The head coach of the Tennessee Lady Vols was on Letterman tonight, and she said that when she was growing up, she had three brothers and they had a full court gym in the hay loft. Wouldn't that be very expensive and beyond the reach of all but the wealthy?
She also said she got started in basketball in the 3rd greade when the principal of her school asked her to stay after school because there weren't enough players for the team. She was 5'9" in the third grade! She didn't play, just filled out the roster, so I'm thinking this was the high school team. ??
Why would you think that? A loft was designed to hold hay (lots of it) and therefore needs a significant floor to support the load. The one in our barn is typical, it's 3/4" T&G yellow pine 3-1/4" wide on
2' rafter centers. It's a little springy, but certainly not bad. As for head room, the center aisle distance to the hay hook track is a little over 30-ft. It would have been a little narrow around the support columns, but they were on 8-ft spacing so could have been avoided pretty easily for the most part. Plenty enough room for several players including full-court if you wanted to clear out enough as the footprint is 66-ft x 38-ft.
As for Pat making jest, knowing (we spent nearly 30 years in Knoxville, TN, area and followed the Lady Vols closely) her I'd say the story was more than likely true. INTENSE is not the word... :) I don't know her playing history before college so can't amplify on the actual high school or earlier career although I'm sure it's readily findable.
Based on the rest of your answr, maybe I'm confusing a hay loft with the second floor of the garage we had when I was little. Everything is getting to be blur these days.
Thanks for the reply.
I don't follow this stuff, but didn't I hear that Pat's sister is a coach in Maryland? Apparently she's very sick, but still coaching up a storm.
The one image is undated but my grandfather on the wagon at what must have been in the early- to mid-20's, roughly 5-10 years after the barn was built (started in 1918 after the rationing of lumber was lifted at the end of WWI). The other is from a few years ago after just finished painting west end after about three years of near full-time restoration including roof, replacement of siding, and other structural repair.
I didn't have one of the inside of the haymow itself handy, unfortunately, but the haymow floor is at the bottom of the small center door and is open all the way to the roof. The large door opens and you can see the hay track rail at the roof line. The hay door is on a rail system and block and tackle and slides vertically rather than swinging as did many. The overall height of the ridge is just under 40-ft and the lower floor ceiling height is just high enough to allow a horse and wagon to pass through easily -- not quite
8' so the volume was maximized for hay storage. It was originally designed for loose hay and there are feeding holes in the floor at intervals along each side for supplying the feed troughs and small grain bins w/ hand chutes for filling the oats bucket for the horses/ mules.
Very typical midwestern turn-of-the-century barn...
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