BIRDSEYE, Ind. — Stories or folklore about the unusual and odd help to make our great game what it is today. With this in mind, I set about looking to turn over the details of a tale that has long been told. The lantern game at Birdseye High School…


Photo I was able to attain of inside of gym that I believe this game took place in. This photo was taken at Birdseye homecoming late in 1940’s. The ‘gym’ was called Stevens Station and/or Stevens Junction. It served as gym for Bristow High as well for a time and a roller skating rink among other things. Structure is no longer there.

When I first began trying to research this story, I was operating without much guidance. I’d heard rumors and fragments of the story, but getting someone to name specifics would prove difficult to say the least.

I spoke with Birdseye Yellow Jackets that played in the 1950’s, and 60’s. None could point to a game they were involved in during their era. However, I was able to piece together enough details that I’m convinced the story is real. Most likely taking place in the 1930’s.

So as many legends are passed along as oral history, I, too, became familiar with this rich story in much the same manner.

Here’s what I’ve been able to determine by compiling and comparing the various accounts. As you might imagine, newspaper reports of regular season Birdseye basketball games during the depression age were pretty much nonexistent.

Sometime during the decade of the 1930’s, the Birdseye Yellow Jackets played host to the Marengo Cavemen. Birdseye is now a part of Forest Park, and Marengo kids now attend Crawford County. The two communities are separated by about 25 miles on old Hwy 64 in Southern Indiana.

To say that these two schools were basketball rivals would be an understatement. While both had other schools and communities that might be considered more despised, there was little love shared between Yellow Jackets and Cavemen.

As far as basketball prowess goes, neither was ever considered a world beater. However, Marengo owned a sizeable advantage in this particular rivalry. Birdseye never did capture a Sectional, but Marengo was able to take titles in 1947 and 1957.

As this particular late February contest approached, Birdseye was again mired in a less than stellar campaign. Marengo on the other hand came to town with a winning docket and every reason to feel confident of capturing the bragging rights of the hollow for the coming year. The Cavemen and their fans also enjoyed an unseasonably warm day for their road trip.

However, as the game went on, the locals were hanging tough. According to accounts passed down through the ages, homestanding Birdseye led at the half – much to the chagrin of the favored visitors.
This upset in the making must have not set well with the basketball gods, because as the third quarter clicked along, the warm evening gave way to a building storm outside.

Lightning boomed and water poured on the old gym roof. As the fourth quarter began with the upstarts still ahead on the scoreboard, the power went out. Marengo called for a forfeit on the part of Birdseye since they couldn’t provide a lit gym to finish he game.

Yellow Jacket backers weren’t about to let a rare win against Marengo slip through their grasp on account of an act of nature. A quick mid-court meeting of Birdseye town leaders, lit only by occasional lightening flashes, derived a solution. The men of the town were sent to their homes to retrieve their kerosene lanterns.

They returned within minutes and took up places precariously sitting along the rafter that ran the length of the gym ceiling.

The concept of playing in such dim light may seem difficult to fathom, but it must be remembered that the electric lights of the day were not much brighter than the primitive lanterns used that evening.
The remainder of the game was played under the light of kerosene lamps with the locals hanging on (in more ways than one) for a narrow, if hard earned win over Marengo. The score and the names of the players are long lost to history, but the Birdseye Lantern game will forever be a part of the Indiana high school basketball lore.