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Floor Speech

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Mr. YOUNG. Mr. President, you might be surprised by the guest book of a museum in a small town in Indiana. Inside it are names of visitors from all 50 States and from much farther away--other countries, other continents, places like Italy, France, Japan, and New Zealand.

They have made their way to Milan--Milan, IN. And they have done so because here is where the heart of Hoosier Hysteria lives. It is the greatest basketball story ever that has taken place. It happened there 70 years ago this week, March 20, 1954, at the Fieldhouse on the campus of Butler University in Indianapolis: the finals of the Indiana High School Basketball Tournament, the Indians of Milan High, enrollment 161, versus the Bearcats of Muncie Central, enrollment 1,660. Fifteen thousand fans are in the bleachers, with thousands more Hoosiers listening over the radio. It is the fourth quarter. The game is tied at 30; 18 seconds on the clock. Milan inbounds. Senior Bobby Plump gets the ball. He fakes left, dribbles right, pulls up, knocks down a 14-foot jump shot just as the clock expires. The nets come down. The celebration starts.

The next morning, the new State companions headed home. They are in a fleet of Cadillacs along Indiana's county roads. There was no interstate or highway connecting Indianapolis to Cincinnati, the closest city to Milan.

Hoosiers were awaiting along the way in Greensburg, in Shelbyville. They were holding signs. They were waving. State Road 101, which led back home, was lined with cars and cheering fans for 13 miles. And 40,000 people were waiting in little Milan, IN, even though at the time, the town had only 1,100 residents. This is Hoosier Hysteria. This is what the people of Indiana are so excited about every March.

That year, in 1954, as the players from Milan rolled into town, two members of the team, Ray Craft and Kenny Wendelman, hopped on the roof of their Cadillac with the championship trophy between them. The procession ended near Milan High. That is where that trophy remains today.

The next morning, the crowd was gone. The small town, its quiet had gradually returned. In the days that followed, members of the team graduated. They went off to college, pursued careers. They drifted apart. Coach Marvin Wood took a job up in New Castle.

The passage of time brought other changes--not all of them welcome, of course. Little Milan, like so many towns across the country--it is facing challenges. And the single class basketball tournament system that gave small town teams like Milan a shot at the title is no more.

Some of the schools that played in the 1954 tournament are gone. Milan, it hasn't won another championship. Though, it must be said they made it to the semi-State back in 1973.

Despite this--or possibly because of it--the Milan Miracle is as inspiring as ever. Yes, it is the tale of the little guy, the underdog, David versus Goliath, the smallest school to ever win the single class tournament. Literally, in fact, Muncie Central's average height was 6- foot-4. Milan was 5-foot-11.

This story is so much bigger than that, so much bigger than basketball or even Indiana, for that matter.

Milan's players always note that their championship run in 1954 wasn't a lightning strike. It wasn't even a stroke of good luck. No, the Indians made it to the final four the previous year. Most of the players had known and practiced with each other since grade school. They played tough. They were coached well. Perhaps most importantly, they had faith--faith in their teammates, faith in one another, faith in that community that they represented, faith that merit and hard work would be rewarded, faith that, just maybe, their dreams would be satisfied.

Bobby Plump's last shot is still talked about around the country, really, but certainly, back home in Indiana. That is the moment we remember. But it was the culmination of a lot of hard work, dedication, and teamwork. And it happened because of the support of families, friends, and neighbors.

Milan was a place where, when a student needed a winter coat, locals--they took up a collection at the drugstore. They bought that coat. It is the place where the kids who didn't have a lot of money could eat for free at Rosie's. The ones from nearby Pierceville who often had to walk to school, they could count on rides from friends.

In a different era, when the world seemed so much smaller, the local basketball team was, at least for the month of March, the world--the world--every one of these teams, the celebration of your togetherness, your community, your opportunity to show your stuff.

Even a water shortage in the spring of 1954 didn't dampen Milan's or Ripley County's excitement for the Indians. In fact, as an area newspaper reported: ``water or no water, Ripleyians want Milan to bring home the crown.''

Apart from what happened on the hardwood at Hinkle Fieldhouse, the memory of Milan lasts because--because their team and town symbolizes what keeps all of our communities together, what lifts our hopes and fuels our dreams, even when it feels like hopes and dreams are all we have.

That trophy that I mentioned, that trophy in the newly refurbished lobby of Milan High's gymnasium, today is a symbol of more than just a State championship. Oh, it is so much more.

You see, it is proof of how much we all can achieve when we work together towards a common goal and resolve to hold our own, no matter the odds, no matter how insignificant others might say we are or think we are. It is an inspiration still across small towns and struggling places waiting on their own miracle, where the basketball team brings people together and makes them feel proud of the places they call home. This--this is why we still celebrate little Milan beating mighty Muncie Central 70 years on. It is why we will, I believe, for the next 70 years too.

Of course, for those who haven't already figured it out, this is the story that inspired ``Hoosiers,'' a beloved movie written and directed by a pair of Hoosiers.

You see, visitors regularly come to Indiana in search of the movie's fictional Hickory, hoping to find the small town epicenter of Hoosier Hysteria. But what they are really searching for is right there in Ripley County. It is an actual town with a real history and a tradition to be proud of and, dare I say, replicated.

They will recognize it by the basketball goals in driveways, the backboards on barns, the black water tower with white lettering, prominently reading: ``STATE CHAMPS 1954''--it is still there. I have seen it many times, the historical marker commemorating the Milan miracle and that museum that celebrates it right there in the center of town.

As a newspaper declared back in 1954:

In basketball, Little Milan is the new capital of Indiana.

I think that is about right. Well, 70 years later, it is still the capital, and the Indians will always be champions.

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