When you get my age and you still have items on your bucket list, it’s time to get working on them.

I’ve always wanted to see a basketball game at Hinkle Fieldhouse on the campus of Butler University in Indianapolis for many reasons.

I’m a fan of historic places and venues, and Hinkle Fieldhouse ranks right up there. Built in 1928, Butler Fieldhouse as it was called until renamed after Butler AD Tony Hinkle in 1965, was the mecca of Hoosier basketball as the site of Indiana high school boys state basketball tournament from 1928-71. It was the largest basketball arena in the U.S. for over 20 years, stands as the sixth oldest college basketball arena still in use and was marked as a National Historic Landmark in 1987.

The most historic high school tournament played at Hinkle was tiny Milan’s 1954 upset championship game victory over Muncie, known as the “Milan Miracle,” and memoraliazed in a banner in the fieldhouse concourse. That moment was captured in the 1986 classic, “Hoosiers.”

Basketball Hall of Famer Oscar Robertson won two state championships there, telling the Indy Star that “Butler Fieldhouse was the ultimate. It’s what every young kid wanted to do from the time he picked up a ball, play basketball at Butler Fieldhouse.”

Most importantly, my dad did some of his post-graduate studies at Butler and I wanted to walk the steps he once did.

So, when the opportunity arrived that my alma mater, Illinois State, was going to play at Hinkle Fieldhouse in the NIT semifinals, I couldn’t pass it up. I had considered taking the sure thing and see the Redbirds in the NIT quarterfinals at Dayton, where my daughters live nearby. And even though ISU would be underdogs there, I held off believing they would win and make it to Hinkle.

The Redbirds won that game at Dayton and punched their ticket and mine to Hinkle Fieldhouse to check that off my bucket list.

Butler University is located in a residential neighborhood on the north side of Indianapolis. You would never know you were in a big city. Hinkle arises on the northeast side of campus and is a beautiful site to see. It had a $36 million renovation in 2014.

Was happy that my digital ticket was legit and got me in the doors. Upon entrance, I see former Redbird Jon Pemberton, who came along after me and has started up a nice ISU podcast that I follow.

I was hopeful to meet up with some my old ISU connections and I did cross paths with former Redbird greats, Rickie Johnson and Lou Stefanovic, who were on ISU’s first NCAA Tournament team in 1983 that I covered for the Vidette, ISU’s student newspaper. Rickie, a high-flying Redbird, is from Indy so I asked him if he had played at Hinkle. He did and said he always loved playing there, but “I was 0-2 here Kev.”

I found my seat in the second row just off the baseline across from the Auburn bench. It was not lost on me that I had a great view of the spot of the fieldhouse’s most famous game-winning shot by Milan’s Bobby Plump in the 1954 “Milan Miracle” and duplicated in “Hoosiers” by Hickory’s Jimmy Chitwood. While Hollywood uses its creative tweaks for its movie script, I had seen a recent interview with Plump, who said the game-winning play in Hoosiers was made exactly how it played out in real life.

I even managed to get on the Jumbotron when the stadium reporter sought a fan in the crowd wearing a shirt of each of the four semifinalists, including Auburn, Tulsa and New Mexico. He picked me out for a retro Doug Collins’ ISU jersey shirt.

Charles Barkley, Auburn’s most famous basketball alum, was in the house to watch his Tigers take on ISU. He had a small police escort with him at all times, but he did walk in front of me a couple of times and stopped to pose for pictures with some college kids sitting next to me. Commentator and former college coach Bruce Pearl, there to see his son, Steven, who succeed him as Auburn coach, also graciously posed for photos.

I couldn’t have asked for a better experience other than my Redbirds winning. They were overmatched this night (88-66) by an athletic and hot-shooting Auburn team that went on to beat Tulsa 92-86 in overtime for the NIT championship three nights later at crosstown Gainbridge Fieldhouse.

A bonus to my Indy trip was being reunited with my baby-sitter, Gloria, from 60 years ago from our days living nearby in Cicero, before the game. We’ve stayed in touch over the years, but hadn’t seen one another for 35 years.

Now let’s see what’s next on that bucket list.

Kevin Hieronymus is the BCR Sports Editor. Contact him at khieronymus@bcrnews.com