Real Player’s Life Remains True to Script

A who’s who of Indiana basketball gathered last year in Indianapolis to film a TV commercial for a local insurance company.

Among the distinguished guests were George McGinnis, Jerry Sichting, Mike Woodson, Don Busey, Louis Dampier and a guy named Bobby Plump.

During taping, McGinnis surveyed the group, noting that several players had worn Indiana Mr. Basketball’s No. 1 jersey and some had played in the NBA.

Then he turned to Plump.

“You only hit one shot,” he said, “and you’re more famous than all of us.”

Plump became a statewide legend in 1954, when his 15-foot jump shot with two seconds left led tiny Milan High to a 32-30 victory over Muncie Central in the final of the Indiana State High School basketball tournament.

Milan’s season served as inspiration for the 1986 movie “Hoosiers,” in which Jimmy Chitwood, a shy, quiet kid, hits the game-winning basket in tiny Hickory High’s victory over South Bend Central in the championship game.

Plump, now 57, sees some parallels between himself and the movie’s Chitwood, played by Costa Mesa’s Maris Valainis.

“I was just a shy, backward kid back then,” said Plump, who owns an insurance and financial planning company in Indianapolis.

After high school, Plump turned down scholarship offers from Indiana, Purdue and Michigan State to play at nearby Butler, setting single-season and career scoring records. He spent three years after college traveling the world with an industrial league team before returning to Indiana.

Plump and his Milan teammates get together annually to celebrate the team’s 28-2 championship season, and the talk always turns to the key players and coaches involved.

They talk about Marvin Wood, their 26-year-old coach who took over the team in 1953. Milan finished 24-5 that season and reached the state semifinals. Wood, after suffering from cancer in 1990, often joins Plump on the lecture circuit.

They talk about Plump’s 28 points in a 65-52 quarterfinal victory over Indianapolis Crispus Attucks and its star player, sophomore Oscar Robertson. Robertson led Crispus Attucks to state titles the next two seasons and a combined 63-1 record before moving on to successful college and pro careers.

But most of all, they talk about Plump’s game-winning shot.

The way Plump remembers it, Muncie Central tied the score, 30-30, with 1 minute 18 seconds left to play. Milan ran the clock down to 18 seconds, then called timeout.

Unlike in the movie, there was no question who was taking the last shot. Plump, a 5-foot-10 guard, was having a terrible game (he finished with 10 points), but he was the team’s leading scorer (15.3 points per game) and the go-to guy.

“Coach Wood said I should dribble around and take the last shot,” Plump said. “Then Gene White, our center, suggested we spread the court and let me take it in alone from the backcourt.

“I was supposed to have ice water in my veins, but I turned to Mr. Wood and asked: ‘Coach, could we go over all this again?’ ”

Plump got it straight.

He faked to his left, forcing his defender off him, and pulled up for a jumper near the free-throw line and . . .

“I knew it was in from the moment it left my hand,” he said.

“And if I would have been wrong, I wouldn’t be talking to you right now.”