To One Man, ‘Hoosiers’ Like ‘This Is Your Life’

Norm Ellenberger grew up in Fort Wayne, Ind., where he was a prep star in the mid-1950s. He went to Butler University in Indianapolis, which played its home games at Hinkle Field House.

He then launched a coaching career that came crashing down in 1979 when he was caught in a recruiting scandal at the University of New Mexico. Now, he’s making a comeback as a volunteer assistant coach at Texas El Paso.

The movie “Hoosiers” is set in the mid-1950s, and Hinkle Field House was used to shoot the final scenes. The man who plays the game’s public address announcer actually held that job at Butler.

The character played by Gene Hackman is a coach who was run out of college basketball by a scandal and is trying to make a comeback as a high school coach.

Hackman’s name in the movie is Norman Dale. Ellenberger’s full name is Norman Dale Ellenberger.

Yes, Ellenberger was startled by the parallels.

“It was like I lived every second of that movie,” he told the Albuquerque Tribune. “I couldn’t help but cry.”

Boston pitcher Dennis (Oil Can) Boyd, who had some emotional problems last year, said he has found a new way to relax.

“Snake kung fu. Monkey kung fu,” he said. “I don’t know why, but I’m possessed by those movies.

“I love kung fu. I’m brainwashed. I’ve got to stop watching them. I wake up kicking. My brothers, my mom, everybody is into it in my family. Flying through the air stuff, violent kung fu. We love it.”

Trivia Time: Name two members of the baseball Hall of Fame who played for both the Dodgers and the Angels. (Answer below.)

Wait a Minute: “We were tentative and played like a team I’d never seen before. We’re going to have to play a lot better to win Friday.”

So said Oklahoma City Coach Abe Lemons after his Chiefs had beaten Northwood Institute of Michigan, 101-66, in the first round of the NAIA tournament at Kansas City.

Abe usually plays it for laughs, but he’s on the spot this year. Oklahoma City takes a perfect 34-0 record into tonight’s game against Georgetown of Kentucky, which is 28-6.

How-times-have-changed-Dept.: The late Glenn (Slats) Hardin, who won a silver medal in the 1932 Olympics and a gold in the ’36 Games in the 400-meter hurdles, smoked fairly heavily most of his life, even when he was competing.

According to his son, Glenn Jr., of Dallas, his father was once featured on a billboard in New York City, in a giant ad for Camel cigarettes. “My dad and the cigarette people claimed that smoking helped his digestion.”

Add Hardin: According to his son, Slats Hardin once took a run at Hollywood, actually auditioning for a part in the movie “Gone With the Wind.”

“He thought he had it made,” the younger Hardin said. “Here he was, a guy who grew up in Mississippi and went to school at LSU. But they told him he didn’t get a part because his accent was too Southern.”

Trivia Answer: Frank Robinson and Hoyt Wilhelm.

Quotebook

Notre Dame football Coach Lou Holtz, to a recruit who also wanted to throw the javelin for the Irish: “I suppose that will be all right as long as I don’t have to catch it.”