1 / 3

Former head basketball coach Art Allred is honored in front of the crowd during a timeout at the last home game at American Fork's old gymnasium, on Friday, Feb. 21, 2014 at American Fork High School. GRANT HINDSLEY/ Daily Herald

2 / 3

Former head basketball coach Roy Pehrson, far right, laughs with Bruce Hoggard, former player, and team psychologist Doug Nielsen, center, after Pehrson was honored during a timeout at the last home game at American Fork's old gymnasium, on Friday, Feb. 21, 2014 at American Fork High School. GRANT HINDSLEY/ Daily Herald

3 / 3

David Andrus exchanges words with former American Fork head coach Robert Eckles as he was honored during a timeout in the third quarter of a game against Lehi, Friday, Feb. 21, 2014 at American Fork High School. GRANT HINDSLEY/ Daily Herald

❮ ❯

It was Senior Night for the American Fork boys basketball team on Friday. Nothing too unusual about that season-ending tradition, but this year, it had a different flavor for the Cavemen.

It marked the final varsity game to be contested in “The Cave,” the affectionate local nickname for the school’s 55-year-old main gym.

By this fall, the basketball teams and other varsity sports will be moving into American Fork High School’s sparkling new field house, a welcome upgrade in space and facilities.

The soon-to-be “old” gym will still be the home of PE classes, Junior Jazz games and so on, but it will no longer be the center of the athletic life of the campus.

To send this hall of memories off in style, all of American Fork’s living former boys basketball coaches were invited back, along with all the players who were able to attend.

The coaches were introduced one at a time during breaks in play, and were presented with a plaque and a signed commemorative ball.

Merrill Hardy (1954-57) was unable to attend, but he actually coached before the “new” high school was built. The older one was where the Alpine School District offices are now located.

He was followed by Don McIntosh (1957-67), who made the transition to the “new” school when it was built. He was also unable to attend, but a member of his staff was on hand – then-future head coach Carl Ingersoll (1970-79).

“I started as an assistant to coach McIntosh in 1961,” Ingersoll said. He worked with the sophomore team then, and remained at the school until moving on to teach and coach at BYU in 1980.

Ingersoll also served as an assistant to coach Roy Pehrson (1967-70), who was the first to be honored during the evening.

Ingersoll was up next. He was dressed in a sharp suit with a red tie and matching hanky. He said it was how he dressed when he coached, so that’s why he wore it on this occasion.

After receiving his awards, Ingersoll donned a red American Fork baseball cap and threw a baseball into the student crowd, which reacted with a roar of approval. He’s maintained close ties with his alma mater and its athletics programs ever since he attended there.

Current Caveman baseball coach Jarod Ingersoll is Carl’s son.

Carl Ingersoll recalled one particular tradition which was popular in his years as head coach. “When we would get ahead in a game, the Jazz Band would play ‘Smoke on the Water,’ and the crowd would go crazy,” he said.

Ingersoll’s teams had a great run of success. He had two more future head coaches on his staff in Art Allred (1979-86) and Robert “Bobby” Eckles (1986-2001). “They did the work and I got the credit,” he said.

American Fork finished second to Bingham in the state tournament in 1974. The next year they were second to Davis, but came back to beat the Darts to win the title in 1976. They finished as the runner-up to Provo in 1978 but defeated the Bulldogs the next year to win it again.

“We had some great players in those days,” Ingersoll said.

Eckles also has been associated with the gym since the school was built. “I was here when we won the state championship in 1962,” he said. The Cavemen finished second two more times in the 1960s.

Eckles can recall every team and all the great players since the school opened, rattling off names and statistics like a walking hoops encyclopedia. Although he retired as head coach in 2001, he remains on present coach Doug Meacham’s staff as the sophomore coach.

Meacham has often said there’s no one better to teach the next generation of players what it means to be a Caveman.

When Eckles was head coach, his squads always wore the initials AFPT on their uniforms. “It stands for American Fork Past Traditions,” he said. “The basketball program here has a great history, starting with when we were still up on the hill (the old school).”

Allred grew up in Orem and recalled some great rivalry games in the building during his own prep career.

During Allred’s tenure as head coach, the Cavemen lost a title thriller to Judge by three points. A couple of years later, they were part of perhaps the most dominant league showing ever in the state.

All from the same region at that time, Mountain View, Provo, Timpview, Orem and American Fork earned the top five places in the state tournament under the then-existing double-elimination format.

“None of us lost a single game outside the region that year,” Allred said. “It was great to be here and to be part of it all.”

Like many of his predecessors, Meacham grew up in American Fork and spent his own playing days in this gym. He said that during Ingersoll’s tenure, the key was painted red, and he would make reference to that in his pre-game talks.

“He would tell us that the inside of the key is where the small battles are won and where men spilled their blood,” Meacham said. He invites Ingersoll back to his camps and other events to share the traditions of the program with future Cavemen.

During Meacham’s own time, he said some of the high points have been the great rivalry games with Lone Peak, which split off from American Fork in 1997.

“We had to turn people away and there was such a great atmosphere and energy in the building on those occasions,” he said. Meacham said that one of his former players, Frank Pulley, is the school custodian and has taken great pride in maintaining the gym where he played.

“I hate to lose these old gyms like the one in Provo, where people were up and around the court. You lose the ambiance and energy of the night, but I guess we have to go forward to the next chapter. We can certainly use the extra space in our new facilities,” Meacham said.

Still, the coach admitted that there’s just a touch of the bittersweet in the upcoming transition. “There’s a lot of guys and girls with special memories in this place,” he said.

Beky Beaton can be reached at bbeaton@heraldextra.com. Follow her on Twitter at @BeatonWrite.