Columbus North High School’s Memorial Gym promises to be rocking tonight when the Bull Dogs host the boys basketball sectional for the first time in six years.
Thousands of baskets have been scored in that gym since it opened in 1954. Bob Risk, now 81, made the first field goal.
“In 1955, (Memorial Gym) was the envy of the state,” Risk said. “There weren’t many schools that had a gym like that.”
Risk, who was a senior in that 1954-55 season, had grown up playing at Lutheran school, which had an outdoor basketball court. They played games at Taylorsville, which had a rubber floor, and Elizabethtown, which played above a corner grocery store.
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Then his first three years at Columbus High School, Risk and his teammates played at Pearl Street Gym, which is near the current Central Middle School.
“When you took the ball out of bounds, you practically had to sit on the first row of people’s lap,” Risk said. “All of (the gyms), there was no distance under the basket. One or two steps, and you were up against padding. Things were just not developed as it is today.”
Tough competition
Risk’s junior year, the 1953-54 season, the Bull Dogs, coached by Bill Stearman, played in a holiday tournament against a little-known team from Milan. Risk guarded a player named Ray Craft, who along with Bobby Plump, led Milan to the 1954 state championship.
That title run, including the title-game win over a Muncie Central school that was 10 times larger than Milan, inspired the blockbuster movie Hoosiers.
“Then, they were just like any other ballplayer because they hadn’t become famous yet,” Risk said. “That movie really made them famous.”
Risk’s junior season was cut short after he injured his knee in a game at Shelbyville and underwent surgery. Columbus went on to win sectional and regional titles before falling to Oscar Robertson-led Indianapolis Crispus Attucks in the semistate semifinals at Butler Fieldhouse.
The next year, Risk was back on the court for the Memorial Gym opener against Bloomington. Jerry Records made a free throw, then Risk stole the ball and made a layup on his way to a 16-point night in a 56-39 victory.
The Bull Dogs would defend their sectional title in front of their home crowd later that season.
“When we came out in the sectional the first game, and I looked up there — 7,200 people — I had never seen that many people in a crowd in my life,” Risk said. “It was unbelievable.”
Risk then scored 30 points in a regional semifinal win against Scottsburg. He did not score in 33-32 regional final win over Greensburg, but Jerry Schofield came through with 20 points, and both made All-Regional team.
“They stalled,” Risk said. “I only took two shots. We didn’t have the ball, and then we got to feeding it to Schofield because they couldn’t stop him.”
In the semistate, Columbus again ran into Attucks before a standing-room only crowd at Butler Fieldhouse. Schofield scored 27, and Risk added 19, but the Bull Dogs fell 80-62 to the team that would go on to win the state championship the following week.
“We had good teams, but we couldn’t beat them,” Risk said.
Risk, who averaged 18 points a game as a senior, and Schofield both made the All-Semistate team.
The next level
After graduation, Risk headed to Tulane, which at the time was a member of the Southeastern Conference. During his four years at Tulane, he said he played in only one gym larger than Memorial Gym, and that was at Ohio State.
Risk had his second knee operation after graduating from Tulane. He later had both knees replaced.
“Stearman told me, ‘Your dad loved basketball. But if he hadn’t played basketball and torn up his knees, he could have played in (baseball’s) major leagues. He could run, and he could hit,’ said Risk’s son Eric, who played basketball for Stearman in the early 1980s.
Bob Risk returned to Columbus and owned Risk Electric for more than 50 years. He also obtained a real estate brokers license and dabbled in real estate.
Risk hasn’t been to any games in Memorial Gym this season, but has off and on since he graduated.
“I always felt the reason (the fans in the 1950s and 60s) took to basketball so much was, there just weren’t that many other sports,” he said. “You had football, basketball, baseball and that was pretty well it.”
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Name: Bob Risk
Age: 81
High school: Columbus
College: Tulane
Occupation: Retired electrician and real estate broker
Family: Wife Bonnie (deceased), son Eric Risk, daughters Renee Strietelmeier and Rhonda Brown, one grandson
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Columbus North Sectional
Today
6 p.m.: Columbus East (11-10) vs. Bloomington North (13-7)
7:30 p.m.: Columbus North (16-7) vs. Shelbyville (12-10)
Friday
6 p.m.: Columbus East-Bloomington North winner vs. Bloomington South (21-3)
7:30 p.m.: Columbus North-Shelbyville winner vs. East Central (16-7)
Saturday
7 p.m.: Championship (winner advances to Seymour Regional)
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