A collage of three photos: a girl sledding on snow, two basketball players jumping for the ball during a game, and a photographer kneeling on a gym floor capturing sports action.

As small-town newspapers fade, photojournalist Richard Sitler has an idea to fill the void in his midwestern hometown.

In Knightstown, Indiana — home of the “Hoosier Gym” featured in the 1986 Gene Hackman movie “Hoosiers” — Sitler has declared himself “Photographer IN Residence.”

Movie poster for "Hoosiers" featuring Gene Hackman’s face up close, with basketball scenes above and below, and names of stars Barbara Hershey and Dennis Hopper displayed prominently.The movie poster for the 1986 classic, “Hoosiers,” starring Gene Hackman.

Sitler chronicles local news, seeks donations, and dreams of expanding his residency concept to other small towns.

The odds seem long, like Hackman’s small-town basketball team in the movie (or the prospect that Indiana would play for the National Football College Championship on January 19).

With plainspoken bluntness, Sitler says, “It is hard to assess if the idea has legs.”

A basketball player in a white and blue uniform dribbles as a player in a black and red uniform lunges to steal the ball on a gym court, with cheerleaders blurred in the background.Knightstown High School basketball action (Photo by Richard Sitler) Knightstown as Americana

Knightstown is located along U.S. Route 40, east of Indianapolis and west of Dayton, Ohio.

The Hoosier Gym made famous by the “Hoosiers” movie is a tourist destination, preserved as a community center and after-school program.

“I stopped by the gym a couple weeks ago and there were two teams from Alabama playing,” says Sitler.

When Sitler was in grade school, physical education was in that gym. His father, Bill, a local pharmacist, played on the high school team from 1946 to 1949.

Two men sit at a table with food and drinks. The older man on the left wears glasses and a white "Cars of Summer" shirt. The younger man on the right has glasses, a camera, and a can of Coke in front of him.Richard Sitler, right, and his late father, Bill Sitler, two decades ago in Knightstown, Indiana

Richard Sitler made the eighth-grade team. At 5’7”, he switched to sports photography in high school, studying photojournalism at Ohio University’s School of Visual Communication in the early 1990s.

Sitler worked at small town newspapers in Ohio, Illinois, and Indiana, including The Banner in Knightstown. The Banner published its last issue on December 19, 2018.

A black-and-white historic photo of East Main Street in Knightstown, Indiana, with old storefronts and parked cars. Overlaid text announces The Banner's final print issue and directs readers to online editions.

The demise of The Banner is part of a broader trend, tracked by the Local News Initiative at Northwestern University, which shows that 50 million Americans have limited or no access to a reliable source of local news.

“Knightstown,” says Sitler, “is the perfect place for a pilot” to test his idea of Photographer IN Residence.

Three young girls in red holiday dresses twirl and play in an empty parking lot. The girls wear white tights and black boots, and two of the dresses have white fur trim. Buildings and shops are visible in the background.Girls spin in holiday dresses during the Christmas tree lighting in Knightstown, Indiana (Photo by Richard Sitler) How it Works

Sitler typically posts content and photos three times a week on his Photographer IN Residence Facebook page.

He favors images that tell quieter moments and stories about everyday people, the “opposite of sensationalism.”

Content created or shared by Sitler is local:

A Facebook post from Knightstown Wayne Township Fire Department describes a residential fire on N. Washington St., noting the response time, actions taken, and that no occupants were home at the time.

Social media engagement exceeds the population of Knightstown (2,140 in the 2020 Census).

In 60 days, Sitler’s Facebook page got 57,000 views with engagement by more than 7,000 individuals. His goal is to show that an audience exists for documentary photography/text and then attract sponsorships, grants, and partnerships.

If Sitler can generate revenue to support a one-year residency in Knightstown, he would recruit a young photojournalist to take his place and try to organize a similar residency in another small town.

A GoFundMe has been launched and seeks donations.

A historic brick building with two clock towers and ornate architectural details stands under a blue sky, partially framed by snow-covered evergreen branches. Fundraising progress and donor names are shown on the side.

Documentary Photography as Motivation

Documentary photography sponsored by the Farm Security Administration (FSA) during the Great Depression was inspirational to Sitler.

Sitler is also influenced by the work of veteran news photographer Brian Moss, who produced the photography website “Life in Corydon,” Indiana.

“Salt Institute for Documentary Studies in Portland, Maine, was a huge influence on me,” to focus on one subject over a period of time.

Day-to-Day Events in Knightstown

On the first snow day in Knightstown in December, Sitler photographed an airborne sled rider at Sunset Park.

A young girl mid-air on a blue sled, wearing a teal jacket, black hat, and mittens, looks surprised as she bounces off a snowy hill, with patches of grass visible in the background.Photo by Richard Sitler

Moments like that, he says, create memories.

“I sled on that very hill when I was young,” he recalls. “My son sled on it.”

If no one records day-to-day moments, then people can become “ghosts, as if their lives are not important,” Sitler says.

As media changes and newspapers fade, Photographer IN Residence Richard Sitler is a small-town Hoosier ghostbuster, documenting sledders at Sunset Park, high school wrestlers, firefighters who put out a blaze on N. Washington Street, and more.

His residency idea might seem a bit crazy, and it may not work. But that’s what they said about the small-town Hoosier basketball team that won the state title in 1954.

Image credits: Photos by Richard Sitler

About the author: Ken Klein lives in Silver Spring, Maryland; he is retired after a career in politics, lobbying, and media including The Associated Press and Gannett in Florida. Klein is an alumnus of Ohio University and a member of the Dean’s Advisory Council of the Scripps College of Communication. Professionally, he has worked for Fort Myers News-Press (Gannett), The Associated Press (Tallahassee), Senator Bob Graham, and the Outdoor Advertising Association of America (OAAA).