Local Indiana author’s new book preserves songs, mascots and memories from 718 closed Indiana high schools.
Local historian and retired educator Reta Williams has turned a statewide hunt for lost high school fight songs into a new book, “Echoes from the Gym: Fight Songs of Indiana’s Un‑Forgotten High Schools.” The Clinton County native appeared on WILO’s “Party Line” Wednesday morning to share how a personal interest in school history became a years‑long project documenting the traditions of 718 Indiana high schools closed through consolidation. Williams’ book is available through Barnes & Noble, which handles printing and ordering for the project.
From Clinton County project to statewide quest
Williams, who grew up near Michigan Town and graduated from Clinton Central, said the project grew out of her long‑time interest in local history and genealogy after a 35‑year career as a teacher and principal. Her first book focused on the nine Clinton County high schools that closed to form Clinton Central and Clinton Prairie, compiling graduate rosters, school colors, mascots and, hardest of all, school songs.
“A lot of people think automatically they’re in yearbooks — not very often,” Williams said of the old school songs. She described tracking down a 95‑year‑old alumna at Wesley Manor to sing the Scircleville High School song over the phone, and hosting three former Kirklin cheerleaders “all in their 80s” who stopped by her house to sing the Kirklin fight song so she could finally capture it.
Those experiences led her to wonder whether school songs from other consolidated high schools across Indiana were just as difficult to find. When she discovered a list of 718 schools that had closed due to consolidation after a 1950s state law pushed small districts to merge into larger units, she decided to try to locate as many of their songs as possible.
Article sparks wave of memories
Early research trips to libraries and museums in nearby counties didn’t yield much, and Williams briefly considered abandoning the statewide project. At her husband’s suggestion, she contacted the Indianapolis Star, which sent a reporter to profile her effort. “That’s when the project really took off,” she said. “Other people then were willing to help come up with information, come up with songs and names and people you could check with and it kind of just exploded from there.”
Williams said many of the most valuable leads came from older Hoosiers who still knew their school songs by heart. “I had three 90‑year‑old women in different parts of the state call me because I put my phone number in there,” she said. “They said, ‘We don’t write letters anymore, and I don’t do email. If I said the words to you over the phone, would you write them down?’ I said, ‘Sure.’”
In the end, Williams documented 643 songs from the 718 closed schools, exceeding her initial goal of 600. “Out of this 718 schools, I found 643 songs — 89%. I’d say that’s pretty good,” she told listeners.
Unique mascots and surprising tunes
“Echoes from the Gym” mixes lyrics with short trivia notes about mascots, local history and how certain schools chose their songs. Williams said her husband suggested she add those details to fill “a lot of white space” on the pages. The result is a catalog of colorful small‑town identities, from the Wampus Cats of Cambridge City and the Epson Salts of southern Indiana to the Pimento Peppers and the Michigan Town Ganders.
Some mascots reflected local industries and geography. Williams pointed to quarry‑area schools that became the Apple Boys and Quarry Lads, a Monon High School team known as the Railroaders, and a school in Morengo whose teams were the Cavemen because of the area’s caves. Listeners also heard about East Chicago Washington’s former team manager, who phoned Williams to relive the school’s late‑1950s state basketball title run while helping confirm its fight song.
Even the tunes themselves held surprises. Williams spent four days at the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame in New Castle tallying which college songs Indiana high schools had adopted. “We had a bet on what was the most popular school song, and we were both wrong,” she said. “He said Illinois Loyalty. I said Notre Dame, but it’s ‘On, Wisconsin.’” According to her count, 136 schools used that tune, with Notre Dame’s song second at 95, including schools in Clinton County.
How to get the book and help fill gaps
Williams chose to publish through Barnes & Noble Press so she wouldn’t have to personally handle statewide ordering and shipping. The book can be ordered online by searching her name, “Rita Williams,” or requested through any Barnes & Noble store. She emphasized that the project remains a work in progress, with some songs still missing.
She has created a companion website that lists schools whose lyrics she has not yet located, and she invited area residents with knowledge of old songs to contact her through email or phone via the radio station. “What I will do is I will put those songs on the website,” Williams said. “They can’t get into the book, but I could put it on the website — the words to the song.”
Williams said she has considered a follow‑up volume focused on historic school photographs, but concerns about using online images without clear permission have put that idea on hold. For now, she plans to continue her cemetery and local history research and enjoy a slower pace at home with her husband after years of traveling the state for the project.
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If you have anything to add to William’s book notes, she can be contacted:
e-mail: retawms@hotmail.com
Website: www.indianaschoolsongproject.com
Address: 5290 E. State Rd. 28 Frankfort, IN
Phone: 765-414-4388
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“This is my book,” she told listeners, “so this is everyone’s book. I’m just the one that was fortunate enough to put it together.”
