Crispus Attucks High, 60 Years Later: Race And The 'Hoosiers - Forbes Myra Fleener (Barbara Hershey) Photo by Dominik Bindl/Getty Images. Mary Lou Wood: 'It's nice to be important, but more important to be nice.'. From the top of the key, Plump faked left and drove right, stopping on a dime as defender Jimmy Barnes rushed to stop him from getting to the basket, his momentum carrying him away from his man. The Milan Miracle: The Town that Hoosiers Left Behind All of his knowledge, however, would be pointless without Hackman's great performance at the center of this movie. Our game got over about 4 (p.m.) and the night game started at 7:30. Kelly: The fans were ready to kill everybody when we held the ball against Connersville. I laughed, I cried and when it was over, I felt good. 0:00. In the movie, Dale gets brought on to replace a coach who dies and who the two love. "[19], Pat Graham of the Chicago Reader was the rare dissenter, writing of the film that, Director David Anspaugh seems only marginally concerned with basketball thematics: what matters most is feeding white-bread fantasies (the film is set in the slow-footed 50s, when blacks are only a rumor and nobody's ever heard of slam 'n' jam) and laying on the inspirational corn. Bobby Knight would not be amused, though Tark the Shark might've had a good laugh at the naive masquerade. There was no questioning that. Let's go find it.'. . I can't imagine a team going a whole game with only two field goals but they did that night. Plump: I was in the right place at the right time. Aurora had good players. Your California Privacy Rights/Privacy Policy. They meant the world to him. In the film, this character, Shooter, gets played terrifically by Dennis Hooper in a performance that landed Hooper an Academy Award nomination. [6], In most U.S. states, high school athletic teams are divided into different classes, usually based on the number of enrolled students, with separate state championship tournaments held for each classification. Yes, Hoosiers is loosely based on a true story: that of the Milan High School team of 1954 that won the state championship. Marvin finally decided that we ought to play zone so he brought Marc up to come teach us and him how to play 2-1-2 zone. ", The film is inspired in part by the story of the 1954 Indiana state champions, Milan High School (/maln/ MY-ln). It was the worst tournament game I played in two years. In addition, the 19521953 team went to the state semifinals, and they were considered a powerhouse going into the championship season despite the school's small enrollment. The school had a history of basketball success, winning sectional championships in 1914, '32, '35, '36 and '46. Butte: We don't win state the following year if we don't win that game. The Daily News welcomes thoughtful discussion on all of our stories, but please keep comments civil and on-topic. "I was a very shy kid," Bobby Plump told the Washington Post in 1995. The phrase "inspired by a true story" is more appropriate than "based on a true story" because the two teams have little in common. Plump rose up and flicked his right wrist. I think coach Wood prepared the team as well as anybody could for many different circumstances. Milan then pounded host Rushville in the regional semifinal to set up a rematch with Aurora and its star, Bob Fehrman. Milan High School - The Indiana History Blog In 1951, Norman Dale arrives in rural Hickory, Indiana. But the brotherhood between them is obvious. Milan won a regional game each of the next two seasons, more than any Milan team before '53 had accomplished, but those teams were mostly lost to history after the '54 championship. They were throwing quarters. Craft: A lot of luck involved. I think Marvin and the staff learned a whole lot about preparing and handling a team that could go back to the state finals. Shooter also regains the respect of his son, Everett. Craft: Maybe it just wasn't meant to be because it led to what couldn't have been a better ending. Plump: I was at a luncheon in the 1980s and a guy came up and told me he was the timer that night. He said, 'You can't play tonight and you can't sit on the bench.' Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0; additional terms may apply. Bobby, you dribble around until there are five or six seconds left and make a move and stop and shoot or drive. Plump: We stayed at the Pennsylvania Hotel because Woody wanted to keep us away from the fans telling us how good we were. At the time, the town only had a population of 1,114. You could make a name for yourself there.' We didn't know what a special team they would be. Hoosiers (released in some countries as Best Shot[3]) is a 1986 American sports drama film written by Angelo Pizzo and directed by David Anspaugh in his feature directorial debut. Woody didn't want us to get hurt before the sectional so we started working on it. Produced by Hemdale Pictures, in cooperation with De Haven Productions, Hoosiers mainly garnered favorable reviews, with many praising its utilization of the underdog formula to great effect. Mary Lou Wood: We truly are a family. But it would be Grinstead's final season. The flipside of 'Hoosiers' - No 'miracle' for Muncie Central In reel life: "Hoosiers" has been listed by many publications as one of the best sports movies ever made. New Richmond's downtown was used for the town scenes in the movie. White: Aurora was the best team we played. "When we won that championship, we didn't realize what we'd done," said Glen Butte, a sophomore in 1954. The Milan (Ind.) White: He was young enough that he could show you what he meant. At the prompting of Wood, the championship team began a tradition of meeting every year. "Closer Look" will be a regular Page 2 feature, exploring a hot sports topic in greater detail. He does so wearing shirt and tie. Local Events They probably still don't get the credit they deserve. Milan High School is the school Hoosiers is based on. For us, the county tourney was the big bragging rights. We weren't taught man-to-man principles in junior high. Before the meeting, Fleener, sensing something amiss regarding Dale's past, uncovers years-old information about his hitting a player and being banned from coaching. But the town was great. [6], Unlike the film's plot, the 1954 Milan Indians came into the season as heavy favorites and finished the '53'54 regular season at 192. If we could stay within two points we could play our game and have a shot. Extension Program California (US) Extension Program Dublin (IE) Extension Program Maastricht (NL) Most of them were working like other kids their age. Wood made an example of Plump early in his first season. He wasn't having a tremendous game, but he was the right one to shoot it. More: Small Indiana town still proud of role as real-life Hickory. Schroder: We didn't know much about Montezuma, but Clarence Kelly was an excellent scout. You won't find Hickory, Indiana on a map. The shot went in after all, didn't it? But all we did was think about winning the next game. For the 1953-54 season, Milan's home games moved to the Tyson Auditorium in Versailles. I said something like, 'That's a smart aleck.' And the final competition in the flick got filmed at Butler University's Hinkle Fieldhouse, the same gymnasium that hosted the state finals in 1954. Schroder: Ray made the tying basket right at the buzzer. The teams in our county were great rivals. Craft: That was a big difference in the coaches. At the end of our junior year we played Osgood. Ray Craft got around me twice. South Bend Tribune. The other four Milan players were on the left side of the floor near the sideline and baseline. Powered by WordPress.com VIP. Clarence Kelly (assistant coach at Milan, 1952-54): Those boys bawled for two days when they lost as eighth graders (to Osgood), a team they beat a week before. Milan defeated Aurora 46-38 to earn another trip to Indianapolis for the semistate. Plump, however, didn't say, 'I'll make it,' as Jimmy Chitwood did in the movie, 'Hoosiers.'. Dale's choice of Shooter confounds the town and embarrasses Everett. The story began in this small town, in southeastern Indiana's Ripley County. In reel life: Hickory's total enrollment of 161 is so small that it can only field a team of six players. White and Truitt would be experienced seniors, as were Schroder and forward Bill Jordan. The film revolves around a high-school basketball team from a small, Indiana town, Hickory. They adjusted in the second half. We went to Frankfort for their holiday tournament and they beat us (49-47) and then we beat Columbus (52-49) that night. Since winning a state title in 1954, Milan has won three regional titles in 1973, 1999 and 2001. Plump: We were such nave kids, we didn't know anything. Well, it sort of is, but mostly isn't. 'Hoosiers' Hit Theaters 36 Years Ago, But Where is the Cast Today? Muncie waited and if you think you gotta have motion to generate excitement, you should have been there. Milan High | Home Cutter: There wasn't much time in between games. I don't think anybody had idea how long the clock was off. 'Hoosiers' remains the best sports movie, 35 years later - TODAY Milan went into the sectional with a 19-2 record. Craft: Bobby was good enough that he was going to get an open jump shot. Engel hurt his back during the season, but he played with it the best he could. Locate your carousel and retrieve your bags. Glen Butte (Milan 1956 graduate, key reserve forward on '54 team): Mr. Grinstead could slam lockers and kick chairs with the best of them. Those guys are great to me. Also, Hickory is not a real place. Review: "Touchback" is an inspiring drama that will make you smile. This meant that schools with low enrollment (like Milan High School) were forced to compete with much larger teams from Indianas cities. White: I couldn't believe some of the shots they were taking. Nonetheless - inspired by a true story may have been more fitting, as the events depicted in the movie do not mimic tit-for-tat those of the Milan High School's basketball team's 1954 run. But Milan's tale of David vs. Goliath carries on as strong as ever 60 years later, helped in part by the release of the movie "Hoosiers" in 1986, which introduced the story a Hollywood version to a new generation of basketball fans. In 2001, Hoosiers was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" due in part to an especially large number of nominations from Indiana citizens. But Marvin never said anything about it until later. ", Pizzo and Anspaugh shopped the script for two years before they finally found investment for the project. It should also get mentioned that Milans coach was a twenty-six-year-old named Marvin Wood, who had never led a team before, even at the high school level. In reel life: Jimmy Chitwood, during the timeout with 18 seconds remaining in the championship game and the score tied, is told that he'll be a decoy while the team runs its "picket fence" play, and a teammate is assigned the final shot. Craft: We enjoyed a lot of fun things around winning like decorating cars and things like that leading up to the game. There is hardly a genre that is more inspirational than sports fiction. To help fill the stands, they invited two local high schools to move a game to the Fieldhouse. White: If you watch the film, Plump just stood there and the guy from Muncie guarding him never moved either. Hoosiers True Story - The Real Jimmy Chitwood and Coach Marvin Wood Craft: Well, whatever. "The final 18 seconds were the only thing factual in the movie about the Milan-Central game," Plump told the Saturday Evening Post in 1987. Despite a setback when Shooter relapses, the team advances through the state tournament with Jimmy's strong performance. An estimated 40,000 people attempted cram into town for the celebration. Schroder: Shelbyville had a terrible shooting night. Indiana high school hoops lore became a classic sports movie in 'Hoosiers' Plus, the actual teams assistant coach was no alcoholic, as portrayed in the film. Gene Hackman leads the cast of the movie, playing the character of Norman Dale: a new coach with a shady past who assists Hickory in clinching the state championship. In the final, the team would defeat the significantly larger school, Muncie Central High School, 32-30 to clinch a historic title. He was the only guy who ever laid a hand on me. Butte: We ended up getting an extra 10 or 12 seconds at least. She is encouraging Jimmy to focus solely on his studies so that he will have a future away from Hickory. He was gone. It wasn't long after that he got in trouble (for a point-shaving scandal). 7/7/2023, 7:35am, Softball Schroeder: They backed up two flatbed trucks and the players got up and talked. Hoosiers (released in some countries as Best Shot [3]) is a 1986 American sports drama film written by Angelo Pizzo and directed by David Anspaugh in his feature directorial debut. Fans of both schools came out in period costumes to serve as extras and to supplement the hundreds of locals who had answered the call. Its basketball team, The Milan High School Indians, however, was considered to be quite impressive. Plump: I've been asked, 'What were you thinking out there?' White: I played my best games when Bobby wasn't there. Plump: It was sometime in the 1970s and Ken Windelman, Glen White, Bob Engel and myself were sitting there having a beer. Mary Lou Wood: We knew nothing about the Grinstead deal when we got there. They recognized us. When the teammate, in the team's huddle, gives a look of dismay and eyes Jimmy, Jimmy says, with confidence, "I'll make it." And here we are 60 years later talking about it. Despite those and multiple other creative licenses taken by the movie, Hoosiers popularised the story of the Milan team, whose victory is known as The Milan Miracle. One of the players of the Milan team, Rolin Cutler, told The Times 24-7 It is a great movie. I never did that. They had some big kids and played on a court about half regulation size. In addition, the old schoolhouse in Nineveh was used for the majority of the classroom scenes and many other scenes throughout the film. He thought the boys concentrated better that way. I said, 'We had a flat tire. Plump also held the ball, without moving, as the clock ticked down from 1:18 to :18. Muncie Central tied the score 26-26 by the end of the third quarter as 15,000 fans roared. A bit of trivia some readers may enjoy is that Hillard Gates, the championship game announcer in Hoosiers, is the real-life 1954 title game commentator. White: That was when the famous clock incident happened. Milan High School, enrollment 161, won the Indiana state basketball title in 1954. As the smallest school to win state since Thorntown in 1915, Milan's story had captured the imagination of the state. It unites communities and instills essential values such as dedication and teamwork in those who play it here. Drive through new Milan into the older downtown where the museum sits in an old bank building. We beat them unmercifully because of that first play. They had big players. A half-hour later, you're still talking about it. In real life: Milan High did have an enrollment of only 161, but 58 of the 73 boys in the school tried out for the team. I knew we had them beat. [citation needed], The film's producers chose New Richmond, Indiana to serve as the fictional town of Hickory and recorded most of the film's location shots in and around the community. But apparently there was a history with him and the superintendent that probably added to it. We didn't have acrobatic cheering back then. Yet, the Milan High School players continued to play basketball every chance that they got after the 53 season. During the season opener, Rade disobeys and repeatedly makes baskets without passing first. Milan High School (Indiana) - Wikipedia I remember I ended up in the arms of our 300-pound reporter, Tiny Hunt (from the Versailles Republican). [email protected] +41 44 2011222. At halftime and following the game, actors took to the court to shoot footage of the state championship scenes, including the game-winning shot by Hickory. Plump: Mr. Grinstead was still living in Milan and coaching three miles away (at Moores Hill). Milan advanced to the Indianapolis Semistate, where it would play at Butler (later named Hinkle) Fieldhouse for the first time. The first two points (in double overtime) won it. He enlisted the help of Marc Combs, the junior high coach to help him install the zone defense. The critical consensus is that "it may adhere to the sports underdog formula, but Hoosiers has been made with such loving craft, and features such excellent performances, that it's hard to resist. The big guy from Shelbyville had a good game against Attucks, but he went up for his first shot and Wendelman pinned it against the board. Collins' story from the Star: It was the tried and proven Plump formula. Gene White said, 'If we're going to do that, why don't the four of us clear out on the other side.'
