Basketball at the Tecumseh Theater

Did you know that the Tecumseh Theater used to have basketball games? Before the Shawnee gymnasium was built, basketball games took place in the theater’s second floor. Theater seats were never attached to the floor, so they could be moved aside for games, dances, and other events. In 1925, Brian Harnetty’s grandfather Mordecai Williams (1906-67) was the captain (second from the right), and the yearbook says: “Mort is a popular Captt. and his team have had confidence in his headwork in the critical places. We are sorry to lose him this year.”

“I imagined the scene to be raucous,” says Brian, “with muffled sounds of feet running and squeaking along with the ball bouncing and crowd cheering, audible from the floors above and below the theater.”