Mike Woodson Darrell Griffith

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- They called it "The War Between the States." Even Sports Illustrated embraced the hype.

"Unlike fast horses in Kentucky or fast cars in Indiana, basketball has never been a sometime thing in this area," Sports Illustrated’s Hall of Fame writer Curry Kirkpatrick once wrote about the Kentucky-Indiana high school summer all-star series. "The Graustarks may come and the Mario Andrettis may go, but people in Louisville and Indianapolis each summer show which of their loves is here to stay."

That was June 1966.

Nearly 17,000 people filed into Freedom Hall to watch Shelby County’s Mike Casey lead Kentucky to a 104-77 upset over Rick Mount — an SI cover-boy — and Indiana.

A week later, Indiana fans filled Hinkle Fieldhouse to watch the Indiana team win by 10. The place wasn’t air-conditioned, so game organizers printed the lineups on the backs of cardboard fans they distributed to everybody.

Darrell Griffith remembers those days. He remembers watching the 1969 series when Joe Voskuhl of Kentucky mused that he was not impressed by Indiana Mr. Basketball George McGinnis after McGinnis missed 18 of 26 shots and scored just 23 points in the first game of the series.

McGinnis decided to give Voskuhl what he wanted: 53 points and 31 rebounds. McGinnis played with so much energy that he blew out the side of his sneakers.

"George tore up his shoe before Zion Williamson did," Griffith said.

Was Griffith motivated by the Kentucky-Indiana series?

"You played to get that No. 1 jersey (which was awarded to Mr. Basketball)," Griffith said. "That was important."

Griffith earned that No. 1 jersey. Mike Woodson, one of the top players in the state of Indiana, did not. He was given jersey No. 5 as Dave Colescott, of Marion, earned Mr. Basketball. (Confession: That was the first time I saw Griffith play.)

But the game meant enough to Woodson, now the head coach at Indiana University, that one of his daughters shared this tweet earlier this week.

"That was the first time I went against Mike and we went at it for two great games and then through our careers in the NBA," Griffith said. "They were both sold out."

Believe it or not, they’re still playing the series.

Just not in Louisville or downtown Indianapolis.

The boys’ and girls’ teams from the two states will meet Friday night in Owensboro and again Saturday night at Southport High School outside Indianapolis.

The series is not what it used to be and hasn’t been for decades.

"It’s tough to watch what has happened," Griffith said.

"I wish there was a way to get it back to what it used to be," Bellarmine University men's basketball coach Scott Davenport said. "It was phenomenal competition with so much state pride."

Odds are it will never be that way. Truth be told, the game is fortunate to remain on the sporting calendar with the crowds slipping to a few thousand in Kentucky is some recent games.

There have been whispers about eliminating it for years. It continues — as it has since 1939 — but without the buzz that started leaving the game in the '90s.

Former Fairdale High School boys coach Stan Hardin coached the 1990 Kentucky team. The Hoosiers were led by Damon Bailey and Eric Montross. Kentucky had Dwayne Morton and Andy Penick.

"They were supposed to blow us out in both games," Hardin said. "We lost the first game by a point and easily count have won. We had big crowds at Freedom Hall and Market Square Arena. It was a big deal."

What happened?

The culture shifts. Back in the day, the all-star series was the first time fans got a look at many of the players. Today, the best players are scouted, analyzed and ranked by their freshman seasons in high school. There’s no mystery any more.

AAU basketball has squeezed high school basketball as the most important basketball in the lives of many players. Some college coaches stopped letting their recruits play in the series, demanding they skip the games to begin college orientation.

The Indiana boys have dominated their side of the competition, driving down interest in Kentucky. Louisville and Kentucky filled their rosters with out-of-state recruits. But crowds have slipped in Indianapolis, too.

The entertainment calendar became crowded with other competition. The fascination with social media accelerated the problem.

Griffith said that he wonders if the decline in interest in the all-star game is tied to the decline in attendance in local high school basketball. Griffith said the situation changed in the mid-'70s after Jefferson County adopted their busing plan.

"When I was growing up, people really backed their neighborhood schools, whether it was Male, Shawnee, Central, Flaget or whatever," Griffith said. "We were very community-oriented.

"Once busing came along, we lost that. When I was playing, people went to the games because that’s where people had their sports conversations. It’s not that way any more."

It’s all of those things and more.

The Kentucky-Indiana all-star game is not a thing anymore. It likely won’t be that way again.

But there was a day when it really was The Big Thing.

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