Scott Kolb: Shooting hoops in a chicken coop

Since the weather has decided to make a return to winter for a few days, it seemed like a good time for one more tall tale from the basketball court.

Driving south out of Austin on 4th Street SE, near the edge of town is an old chicken hatchery. This was originally built over a century ago and was named Ziemer's Hatchery.

In the 1950s, my grandfather Carl Anderson and his family moved into the house next door. Grandpa operated a chicken business in the hatchery until the early 1970s. For most of the year, the big building along the banks of the Cedar River was filled with chickens.

Business ebbed of course in the cold winter months and this gave my uncle, Craig Anderson, and his friends a chance to turn the hatchery into a basketball court.

Time of change

Now, the late 1960s were certainly a time for experimentation and the clean cut era on the court was coming to an end. At all levels of the game, canvas sneakers and buzz haircuts were being replaced by colorful uniforms and long hair.

Characters like "Pistol" Pete Maravich changed the way a player looked on the court and most importantly how they handled the basketball. Even at the local games, I can remember seeing Albert Lea players adorned with pompons and bells on their shoes.

Pickup games around town were a common occurrence and church league was also a big thing for hoops fanatics. Of course, the legendary Shaw Gym was still a place to hang out and the game was played by a lot of kids.

Jumping into this arena of change, my uncle decided he would hold games during winter afternoons on the main floor of the hatchery. They generated their own heat with spirited games on the cold concrete.

Fadeaway into cages

Although the chicken cages were empty, I can still remember the distinctive sound when one of the guys would shoot a long jumper and fade out of bounds into the stacks. A few feathers would fly out of the cages as the ball caromed off the rim.

Even old Grandpa would come out and watch the games. According to my uncle, he enjoyed the spectacle in the hatchery, until one time an errant pass knocked off his spectacles.

Maybe, that's where they got the saying, "it's not all fun and games." I'm not sure if that applies to shooting hoops in a chicken coop, but it seemed to fit the occasion of those long ago games.

My uncle is now in his 60s and lives on the west coast. Grandpa has since passed away, but it's still fun to recall the times when he allowed the kids to have some fun shooting hoops in the hatchery.

Steve Neiswanger of Austin now owns the old hatchery and a few years ago did a beautiful restoration job on the old place. He once asked me if I remembered when there were chickens in the place. I told him about the din created when the chickens were in residence and some old story about shooting three-point shots while the birds clucked.

Preaching the gospel

Before the story ends there's another side to the tale. Years later, we started going to mid-week services at a place called the Southgate Baptist Church.

It didn't take me long to realize they were preaching my kind of gospel, salvation via the rainbow jumper. After the bible studies, members of the fellowship cleared away the chairs and set up a basketball hoop at one end of the sanctuary.

Headbands and knee-high socks were part of the uniform worn by the faithful. One of the elders was my old buddy Craig Jurgensen, who embraced the religious fervor of the times and also loved to play basketball.

Jurgensen still plays noon-ball at the Austin YMCA and we talk fondly of the days at the baptist church.

My time on the court has long faded from view, but a storyteller always has his memories. From dribbling around the church pews to shooting jump shots over chicken cages, the glory days of basketball in this town are not forgotten.