It was a day that changed a local town forever and inspired a famous movie.
On March 20, 1954, Bobby Plump hit a shot in the final seconds to clinch the state championship and instantaneously turned a team of high school basketball players into Indiana legends.
With just 161 students, Milan became the smallest school to ever win the one-class state basketball championship in Indiana.
The David vs. Goliath feat inspired the movie 1966 movie Hoosiers.
Roselyn McKittrick, curator of the Milan ’54 Hoosier Museum reflected on the impact that the win had on Milan.
“State Police estimated there were 40,000 people, four ways out of Milan were all blocked , you couldn’t even get here one man walked six miles while his wife waited in the car,” McKittrick explained.
The 60th Anniversary has brought back former players and fans to Milan on Thursday, including Patty Marshall. She was a junior and high school and also a cheerleader for the Indians.
Marshall said, “[The game] was very very exciting! I mean it was fantastic, it was a great excitement.”
In 2014, fans still travel from across the nation to visit the Milan ’54 Museum on W. Carr Street.
