Church Street Gym. That was the site of the historic "Church Street Shootout" in 1959 that saw Ray Pavy (New Castle) and Jimmy Rayl (Kokomo) combine for 100 points in a single game.

Garvin ran track with Pavy and remembers how desperately he wanted to play inside the new fieldhouse. But the summer before Pavy's senior season, the New Castle Fieldhouse experienced what was called at the time "a significant steel collapse" during construction.

No one was injured. The collapse, fortunately, happened before the final floor was poured, but it halted the timeline as experts came in to revamp the gymnasium's design.

When it opened for that inaugural game in the 1959-60 season against Greenfield, New Castle won the JV and varsity matchups. Garvin remembers being in awe as he took the court.

"It was awesome. It was amazing because by halftime, this place was packed. The whole place for JV," he said. "So I think, no doubt, we had the highest attendance for a JV team in the world. We had to because our whole season was that way."

As Garvin's senior year approached, New Castle's team was looking good, ranked in the top 10 at the beginning of the season. But then the injuries came and "our last half of the season we didn't do too well," he said.

Then came sectionals and the so-called "Great Snowout of 1961" when a blizzard trapped thousands of fans and players for days, turning the fieldhouse into one big slumber party.

"I don't know how many thousands of people actually came here, but we were taken out in army vehicles," Garvin said. "I only lived about four blocks from here, so I was able to stay at home. But the sad part was we had to come back Monday and play the game, and we got beat. We didn't win the sectional. Marion Pierce beat us."

But Garvin's favorite memory of all came flooding back Friday, a game against Muncie Central when he scored 26 points in the first half.

"So we go to halftime and coach says, 'I don't have much to say. Just give it to Roy,'" Garvin said. "So I come out and they set up a play for me, a layup. And I went in right over center, missed the layup and sprained my ankle." Zero points in the second half.

As a player who usually averaged 8 to 10 points, Garvin was happy with it.

'On to the next 1,000 games'

Peggy Garvin is at the fieldhouse sitting behind her husband, who she's been watching take the basketball court since they were in grade school. That's when they met.

She was there cheering as Garvin sank those first two points at the fieldhouse in 1959 and when she became his official girlfriend her sophomore year (he was a junior), she was there in this electric gymnasium for all those memories, which are flooding back for her, too.

Garvin's basketball career ended when he graduated high school. He tried out for the freshmen team at Purdue, where he majored in veterinary medicine, but didn't make it. The coach said he could stay on for the practice team. He wanted Garvin there. He saw something. But Garvin didn't want to be a practice player.

For the next 60-some years, Garvin made his name as New Castle's finest vet until Friday when he once again became intertwined with the largest and finest basketball fieldhouse in the world.

The school held a reception after the game for Garvin and all the others who have played in this fieldhouse for the past 66 years.

Three former New Castle coaches, Sam Alford, Steve Bennett and Daniel Cox, who coached a combined 728 games in the fieldhouse, were announced at Friday's game center court, followed by dozens of other players and coaches connected with the program.

"(They) have created and been a part of so many of the great moments in this iconic venue," Thornhill said before the game. "Now let's all give the largest and finest high school fieldhouse in the world a round of applause that it deserves and on to the next 1,000 games."

Follow IndyStar sports reporter Dana Benbow on X: @DanaBenbow. Reach her via email: [email protected].   

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: New Castle Fieldhouse, largest high school gym in world, sees 1,000th game