And seeing the Wigwam boarded up is going to rip out a part of that soul.

FORBES: America's second-largest high school gym is a goner

Among the leaders of the pack were Wigwam, led by Irish singer and keyboard player Jim Pembroke.

NPR: The Sounds of Finnish Musical Experiments

The closing of the Wigwam was sad enough for Anderson, and for basketball.

FORBES: Anderson, Indiana's Once-Mighty Wigwam Gym: Still Dead

Tonight (March 8), the Anderson Community School Corp. board voted 6-1 to close the Wigwam, the 9, 000-seat gym that is second only to New Castle, Ind.

FORBES: America's second-largest high school gym is a goner

However, the Wigwam had become an increasing expensive luxury in a struggling town abandoned by the auto industry that once helped make it possible for the populace to build, and fill, the Anderson High gym.

FORBES: America's second-largest high school gym is a goner

Yet on Friday and Saturday nights the past two winters, the Wigwam has sat empty, a relic of more prosperous days when General Motors fueled the local economy and Anderson season tickets were passed down through the generations.

FORBES: Anderson, Indiana's Once-Mighty Wigwam Gym: Still Dead

Wigwam still perform and record.

NPR: The Sounds of Finnish Musical Experiments

As a native Hoosier, I know full well that even if the Wigwam was merely the second-largest gym, it was the heart and soul at least until the last few years of Indiana high school basketball, the most hysterical place of Hoosier Hysteria.

FORBES: America's second-largest high school gym is a goner