Indiana High School Basketball
Hoosier Hysteria Keepsakes
I find myself to be very fortunate to have been able to witness and partake in one of America's truly great traditions, Indiana High School basketball !
Having been born in southern Indiana , I don't remember the time I wasn't interested in high school basketball. My earliest memories include my family and friends talking about the latest Friday night game.
Basketball was a religion, living in a small town, it would have been sacrilegious to miss the weekly game.Every store and business in town would close, gymnasiums were built to seat twice as many people as lived in the small towns and villages. After all there had to be room for the visiting team's fans to sit!
To be in high school and not be a cheerleader or a member of the team was unthinkable!
Having received my first basketball at the age of 6 , my career began,at first I just had a hoop hung on the kitchen door, as soon as the weather warmed, I graduated to a barrel ring nailed to the side of the granary. Since I was a small dude,the barrel ring was probably only 6 feet off the ground. Imagine the joy when I became tall enough to have a REAL goal with an actual net, ten feet off the ground!
Practice was every day, rain,shine,snow or sleet, it didn't matter if it was 10 below zero, practice, in my mind was mandatory. Sometimes, during a full moon I would be practicing until it was way past bedtime!
Normally I would be playing alone, I would bounce the ball off the side of the granary, catch it and shoot, or drive for the basket and score the winning bucket!
Then came 1954,and the event that truly changed Indiana High School basketball forever. An event that would eventually be made into the classic movie "Hoosiers".
The preceding year,a school with an enrollment of about 150, which was located a scant 10 miles from my home had gone all the way to the Final Eight before being defeated.Most of the team members were juniors, which meant the following year they would be seniors. The only topic of conversation for a year was if they could win the "Big ONE"!
It had never been done before, a small school among giants! The year progressed and playing their "cat and mouse" style of basketball, they completely a very highly successful season. It was state tournament time," Hoosier Hysteria" had arrived!
The Milan Indians advanced as expected, defeating many powerhouse, big city teams along the way. Oscar Robertson's Indianapolis Crispus Attucks being one of the causalities!
After many nail biting moments the state finals were upon us. It was truly a David (Milan), Goliath ( Muncie Central Bearcats) situation. Muncie was one of the premier powerhouse teams in the state of Indiana.
This was 1954, so there weren't many televisions at that time, my uncle had one of the few. I remember sitting on the floor of his living room watching the game, surrounded by probably 30 people, the excitement level was extreme!
As the game wore on,expectations were mounting. It was a real game, they had a chance!
Milan, playing their "stall " game, had thrown the Muncie team completely off balance.
The game was tied, 30-30 with just a few seconds remaining, Coach Marvin Woods called time out, and instructed his players to run the "picket fence".
It worked, all the players were on one side of the floor except for Bobby Plump! Standing just behind the free throw line, the ball was passed to him, and with time expiring ,he executed the shot heard around the world!
Milan had won!! Butler Field House erupted with cheers, David had slain Goliath!!
We all looked at each other in disbelief, the little guy still had a chance, Milan had proven that.
Celebrations went on into the night, when a team wins a big game there is an escort with fire trucks and the Sheriff leading the way, pep rallies are at the gym, congressmen, mayors, and politicians of all sorts show up, it normally lasts into the wee hours of the morning.
The next day It was estimated that 50,000 people visited this small town of 1,500 population, just to see where it was, traffic was backed up for miles.
Soon billboard size photos of the team were hung in all the restaurants and public places in Milan, and of course, every male child over the age of 3 wanted to be Bobby Plump.
It had truly been a night to remember!
Hi there,
I went to IU and remember Jim Harbaugh or someone who came to play for the Colts being interviewed about his popularity in the state. He said something like "well, in Indiana the most popular sport is high school basketball, then college basketball, then pro basketball and maybe then football..."
Nice blog!
http://mindfultourist.com
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