From photojournalist Vincent D. Johnson and The University of Illinois Press.
This is the official website for the upcoming book “Illustrious: The Best High School Basketball Gyms In Illinois.”
What puts a sports venue on a “Best of” list?
Is it how new or hi-tech the facility is? Think So-Fi Stadium in Los Angeles. Is it how historic it is? Names like Wrigley or Soldier Field come to mind. What about the uniqueness of its layout? Fenway Park stands out.
One could also take into account the greatness of the teams and players that have called it home, such as the previous version of Yankee Stadium. How about where it’s located? The Field of Dreams in Iowa or Madison Square Garden in the center of Manhattan.
Of course a venue is only as good as how many people can fit into it right? Would that automatically mean the University of Michigan has the best sports venue with its 108,000 capacity, or could you also include Harvard Stadium with its Greek Panathenaic style that holds only 30,000 on that list?
The Endless Debate
No matter how sound you think your criteria is, someone will most likely have a different metric they measure what makes a gym “The Best.”
This book and website are essentially one man’s quest to make sure everyone has photos and stories to inform the debates in the stands and at reunions. To document and create a time capsule for the spaces we’ve come to know and love, for the days ahead when these spaces inevitably get updated or retired.
Emotional Connections
Regardless of how great each gym looks, packed to the rafters or empty with the lights off. No amount of pictures and text will be able to convey the emotional attachments so many of us have to these gyms. The one almost universal connection everyone of us has is that we went to high school. So, whether it was for playing sports, watching sports, gym class, school assemblies, or pancake breakfast fundraisers. Each and everyone of us has stepped foot in a high school gym at one point in our lives.
The memories, friendships, and moments we had there will effect how we feel about them. Sometimes far beyond what others will. I can’t say that gyms included in this book would pass everyone’s test. And I can’t say that my biases to moments I’ve had covering events in some of these haven’t effected my criteria.
I can only say that after spending 4 years talking with coaches, sports writers, former players, and fans; while also visiting or looking at photos of each of the 800-plus high school gyms in Illinois. I hope anyone who picks up this book will be half as emotionally invested in this endeavor I undertook.