SPORT_263_Layout 1 10/16/16 9:06 PM Page 263 SPG INDIANA GUIDE • 2 017 Get IN the Game: Sports Indiana Membership Continues to Grow Hoosiers, Hoops and Great Sports Traditions 8 Event-Ready Destinations A Premier Travel Media publication For Your Next Event www.SportsPlanningGuide.com SPORT_264_Layout 1 10/18/16 8:40 PM Page 264 Let me be the first to invite you to Indiana! I love my job and am so proud of the Hoosier State. Our warm people and welcoming places are what set us apart. Everywhere you go in Indiana, you’ll encounter a unique brand of hospitality that we proudly call Hoosier Hospitality. Of course, sports traditions run deep in Indiana, too. The Hoosier State has been referred to as the birthplace of contemporary sport Mark Newman tourism, the Amateur Sports Capital of the World, home to the greatest Executive Director spectacle in racing and more recently the Family Sports Capital of the World. Our venues span the spectrum, from historic to state-of-the-art. Indiana communities are experts at hosting events. They have successfully hosted hundreds of major national, international and world championships over the years. They possess that one invaluable resource—dedicated volunteers who cater to the needs of every participant and fan. We embrace youth sport, too, and are proud of our track record for staging events that have positively impacted the lives of able-bodied and impaired athletes alike. Indiana communities have made a commitment to being sports destinations and they understand that success in staging events is a team effort. Their understanding dates back to the 1970’s when Indianapolis established the world’s first municipal sports commission and modern sports tourism was born. Now, communities across Indiana and the world are benefitting from Indy’s original playbook. If the Indiana Office of Tourism Development or I personally can assist you as you move through your decision-making process, please do not hesitate to call on us. I can be reached at MNewman@VisitIndi- ana.com. I hope you will consider Indiana as the place for your next sporting event so we can share a little Hoosier Hospitality and give your fans and participants the experience of a lifetime. Sincerely, Mark Newman, Executive Director Indiana Office of Tourism Development IN SPORT_265_Layout 1 10/14/16 10:55 AM Page 265 SPORT_266_Layout 1 10/17/16 7:10 AM Page 266 INDIANA 268 Hoosiers, Hoops and Great Sports Traditions 270 Get IN the Game with Sports Indiana ©iStock.com/bgblue 274 Hamilton County 284 Terre Haute 276 Grand Park 286 South Shore 278 Evansville 289 South Bend Mishawaka 281 Indiana Sports Corp 290 Columbus SI 282 Fort Wayne 632576,1',$1$0(0%(56+,35(&$3 0(0%(56)2&86,1*21$0,66,21 WRSURPRWH,QGLDQDDVDSUHPLHUGHVWLQDWLRQIRUVSRUWV UHODWHGHYHQWV DGYRFDWLQJIRUFRPPXQLWLHVWKURXJKRXWWKH VWDWHZKRVHVSRUWVUHODWHGHIIRUWVHQKDQFHTXDOLW\RIOLIHDQG VWLPXODWHHFRQRPLFGHYHORSPHQW ([SDQGHGPHPEHUVKLSIURPRQHPHPEHUFDWHJRU\WRWKUHH ACTIVE / ALLIED / RIGHTS HOLDERS 6SRUWV,QGLDQDKDVJURZQWRPHPEHUV 0HPEHU%HQHILWV ,K\JH[PVUHSZLZZPVUZ࠮5L[^VYRPUNL]LU[Z࠮3LNPZSH[P]LHK]VJHJ`̸ :WVY[Z0UKPHUH.YHU[࠮4LU[VYPUNWYVNYHT࠮(JJLZZ[VYPNO[ZOVSKLYKH[HIHZL 7YVTV[PVUVML]LU[ZHUKVYNHUPaH[PVU[OYV\NO:WVY[Z0UKPHUH»Z^LIZP[LZVJPHSTLKPH HUKTHYRL[PUNPUP[PH[P]LZ 0HPEHUV\RXPD\NQRZ Game Day USA, Indiana Sports Corp, Indiana Parks and Recreation Association, NCAA, National Softball Association, Hamilton County Sports Authority and Visit Indy )25025(,1)250$7,219,6,7632576,1',$1$25* 266 Sports Planning Guide @SportsPlanGuide #SportsPG SPORT_267_Layout 1 10/14/16 10:48 AM Page 267 SPORT_268-271_Layout 1 10/14/16 10:27 AM Page 268 INDIANA Hoosiers, Hoops and Great Sports Traditions he word “Hoosier” has been used to describe a is home to towns that have long cultivated sports, towns built on resident of Indiana since the 1830s. It’ s an iconic the backs of hard-working Midwesterners who found time between term passed down through the generations, a harvesting the cornfields to shoot hoops or toss around a baseball. treasured trademark of the 19th U.S. state. You can’t talk about Indiana sports without mentioning basketball. No state so proudly associates with, or can be And what movie better epitomizes the state than Hoosiers, the true T so easily described by, one word. “Hoosier”— story of a small-town high school basketball team that shocks just about farming, basketball and proud Midwestern values. Indiana knows these everyone on its way to the state finals. things better than Colorado knows the Rocky Mountains; better than Hoosiers was released in 1986—but let’s go back a little further, to Louisiana knows Mardi Gras. But there is one detail no one seems to March 16, 1894. On this date, the state of Indiana met one of its first be sure of: How did “Hoosier” originate? true loves, the game of basketball. Indeed, it was on the second floor The answer is complicated because there’s a range of viable theo- of the Terminal Building in freezing-cold Crawfordsville that a group of ries. Some claim the term came from a contractor named Hoosier who young men first played basketball. The sport dreamed up by James was employed on the Louisville and Portland Canal. Others believe it Naismith and brought to central Indiana by one of his disciples, derived from “hoosa,” the Indian word for corn. And then there are those Nicholas McKay, was a massive hit. who say it mimics Indiana pioneers who were known to yell, “Who’s They played on ice rinks in Madison, on the fields of Martinsville, in yere?” when someone knocked on the cabin door. the lumber yards in Carmel. Basketball was accessible—all you needed In truth, any of these could be right. The real question is, how did was a ball and a basket—and could be played with only one person. Indiana become an athletic powerhouse with such an unparalleled Today, the Indiana University men’ s basketball team dominates sports tradition? attention, as proud alumni and hoops fans alike flock to watch their The answer lies in dissecting both the past and the present. Indiana young Hoosier men every March in the NCAA tournament. But the 268 Sports Planning Guide @SportsPlanGuide #SportsPG SPORT_268-271_Layout 1 10/14/16 10:51 AM Page 269 college hoops tradition doesn’t end in Bloomington. Butler University, Midwest’s best high school and collegiate athletic competition and a a small school in Indianapolis, saw its men’s basketball team make a number of exceptional venues. There’s also Terre Haute, home of Cinderella run to the NCAA title game in 2010, not unlike the young Lavern Gibson Championship Cross Country Course, one of the few men from Hoosiers. The University of Notre Dame women’s basketball purpose-built cross country courses in the world; the site has hosted has won the Athletic Coast Conference in each of the past three multiple NCAA Championships. seasons, including NCAA runner-up finishes in 2014 and 2015. And In the northern part of the state sits South Bend, Indiana, a historic of course no one has hosted more NCAA Final Fours than Indianapo- city that features Notre Dame athletics and a whole lot more. The lis in the modern era of basketball. University of Notre Dame has a storied football tradition—just watch Celebrating its 100th year in 2016, the Indianapolis 500 is the most the movie Rudy. Whispers of greatness and echoes of roaring crowds famous car-racing phenomenon on the planet. It is held annually at from decades ago course through the halls of Notre Dame Stadium. the storied grounds of Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The event sits At the direction of legendary coach Knute Rockne, the football field atop any sports fanatic’s bucket list. Every Memorial Day weekend, was built in 1930 in just 60 days. Recently, the university approved a 300,000 people jam the stands—it’s the most attended single-day $400-million renovation project, with completion set for 2017. sporting event on earth—to witness 500 miles of pure, engine-revving, During summer months in Indiana, attention turns to baseball. The gasoline-scented exhilaration. country’s first professional baseball game was played in Fort Wayne, Indianapolis has been called the “Amateur Sports Capital of the when on May 4, 1871 the Fort Wayne Kekiongas shut out Forest City World,” and for good reason. Both the NCAA and the National Feder- of Cleveland. The American pastime had found its first beginnings in ation of State High School Associations have their headquarters in the the Hoosier State. Baseball tradition has continued in Indiana ever city. The NCAA moved to Indy in 1997 from Johnson County, Kansas. since. Today minor league parks draw crowds in South Bend, Fort The organization simply couldn’t turn down the bid of Indianapolis, with Wayne, Gary and Indianapolis, while massive youth complexes its central location and 50,000-seat (since-demolished) RCA Dome. cater to amateur baseball tournaments. For example, Grand Park in Today, visitors can enjoy all 24 NCAA sports at the Hall of Champions Hamilton County spans 400 acres and features 26 baseball/softball which sits alongside NCAA headquarters. There are interactive ex- diamonds (and 31 multi-purpose fields). hibits, trivia challenges and artifacts from colleges around the nation. Indiana has sports history like no other state in the country , along The Hoosier State also has many other cities that boast a rich with a plethora of small towns and major cities boasting venues that sports tradition. One example is located on the southern tip of the never fail to impress fans across a wide spectrum of ages and back- state—Evansville. Indiana’s third-largest city features some of the grounds.