Hickory Basketball Team In James H. Madison's Hoosiers

In the book Hoosiers by James H. Madison it tells an amazing story of a little town in Indiana that defeats all odds to become something great. He tells the story of the Hickory basketball team and all their conflicts they face, from disrespectful players and ungrateful parents, to teams they have no chance against, but through hard work and determination they still manage to defy the odds and come out champions.
In 1951, Norman Dale comes to an Indiana town to coach basketball. Norman was a very successful NCAA coach but he struck one of his players prompting his release from coaching in college, this rural town named Hickory was his last chance. Similar to the entire state of Indiana, Hickory was very fond of the sport of basketball. Everyone …show more content…
The votes are counted and it goes against Dale but his players stand up and say “we only play for Coach Dale,” and some of the parents discuss, re-vote, and at last he keep his job (Madison 254). From here on out the team plays with raw emotion and are nearly unstoppable, Flatch integrates back into the town and is respected again for the work he does with and for the boys, coach Dale being the man he is purposefully gets ejected from a game to give Flatch an opportunity to show his coaching ability, he designs a magnificent play that wins them the game as the clock hits zero. Flatch falls back into old habits and shows up to game drunk, Dale sends him to the hospital to sober him up and help him, despite this issue Hickory remains unstoppable tearing through their tournaments, even their subpar players are showing up and acting as unsung heroes. This little town shocks the nation when they make it to the State title game in Indianapolis, a gym bigger than any thy have ever seen before holding more than 10,000 spectators. The team comes against the former state champs from South Bend, which has players indefinitely better at the sport in