INDIANAPOLIS — It's March 20, 1954.
Butler Fieldhouse is filled to capacity with 15,000 people. There is less than a minute to go in what may be the most famous high school basketball state final in American sports history.
The score is 30-28. Upstart Milan High School (161 students) is leading four-time state champion Muncie Central (1,662 students). Muncie controls the ball, with every pass, every cut and every shot carrying the weight of a championship.
Ray Craft, a Milan senior guard, leaps to intercept a mid-court pass, but narrowly misses what would have been a game-clinching turnover. He recovers back by the free throw line, again with a narrow-miss steal, fingertips away from potentially sealing the game. Instead, Muncie moves the ball down low and scores an layup. It's tied 30-30.
Craft pumps his fist down in frustration after the basket. He regains his composure and passes the inbound to his classmate, fellow senior guard Bobby Plump.
Plump calmly dribbles the basketball up the court. He's meticulous in how he bounces the ball back and forth, stalling to wind down the clock.
A teammate to his left raises both hands to call timeout. The players run to their respective benches.
The crowd noise rises to a crescendo accompanying anticipation inside the fieldhouse.
Milan coach Marvin Wood calmly draws up a play in the huddle. He's always been quiet. This pressure-packed moment doesn't faze the 26-year-old.
The play is repeated for clarification. Craft is supposed to take the ball out of bounds and pass to Plump. Wood tells the team that Plump can dribble for five to six seconds then make a move to shoot and in case of a miss, the team could possibly tip it in with time left.
Starting center Gene White advises the rest of the team to stand on the left side of the court to clear a path for Plump. Wood agrees.
There are :18 seconds left on the clock.
Legacy
It's January 2024.
Plump, 87, is dribbling the basketball like he's 17 years old again. He's standing with teammates Craft and Rollin Cutter on the Hinkle Fieldhouse court nearly 70 years after that state championship game, in the exact spot where left it.
The players are reminiscing with each other just like they've been doing every year since Dwight Eisenhower was in the White House.
"In the past 70 years we've had a lot of appearances together," Plump said. "It's amazing it lasted this long. It's remarkable."
Plump, a great-grandfather wearing a Butler University pullover, has an endearing, warm personality. He grew up in the small town of Pierceville, near Milan.
His family lived simply on a farm. Craft and Cutter have similar reflections on their rural Indiana backgrounds, too.
March 20, 1954 is indelibly etched in their minds. Plump says hearing the crowd noise that Saturday night made him feel like he was in a movie.
And it became just that. The 1954 Indiana State Championship game is the inspiration for what became the film "Hoosiers," widely considered the greatest sports movie of all-time.
"I just think it's a story that will never go away because of all the pieces that have created it," said Brad Long, who played 'Buddy' in the movie and is on the museum board of directors.
Long, 61, is a grandfather who wants to make sure the Milan story is never forgotten.
"Everybody thinks about what they've done in their life, what people maybe they've touched, what left that they could do to leave the world a better place," Long said. "And so as I get older I suppose it's just a thing that I realize as time goes on and these guys are getting older we need to be sure that their legacy continues on."
The last :18 seconds were the only accurate portrayal in all of the film.
Plump stands in the very spot where he released the last shot of the game 70 years ago.
"I knew it was going in the basket when it left my hands," Plump said.
Unscripted
:18 seconds remain until basketball immortality.
The players take their positions on the floor. Yet, there is one small problem for Milan.
Nerves get the best of Plump, who goes off script and inbounds the ball to Craft, but he receives it right back for the final play.
Plump dribbles in place with his right hand at the top of the key.
:6 seconds remain.
Plump makes a quick motion fake left and goes back past the right of Muncie Central defender Jimmy Barnes.
Barnes tries to cut off his lane to the basket, but Plump stops on a dime, lifting up in the air for a jump shot from 15 feet. Like it was written for a movie, nothing but net.
:3 seconds remain.
Muncie Central passes the inbound, with desperation on the team's mind. Plump steps up to defend, and before a shot attempt from beyond half court can be made, the buzzer sounds. Milan 32, Muncie Central 30.
Pandemonium erupts at Butler Fieldhouse. Cameras flash, cheerleaders cry. Bobby Plump jumps in the air and pumps both fists, this time, in jubilation.
It's a feat that will never be accomplished again in what was a one-class system of tournament basketball at the time. Milan beat out 751 other teams to become champions of the state of Indiana, where basketball was everything.
It's Milan's moment. Forever.
You can watch the last 18 seconds of the game in the video player below:
