More than 100 people attended the Brownstown Central High School gym floor auction March 5. Zach Spicer

BROWNSTOWN

ust inside the 3-point line on the left wing on the right side of the court, Grant Reedy made a shot in what wound up being his final game in Brownstown Central High School’s gymnasium.

Later in 2015, during the first week of practice of his senior season, he suffered a fourth concussion. That forced him to sit out his last year of high school basketball, but he served as the team’s manager.

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Sadly, Reedy died May 2, 2018. He was 20.

The shot he made that night in 2015 — which was his second-to-last basket of that season — is still fresh in the minds of his parents, Greg and Alicia Reedy.

Thanks to a generous gift, they now own the piece of the floor where their son scored the basket.

Through the gymnasium floor auction March 5, the Reedys took home that piece along with one of the R’s in Brownstown Central. Both will be proudly displayed at their home.

“I just wanted to have that because now what I would like to do with it is to hang that in (Grant’s) room and put a shadow box that contains his jersey that he would have worn his senior year that the athletic department was so kind to give to us,” Alicia said. “I just want to honor him with where he took his second-to-last shot that he made.”

Alicia was the winning bidder for the R, paying $425. She said it will be decor for the front of their house.

It made Alicia even happier to know the winning bids were a part of the more than $29,000 raised through the auction. All of that money will go into the high school athletic department’s fund.

In high school, Grant played basketball three years, participated in football, baseball and track one year apiece and managed the basketball and volleyball teams one year each.

Greg and Alicia also have ties to the athletic department, as they shoot off the big fireworks when Brownstown teams win postseason titles.

“What Greg and I have enjoyed most about coming to athletic events at Brownstown is the amount of support that kids have from the community,” Alicia said.

“It’s just awesome to have big crowds cheering on the teams,” she said. “Even if it’s not a winning season, there is support here all of the time, and to be able to provide for those kids so that they have better equipment, nice uniforms, whatever they need to do better, then we’re all for that.”

As for what Grant would think about his family owning a couple of pieces of the floor, Alicia smiled and said, “I think he would love it.”

Every time she looks at the pieces, she said, “I’ll tear up quite a bit, but at the same time, it’s good memories.”

More than 360 pieces of the floor were up for bid. There were 4-foot-by-4-foot squares and larger sections, including the Braves lettering at each end, each letter of Brownstown Central each free throw lane, each free throw line and each top of the key. The center circle was not for sale because the school plans to hang that in the gymnasium.

Dan Blann, president and owner of Foresight Land Surveying Inc. in Brownstown, volunteered as the auctioneer. He was assisted by Chase Plumer, Greg Reedy, Andrew Klosterman and Justyn Underwood.

The first pieces up for bid were the Braves sections. Each went for $1,200. Dave Hall won the left side, and Spencer Allman won the right side.

“I’ve got a couple nephews that play ball here now, and when we watch the games, we sit on this side of the court,” Hall said.

“I was debating, ‘Do I turn it right side up where it says Braves or do I leave it like that because that’s the way I’ve always seen it is upside down, so I’ve still got to figure it out,” he said, laughing.

Hall said he expected more bidders and was surprised when it went as low as $1,200.

“I’m building a shop, and I’ve got a perfect wall for this, so when they started saying they were going to auction it, I thought the timing couldn’t have been better for me because I’ve got a place to put it right away,” he said. “I’m excited about it.”

Allman said he went to the auction in hopes of winning the A in Brownstown Central. He also was surprised to see lower bids for the Braves sections, so he went for that instead. He said he plans to put it in his basement or garage.

Later in the auction, he won some pieces of the floor.

“On the same side of the Braves, I bought the serving corner from the volleyball line. They won the state championship (in 2019), and I thought that would be cool to have a piece of that memorabilia,” he said.

“On the other end, I got six blank pieces that were places I hit shots in high school,” he said. “I’m going to have someone draw up a diagram of the court and cut into 1-foot sections and do something like that and give out to family and friends.”

Hall and Allman also were happy to help the athletic department.

“It was definitely a good cause,” Hall said. “I was tickled to death the school offered it to everyone to have a chance to bid on it. They could have just cut it up and put it in a pile, but to see the community come out and bid on these things and get the money back in the school for the kids, it’s cool.”

On the court, Allman attended youth basketball camps when he was younger and later spent a lot of time playing and practicing basketball.

“It’s pretty cool to be able to come and give back after spending four hard years of high school in here,” he said. “Brownstown sports is a big part of my life and obviously had a big impact, so I’m just glad I was able to give a little back to that. It’s just cool to have a piece of history.”

More than 100 people attended the auction, and Athletic Director Mark DeHart said some who couldn’t be there texted or called others to bid for them.

The money raised with go toward the athletic department’s general needs, including equipment, uniforms, transportation, entry fees and paying officials and sporting event workers.

“It will be huge. It really will,” DeHart said. “This won’t work a lot of places. I looked online and I saw a school that sold their gym floor and they were bragging about getting $10,000, but this community, and Dan said it best, you couldn’t do this everywhere and sell a whole gym floor like this, every space. We’re pretty lucky.”

Assistant Superintendent Jade Peters said his goal for the auction was $25,000. After the specialty pieces raised nearly $12,000, he felt confident that would be met.

“It was just exciting to see,” he said. “That’s what’s great about Brownstown is the community you feel here. It meant a lot to have people show up for wood that’s 50 years old. They came in to buy their pieces of it, and it’s something awesome. It’s fun to be a part of.”

When the corporation replaced the bleacher boards in the gym in 2017, Peters said people waited in line outside to take them. School officials then realized when it came time to replace the gym floor, it would be a great opportunity to raise money.

Blann donated his time to survey the court and the week of the auction was joined by Peters and four others to line it.

“On something that a lot of schools throw away, it’s something that we tried to take advantage of to raise money to better our programs,” Peters said.

Cincinnati Floor Co. began removing the 8,000-square-foot floor Monday, and winning bidders came to pick up their sections. The floor was installed when the high school opened in 1964, but when it was sanded seven years ago, nails were showing.

In February, the board of trustees approved Cincinnati Floor Co. to install an MVP floor for $145,802. That was the only bid received.

The project must be completed by May 15 because graduation is eight days later. Jerry Brown with Celery Signs of Medora has designed the new gym floor, which will be debuted at graduation.