Historic
Trout Gymnasium
Historic Trout Gymnasium at Centralia High School. This place held about 3500 people and was filled most Fridays when the Orphans were home. Loved the place. Such great memories.
Historic Trout Gymnasium at Centralia High School. This place held about 3500 people and was filled most Fridays when the Orphans were home. Loved the place. Such great memories.
a share from Fred Johnson.
I just LOVE this memory Fred shared. Just like you are there with him.
"...I dreamed about playing on that hardwood as long as I could
remember as a kid growing up in Centralia. This picture made me close my
eyes. I could smell the popcorn and feel the energy and anticipation of
the crowd, rocked by the band and cheerleaders before tip off.
A city came together in this gym. Packed so full people in the balcony sat on the edge and dangled their feet off the side.
As an Orphan, I felt like a gladiator that could not be defeated. There is no jersey I wore more proudly, even as a college player. I received the gift to go to college at no cost to play the game I loved because of the coaches, men like Fred Pearson, that took the time to teach me the art of the sport. They imbued a passion so deep in me that I thought my chest would explode when I held that ball.
And, I took the lessons learned in Trout Gym with me when I joined the Army and brought them to far off places that were even more hostile than the Mount Vernon gym. In no small way, I was kept alive and fought as well as one can fight because I stood on that hollowed floor that had absorbed gallons of my sweat and peeled inches of skin off my knees as a young man.
Indeed, Trout Gym is a church and even though the doors are locked to us forever, that sacred place is in my heart and soul for an eternity.
A city came together in this gym. Packed so full people in the balcony sat on the edge and dangled their feet off the side.
As an Orphan, I felt like a gladiator that could not be defeated. There is no jersey I wore more proudly, even as a college player. I received the gift to go to college at no cost to play the game I loved because of the coaches, men like Fred Pearson, that took the time to teach me the art of the sport. They imbued a passion so deep in me that I thought my chest would explode when I held that ball.
And, I took the lessons learned in Trout Gym with me when I joined the Army and brought them to far off places that were even more hostile than the Mount Vernon gym. In no small way, I was kept alive and fought as well as one can fight because I stood on that hollowed floor that had absorbed gallons of my sweat and peeled inches of skin off my knees as a young man.
Indeed, Trout Gym is a church and even though the doors are locked to us forever, that sacred place is in my heart and soul for an eternity.
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