The gym where Chuck Welke built and shaped a boys’ basketball program that gained statewide prominance will now bear his name forever.

The facility, which has since given way to a new gym on the other side of the Warner School, is still used for practice and sub-varsity games, but will roar to life again on Saturday night. That’s when Warner will host longtime rival Northwestern one more time in a gym that has witnessed many epic battles between the two Class B powers in the past.

A ceremony to dedicate the floor as Chuck Welke Court will be held during a boys’ basketball doubleheader between the two schools.

” It means a lot to our whole family. Especially that gym,” said Welke’s son Chuck, a former standout player for the Monarchs. “He lived and breathed Warner Monarch blue. He was so proud of the program he built and the people that he had around him.”

During his tenure, Welke led the Monarchs to nine State B Tournaments, winning a pair of state championships in 1993 and 1994. His teams were runner-up in 1992 and 1996.

The elder Welke passed away in 2021 and his funeral was held in that gym. His spirit will still be present at the dedication ceremony.

“Obviously wish he could have been there experiencing it. He doesn’t have to be there for me to know what he would been like,” the younger Welke said. “He would have just been in his absolute glory seeing all these players and just talking about old times.”

Gene Smith, Warner graduate and longtime bus driver for the Monarchs, came up with the idea of naming the floor in honor of the former Warner coach.

“I initiated the possibility of naming it after him,” Smith said.

He approached the school board and started the process.

Smith said the legendary coach helped to spearhead a project to replace the floor in the old gym with a new one.

The Welke family is grateful to all involved for their role in having the facility now bear the name Chuck Welke Court.

“I know Gene pushed for this to get this done,” Welke said. “We’re real appreciative of him for doing that and the others.”

Of course, it was a no-brainer when it came to selecting an opponent to christen the new floor. Warner and Northwestern have had many memorable battles, especially when both were among the state’s elite teams 35 years ago.

Welke was a part of many of those games, either as a player or as a waterboy.

“There were so many battles between those two teams. Between 89-94, one or the other was in the state championship game,” Welke said. “Had some really good games. That’s where he spent his time, blood, sweat and tears in there, and I just think it’s fitting.”

Smith recalls many games inside the facility, some of which he barely saw because there were so many fans there.

“I couldn’t see the game there were so many people there,” Smith said of one occasion. “I was standing in the little hallway by the coach’s room.”

While some games brought out more spectators than seats were available, Smith said there was never such a thing as a sellout through the years.

“They were going to let people in no matter what,” Smith said. “They were upstairs in the band room looking out, they were on the stage.”

Of course, the Northwestern games always featured the biggest crowds of the season.

“Those Warner-Northwestern games, it would be rockin,’” Welke said. “Even when I was a little kid, I’d just get goosebumps.”

Those intense battles in front of a standing room only audience rarely take place anymore, but Welke is hoping that this weekend will help to emulate the days of the past as people with ties to the Warner program turn out to honor the man who orchestrated all of it.

“There’s a ton of people that say they’re coming back for this that we haven’t seen in a while,” Welke said. “A lot of memories, a lot of stories will be told.”

While Welke said his father worked tirelessly to build the Monarchs program through the years, there were many others who assisted along the way.

“The big thing that comes to mind is, he had a lot of really great people that worked with him,” Welke said, “assistant coaches, a lot of players that put in the time.”

Welke said that his father would be the first one to recognize all of those who helped to make Warner boys’ basketball the program that it is today.

“I think he worked very hard to build a very good program,” Welke said, “but I also know without a doubt, that he would give credit to all those people around him, and they are very much a part of his legacy.”