![]() ![]() There were a few deep runs with a few super-sectionals and a quarterfinal appearance outside of the 4th place finish, but no title. Sadly 4th place in the 1958-59 season was as far as the Bulldogs ever made it. From what I was told during my visit to the school, you pretty much had to get season tickets if you wanted to see a game for most of the 1960s. The 1960s were the pinnacle for the town’s frenzy around its high school basketball team. This wasn’t just the only game in town on a weekend night, it was the only thing to do without planning a day trip. The NBA was still 20 years away when Waukegan’s gym, as well as most other classic gyms were built, and from a logistics standpoint America was still 40-50 years away from even the beginning of the Interstate Highway System, let alone what we have today. You’d be hard pressed to find fandom of college teams back then like you do now. Part of the old Suburban League that was made up of the larger towns’ high schools in Cook County it included the likes of Oak Park, New Trier, Thornton, Proviso, Evanston, LaGrange, Morton, and even Morgan Park (before that town was incorporated into Chicago.) Formed in 1914 it shouldn’t be a surprise that most of the schools still operating in older buildings in the conference have gyms that are more like arenas and subsequently have made the list of what many consider Illinois’ Best High School Gyms.Ī quick look at the entertainment landscape of the day will give you an easy answer to why so many of these towns had more of an arena feel to them than modern gyms. Taylorville’s West Gym and Ottawa’s Kingman Gym share some similarities. These gyms are typical of the early 1900s and have steel beams surrounding the court to hold up the raised middle ceiling. Built in 1927 this brick and cement structure is what some refer to as a “barn style” gym one that has a raised ceiling above the court and a lower ceiling over the seating sections. To be fair to the good people of Waukegan, there had been a high school around since 1870, the gym was just the first part of what would become their new school at the time. To understand the mystique that surrounds Waukegan’s gym, you might only need to know one little tidbit that locals may tell you “the gym was built before the school.” Johnson) Before There Was A School, There Was Basketball ![]() Waukegan High’s East Campus Gym on Washington Street, nicknamed the Dog Pound, Saturday Dec. ![]()
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