“The best high school basketball arena of all”
Growing up in a Chicago suburb and following high school basketball
since the 1950s, I had heard many stories about Wharton Field House in
Moline. Several coaches told me of their experiences, taking their teams
to play in the venerable and historic arena. So when I was planning
research for my first book, "Sweet Charlie, Dike, Cazzie, and Bobby Joe:
High School Basketball in Illinois," I scheduled a trip to Moline and
Wharton Field House. Located at 1800 20th Avenue in the heart of the
city, it was built in 1928 adjacent to Browning Field, Moline's historic
football facility. The home court for the Moline Maroons basketball
team, it has a capacity of 6,000 but has held many more for Moline/Rock
Island and Moline/Galesburg and Moline/Quincy basketball games. It
retains its old-time atmosphere with a raised playing surface. In 2004,
USA Today named it as one of the top places to watch high school
basketball. But old-timers acknowledged that fact in the 1930s and
1940s. Wharton was home to the NBA's Tri-Cities Blackhawks from 1946 to
1951. Legendary Hall of Fame coach Red Auerbach was the Blackhawks' head
coach in 1949-50 before accepting the same position with the Boston
Celtics. Wharton also was home to the Quad City Thunder of the
Continental Basketball Association from 1987 to 1993. The 87-year-old
landmark no longer is a mecca for show business personalities or
politicians or exhibitors. Instead, it continues to fulfill one of its
original intended uses--as a showplace for high school basketball.
Wharton was designed by William H. Schulzke, a prominent Moline
architect. It is named after Theodore Finley Wharton, the
secretary-treasurer of Deere & Co. and longtime education booster,
who sold $175,000 in bonds to finance the project. Among the
entertainers who performed at Wharton were Gene Autry, Bill Haley and
his Comets, Johnny Cash and Harry Belafonte. Richard Nixon, Ted Kennedy
and Barry Goldwater drew huge crowds, too. But Moline basketball stirs
most memories in this town. Former two-time All-State player and
longtime coach Whitey Verstraete showed me around the field house, where
Earl Lloyd, the first African-American to play in the NBA, once played.
Wharton also hosted dog shows, concerts, wrestling and boxing matches,
car shows, farm shows and flower and garden shows. But the one event
that most old-timers remember is the 1956 supersectional game between
West Rockford and Galesburg. West Rockford, en route to its second state
championship in a row, won 66-64
in two overtimes. There is so much
history to the place. In 1943, Moline snapped Paris' 39-game winning
streak at Wharton. Verstraete's team snapped Lyons' 44-game winning
streak in 1954. Glenn "Doc" Rivers' Proviso East teams played at Wharton
for four years in a row. Other great teams from Quincy, King, Du Sable,
Galesburg, Proviso East, Collinsville, Bloom, Lockport and Decatur
played there, too. It also is home to the Moline/Rock Island series, the
oldest high school basketball rivalry in Illinois. Most of the great
old gyms, like Huff Gym in Champaign, are gone or largely forgotten
today. But Wharton remains as imposing as ever.
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