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The movie was written by Angelo Pizzo and directed by David Anspaugh . It was nominated for Academy Awards for Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Dennis Hopper) and Best Music, Original Score ( Jerry Goldsmith).

Hoosiers was recently the choice of the readers of USA Today newspaper as the best sports movie of all time. In 2001 the United States Library of Congress deemed the film "culturally significant" and selected it for preservation in the National Film Registry.

A museum to commemorate the real life achievements of the 1954 Milan Team has been established - information regarding this project can be viewed here: Milan '54 Museum.

The film is loosely based on the story of the 1954 IndianaIndiana meaning the "Land of the Indians", is a state of the United States with its capital Indianapolis. postal abbreviation for the state is IN . A resident of Indiana is called a Hoosier. USS Indiana was named in honor of this state. History Indiana wa state champions, MilanMilan is a town located in Ripley County, Indiana. As of the 2000 census, the town had a total population of 1,816. The town's name is pronounced differently from the English name for the Italian city of the same name: IPA /maln/. Its high school, Milan H ( IPAThe three-letter acronym IPA can stand for any of the following: International Phonetic Alphabet. See also: Phonetics Isopropyl alcohol International Phonetic Association India Pale Ale International Police Association Independent Pilots Association TLAs. ˈmaɪlən; "MY-lun") High School. In most states, high schools are split into classes, usually by enrollment, and separate state championship tournaments are held for each classification. However, at that time, Indiana conducted a single state basketball championship for all schools, and continued to do so until 19961996 was a leap year starting on Monday (see link for calendar), and was designated the International Year for the Eradication of Poverty''. Events January January 5 Hamas operative Yahya Ayyash is killed by an Israeli-planted booby-trapped cell phone Jan.

Some elements of the film do match closely with those of Milan's real story. Like the movie's Hickory High School, Milan was a very small high school in a rural Indiana town, although Milan's enrollment of 161 more than doubled Hickory's 64. Both schools had undersized teams. Both Hickory and Milan won the state finals by two points: Hickory won 42-40, and Milan won 32-30. The final seconds of the Hoosiers state final hold fairly closely to the details of Milan's 1954 final; the final shot in the movie was taken from virtually the same spot on the floor as Bobby Plump's actual game-winner. The movie's final game was even shot in the same building that hosted the 1954 Indiana finals, Butler UniversityButler University is a private liberal arts university in Indianapolis, Indiana (USA), founded by abolitionist and attorney Ovid Butler in 1855. It is home to approximately 4000 students, and occupies 20 buildings covering an area of 290 acres (1. The sch's Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.

However, some key details differ radically:

• Team rosters: In the movie, Hickory only had eight players at most, and had a roster as small as six; Milan had a larger roster. (Of the 73 boys who were enrolled at Milan High in 1953-54, 58 tried out for the team.)
• Coaching controversy: The controversy surrounding the coach and his methods, an important element of the movie's story, was completely absent in Milan.
• Town drunk: The town drunk character from the movie, who was also Hickory's assistant coach, was also missing from the real Milan team.
• Prior coach: In the movie, Hickory's best player initially refused to play, as he was devastated by the sudden death of his previous coach. This has no parallel in the Milan story. The previous coach at Milan had been fired after the 1951-52 season.
• Underdog status: Hickory was depicted as a massive underdog throughout the movie. Milan entered the 1953-54 season as one of the favorites to win the state title, as it returned four starters from a team that lost in the state semifinals the previous year.
• Close finishes: In the movie, Hickory won each of its tournament games by two points or less. In 1954, Milan won seven of its eight tournament games leading up to the final by double-digit margins, and the other by 8 points.
• Head coaches: Milan's real-life coach, Marvin Wood, could hardly have been more different than Hickory coach Norman Dale (the Gene Hackman character). Dale was a middle-aged former college coach with a shady past and a volatile temper, and had a romantic relationship with a fellow Hickory teacher. Wood was only 26, and married with two children, when Milan won the state title, and had coached the Indians to the 1953 state semifinals. Wood was a soft-spoken man of high integrity who often practiced alongside his players. (Wood died of bone cancer in 1999.)

In an interesting historic connection between the movie and real life, the losing coach in the movie's state final was played by Ray Crowe, who coached all-time great Oscar RobertsonOscar Robertson (born November 24, 1938 in Charlotte, Tennessee) was one of the greatest basketball players, and was described by coaching great Red Auerbach as the most versatile player he knew. A three-time All-State selection at Crispus Attucks High Sc at Crispus Attucks High School in Indianapolis. In 1954, Robertson's sophomore year, Milan defeated Attucks in the quarterfinals of the state tournament. Attucks, coached by Crowe and led on the floor by Robertson, would go on to win the next two state tournaments.

There were other connections between the movie and real life. Hinkle Fieldhouse of Butler UniversityButler University is a private liberal arts university in Indianapolis, Indiana (USA), founded by abolitionist and attorney Ovid Butler in 1855. It is home to approximately 4000 students, and occupies 20 buildings covering an area of 290 acres (1. The sch in Indianapolis was for decades the site of the high school state championship game and was used as the site for the movie. The announcer of the championship game in the movie was Hilliard Gates, whose voice was familiar to Indiana high school basketball fans of the 1950's and 60's.

The sports teams of Indiana University are called The Hoosiers.

For information on the word itself, see Hoosier.