High School sports teams based in Jefferson have played basketball at one place for so long the nickname of the Jefferson team when it opened was the Ramblers. The last varsity basketball game was played Friday night in the middle school gym, home of the Greene County Rams. It was the high school gym when teams began playing there during the 1953-54 school year.

2004 Jefferson-Scranton graduate Keith Pedersen was an All-State basketball player for the Rams the last time a Rams boys team won an outright conference title when the 2003-04 team coached by Mike McGinnis won the Raccoon River Activities Conference crown. There have been ties for first since then, but that was the last outright title.

Pedersen remembers two games in the middle school gym during that 20-3 campaign that really stand out in his mind. One was a late comeback vs. Carroll High that resulted in a victory. The Rams won the RRAC title by a single game over Carroll that season. The other was a loss to Dallas Center-Grimes when the Rams were ranked third in Class 3A and 12-0, while the Mustangs were 0-11.

Greene County will open a new high school and gymnasium on the northwest side of town starting with the 2020-21 school year.