Milan 1954 Championship film restored, ready for public screening

Bloomington, In. — A cast-off piece of Indiana film history will be on display for the public this weekend in Bloomington. A film copy of the Milan Basketball 1954 championship game against Muncie Central has been restored and ready for a free public screening Sunday, January 28 at 3 p.m. in the Indiana University Cinema. Admission is free but organizers are expecting large crowds and encourage people to get free tickets online. The game inspired the 1986 film “Hoosiers.”

A few years ago an administrator from Milan Community Schools gave the film to Indianapolis native Eric Grayson. It took Grayson about two years to restore film originally produced by the Indiana University Audio-Visual Center. The center filmed major scholastic events and redistributed them for teaching purposes.

The 1954 film of the semi-final Milan win over Terre Haute Gerstmeyer will also be shown.

Following the public showing the film will be stored at Indiana University under low-intensity sodium vapor lights a constant temperature of 50-degrees. It will be stored with other school artifacts and treasures, some dating back 2,000 years.

A link to the film is here.