Group to determine if Anderson gym can be saved

A committee appointed by city of Anderson officials will determine if a deteriorating 9,000-seat high school gymnasium known as the Wigwam can be saved.

According to The Herald Bulletin, former Muncie Central High School basketball coach Terry Thimlar is proposing putting an NBA Development League team in the gym. He is a former general manager and assistant coach of the Florida Flame, a defunct D-League team that was based in Fort Myers, Fla.

Thimlar says the building is too much of a community icon to be demolished.

Anderson Community Schools officials closed the second largest high school gym in the nation in 2011, 50 years after it opened.

Director of Economic Development Greg Winkler said the school board has told the committee that if the Wigwam is not rehabilitated within the next year, it will be demolished.