"Welcome To Indiana Basketball": East Central vs. Oldenburg At Hoosier Gym Jan. 16

By Mike Perleberg The 1986 film Hoosiers was filmed at Hoosier Gym in Knightstown, Indiana. East Central and Oldenburg Academy will play there on January 16, 2016. (Knightstown, Ind.) - Two local high school basketball teams are being given the opportunity to play a game on the court where the movie Hoosiers was filmed. East Central and Oldenburg Academy boys teams will face off at the famous Hoosier Gym in Knightstown on Saturday, January 16 at 11:30 a.m. The game is part of the first annual D-One Norman Dale Classic, named after the head coach played by Gene Hackman in the movie. The Norman Dale Classic will feature four other games that day: Pioneer versus Carroll (Flora), Eastern Greene versus Borden, Wood Memorial versus Pike Central, and Wheeler versus North Judson. Tickets for the D-One Norman Dale Classic can only be purchased during presale for $10 each. Because the historic gymnasium is not very big, East Central and Oldenburg are only being given 315 tickets for each school. D-One Basketball will serve as the facilitator, coordinator, and supporter of the event. Proceeds from the Classic will be distributed to the participating schools. Hoosier Gym was built in 1921 to serve as the home floor of the Knightstown High School. After the Panthers called it home for 44 years, it fell into disuse for 20 years until Hoosiers writer Angelo Pizzo thought it the perfect setting for the Hickory basketball team’s home floor in 1986. The Hoosier Gym is now a municipal community center which is governed by a board of community leaders As many around southeast Indiana know, Hoosiers was loosely based on the 1954 Milan Indians.