Plot
Norman Dale arrives in the rural Indiana town of Hickory to be a high school teacher and basketball coach. He had lost a previous coaching position after striking a student, so he is under pressure to succeed.
Like much of the state, Hickory's community is passionate about basketball. People are aware that the best player in town, Jimmy Chitwood, does not intend to play on this season's team. Faculty member Myra Fleener warns the new coach not to try to persuade Jimmy to change his mind; she believes he needs to focus on school work in order to get a scholarship to attend college and have a better future.
The school enrollment is so small that Dale has only a few players on his squad. Built on a four pass offense, Dale remains steadfast when a player disobeys him in an early season game, keeping him on the bench and playing with four players after another fouls out. The coach alienates the community with a slow, defensive style that does not immediately produce results and by losing his temper, which causes him to be ejected from more than one game. Dale needs a new assistant coach and invites knowledgeable basketball fan Shooter, the alcoholic father of one of his players, to join him on the bench. This, too, confounds the town, including Shooter's son.
By the middle of the season, an emergency town meeting is called to vote on whether Dale should be dismissed. Fleener appreciates the coach's staying away from Chitwood and sides with him, but the town votes him out. At the last minute, Chitwood asks permission to speak: he says he's ready to begin playing basketball again, but only if Dale remains as coach.
From this point, Hickory becomes an unstoppable team. Despite a setback in which Shooter arrives drunk to a game and ends up in a hospital, the team advances through tournament play, with contributions from unsung players, such as the pint-sized Ollie and devoutly religious Strap.
Hickory shocks the state by reaching the state championship game. In a large arena and before a crowd bigger than any they've seen, the Hickory players face long odds to defeat a team from South Bend, whose players are taller and more athletic. But with Chitwood scoring at the last second, tiny Hickory takes home the 1952 Indiana state championship.
Read more about this topic: Hoosiers
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