by James M Jackson
The not-so-thriving megalopolis of Amasa, Michigan (where I
get my mail) isn’t known for much, but if you are a March Madness fan, you
should learn its name and why it’s an important place for the tournaments.
Why, you ask?
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| From Connor Sports website |
Because the basketball game you are enjoying is being played
on a floor most likely manufactured in Amasa by Connor Sports. A few years
back, the court may have even contained wood from a tree that grew on my
property.
Many of you know that my official home is located deep in
the woods, fifteen miles north of Amasa. The upcoming Seamus McCree novel, Empty Promises, is set in that locale.
My property contains a mixture of maple, birch, hickory, oak, aspen, tamarack,
and various conifers. The woods up by us are working woods—much of it is harvested
sustainably, although some areas are clearcut. The logging industry plays its
part in Empty Promises.
A few years back I selectively cut some hardwoods to enhance
the long-term viability of my forest. Most of the wood went to make
good-quality magazine paper, but a few sticks (100” logs) went to the Connor
Sports mill. Someone, somewhere, may have bounced a basketball off my sugar
maple.
The process Connor Sports uses to make a basketball floor is
fascinating (and if you’re interested, read on). The “sticks “ are stored in a
landing area until they are needed, at which point they are stripped of bark,
and a rip saw slices them into boards of specified lengths. Those boards are
planed to be exactly 25/32” thick. Any blemishes are cut out (only the whitest
of the white wood is used for basketball floors), and after being kiln-dried,
the remaining stock is put through machines that convert it to tongue and
groove along both its long sides and short ends.
The boards are matched to construct 4’ x 7’ pallets using a
staggered brick pattern so two boards don’t end at the same spot. This provides
a consistent bounce. The panels also interlock and eventually create a court that,
in the case of the men’s Final Four, will be 70’ x 140’ (9,800 sq. ft.). After assembly,
they are seal-coated to protect the maple, then the court markings and logos
are painted on, and it is seal-coated again.
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| Board curing over winter to create my hardwood floor |
After curing, the court is broken back into pallets and
shipped to the location for reassembly. These courts are portable (the typical
gym floor is permanently installed), and can be placed over temporary stages
built in football stadiums or even over ice rinks! Connor Sports employees
supervise the onsite court construction and, in the case of the NCAA
tournament, remain on-site throughout the games in case any adjustments are
needed.
Once the final whistle blows, championship courts are
offered for sale to the winning teams. Sometimes they buy them and install them
on campus. Other universities have bought them and sold souvenir pieces to
their fans. If the winning team doesn’t buy the court, they are offered for
sale to the market.
Seamus played soccer, not basketball, but that won’t stop
him from watching the tournament and taking vicarious pleasure in knowing the
courts were manufactured in his neck of the woods. And now, you too can ooh and
ahh over the court and maybe even win a bet with your friends about where that
court came from!
James M. Jackson authors the Seamus McCree novels featuring the financial crimes consultant, his family, and friends. The series has been well received by crime fiction readers who like their books darker than cozies and lighter than noir. Jim splits his time between the deep woods of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula and the open spaces of Georgia’s Lowcountry. He is the past president of the 700+ member Guppy Chapter of Sisters in Crime. You can find information about Jim and his books at https://jamesmjackson.com.
fascinating! I've always wondered how gym floors were made. A huge cost for a school or rec center.
ReplyDeleteHardwood floors do cost a lot -- but they can be a lifetime investment, outlasting the building itself.
ReplyDeleteI love hardwood flooring. A friend and I laid out and nailed down the hardwood flooring for her family room. (My husband put in the first few pieces, which have to be squared.) I'm glad the T & G nailers became electric powered. Pounding on them with a rubber mallet got old fast! We installed the prefinished flooring. No dust or smell. Really interesting post, Jim. A lot of the hardwood used in the mid Atlantic area comes from Western Maryland, which has red oak.
ReplyDeleteInteresting post, Jim. I seem to always learn something new from your posts. I come from an area where the wood is used primarily for paper production, and we were reminded of that depending on the direction the wind was blowing. It smelled like boiled cabbage. Living away from there, I'm still pleased to come across a Roaring Springs paper black marble cover notebook.
ReplyDeleteFascinating. So the markings around the court are different for each round: Round 2, Sweet Sixteen, etc. Are those each different floors, or are they able to remove and replace just a portion?
ReplyDeleteGo Jayhawks - Rock Chalk!
That's so cool! I had no idea that the floors were portable and transported. Always interesting, Jim.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the fascinating info, Jim. I don't pay that much attention to basketball, but I know it is a big deal to a lot of people. I had no idea the floors were movable and could be such a keepsake!
ReplyDeleteJim I have hardwood flooring throughout my house, too, that had to have been put down years ago since my house is at least one hundred years old or more. It's still in great shape. Down the road from me is a lumber company that cuts wood from the trees that are delivered to it. I often see trucks with huge tree trunks going by or other trucks loaded with fresh cut boards. Every so often I have someone coming to my door wanting to cut trees in my woods, but I always turn them down.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, your book has arrived and I've already started reading it. So far so good.
This is fascinating! I love hardwood floors, for their beauty, durability, and because they are so much easier to care for than rugs. I hate vacuuming.
ReplyDeleteBeing a dance student way back in the day, I also learned to love hardwood floors for their protective qualities. Dance studios usually have wooden floors because the wood absorbs impacts and saves dancers' (and evidently basketball players') backs.
EB -- I had left over flooring from my U.P. house and so I constructed a cold room in the basement using the flooring for the walls. No electric nailers. I drilled holes, hammered nails and finished using a device to tap in the heads. Took forever, but I love the result.
ReplyDeleteGrace -- Savannah is also a papermill town, and there are mornings when the wind is right and the air heavy that I remember why one wants to live upwind of those mills.
ReplyDeleteJulie -- the early rounds are held at various college, so the flooring is the same as normal. The floors for the final four (men and women) are what is created new each time.
Gloria -- We had original oak floors in the house I owned in North Salem, NY, which was built in 1795.
ReplyDeleteShari -- I hadn't thought about dancers also preferring hardwood floors, but it does make sense.
Julie -- I mispoke a bit on the flooring in that they do change paint jobs for regionals (and also conference championships, sometimes) -- and I don't know for sure how they do that. Worse, a quick internet search didn't find the answer.
ReplyDelete