Warren Lightning 5

05/01/2021

Proud to be part of Warren's grand history!

04/29/2021

It was a game in a time when teams had a center jump after each basket, when high school basketball was played in two halves and the umpire was the “judge of the men and shall note the fouls” and the referee “shall be the judge of the ball when it is in bounds, to which side it belongs and shall keep the time.” The halves were 15 minutes each with five minutes rest between.

It was January, 12, 1912. The night Warren’s Lightning 5 whipped their local rival, Converse, 162-4.

Warren’s leading scorer was Clifford R. Wright with 80 points coming on 20 field goals in each half. All of the Converse points came on free throws. Newspapers of the time and even into the 1950s cited the coach’s claim of a “world record.”

The margin of victory (158 points) was eclipsed in January, 2015, when a California girl’s team defeated their opponent 161-2.

Records, real or imagined, are past history in Warren, where the old gymnasium, home to Warren’s Lightning 5, still draws players in youth leagues and recreational play.

Now operating under a trust from former Warren natives, the Knight-Bergman Center retains the atmosphere of yesterday with a wooden panel door as a stage curtain, wooden bleachers and radiators for the hot water heating system on the gymnasium walls. Glass backboards, at the ends of the court, are a modern, but not recent addition.

The complex is also home to an expansive collection of historical Warren artifacts. Photographs, banners, flags and even a uniform from the Lightning 5 are displayed in cabinets and walls of the facility.

Internet research yields little about the victory, but thanks to Chris May, director of the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame, an old newspaper clipping revealed just enough information to authenticate the legendary game.

Warren, now absorbed into Huntington High School, managed 20 victories and two losses in the 1911-12 season. Losses to Andrews, 27-16 and to Marion, 56-31, were the only blemishes to Coach Charles Stech’s charges.

Stech said of his team, “My boys are not necessarily great natural athletes, but they have tireless enthusiasm, the same quality which was shown by the immortal Ty Cobb.”

Like Cobb did in baseball, the Lighting 5 have achieved legendary status in the Indiana high school basketball story.

03/09/2021

Shannon Bradley recently purchased this old Lightning Five sweatshirt at a Los Angeles flea market. He'd like to know if anyone can tell him more about it, such as how old it is?

03/02/2021

🏀🏀🏀 The 1952 Warren Lightning Five Basketball Team! 

10/29/2020

105 years ago with a picture of the 1915 Warren High School girls basketball team.

Warren is located in Huntington County, now a part of Huntington North High School.

05/08/2020

Happy Birthday, Linda Howell!

02/28/2020

James Howell, Warren Lightning Five, Class of 1960.

02/13/2020

The old school grounds still have value.

Snow Day, no school = fun on the hill🛷❄️