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Hinkle Fieldhouse is a basketball arena located on the campus of Butler University in Indianapolis, Indiana. When Tony Hinkle Memorial Fieldhouse was built in 1928, it was the largest basketball arena in the United States, and it retained that distinction until the late 1950s. A major facelift in 1989 reduced the seating capacity from 15,000 to 11,043.
Hinkle Fieldhouse and the 36,000-seat Butler Bowl football stadium were two of the first buildings erected when the university moved to the Fairview campus. The facilities were promoted by a corporation of 41 Indianapolis businessmen who viewed it as a prize for the Circle City as well as for Butler. When Butler signed a lease with the Indiana High School Athletic Association allowing the high school state tournament to be played there, the corporation agreed to finance the building. Butler hosted the tourney from 1928 to 1971, except for 1943-1945, when the war interfered.
It was as host to annual high school basketball championship game that the fieldhouse was home to the Milan Miracle, the memorable 1954 victory of tiny Milan High School team over the much larger Muncie Central. The film Hoosiers, loosely based on that event, used Hinkle Fieldhouse and the memorable voice of original announcer Hilliard Gates in filming the climactic game of the popular movie.
Hinkle Fieldhouse hosted the 1994 and part of the 2004 Horizon League men's basketball conference tournaments.
The fieldhouse was originally called Butler Fieldhouse, and was renamed in 1966 to honor Paul D. "Tony" Hinkle (1899 - 1992), who was basketball coach at Butler for 41 seasons ending in 1970.
In 2006, to celebrate Butler University's 150th Anniversary, a documentary about Hinkle Fieldhouse was aired on ESPN entitled "Indiana's Basketball Cathedral".
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