What’s the best-known state nickname out of all the 50? I’ll bet if you polled a good sampling of Americans, they’d say, “Hoosiers.”
It was the name of a first-run, and first-rate, movie about our state’s first love — basketball. It was part of the name of a well-known novel of 100 years or so ago, “The Hoosier Schoolmaster.” Heck, there’s even an Indie pop band that calls itself “The Hoosiers!” And the three members are from Britain and Sweden — not an Indiana native in the bunch.
Nice name. Means nothing in particular, and yet everything. Take the movie, for instance. Can you imagine a movie called, “Buckeyes”? Or “Briarhoppers”? Or “Michiganders”? What is a Michigander, anyway — some type of north country goose? But combine the name “Hoosiers” with the well-known prowess of Bobby Knight’s IU basketball teams of those days, and Indiana’s love of the roundball game, and people from California or Mississippi who’d never even heard of the Milan Indians got the picture.
I’m reading a book right now called, “State By State: A Panoramic Portrait of America.” Fifty chapters, one for each state, including among other things state nicknames and what the residents call themselves. For Indiana, the self-identification is listed like this: “Indianans; Indianians; Hoosiers.”
Indianans?! Indianians?! I don’t think I’ve EVER heard a native of Indiana identify himself that way. We’re HOOSIERS — not genuine unless bearing that label! Anyone from this state calling themselves an “Indianan” ought to be sentenced to — oh, how about a full week in Gary?
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A friend of mine once told me that when he was in the Army, buddies of his from back east who knew him to be a Hoosier would ask, in all seriousness, “When you came home from school, did you have to go out and do your chores?” He was born and raised in Old Madison. But to people from back east, who could be pathetically ignorant while regarding themselves as very clever and sophisticated, someone from Indiana was by definition a hayseed, a hick and a farmer.
Well, Indiana has produced its share of those, as have all our states. But let’s look a little further.
In show business, the Hoosier state can claim as its sons and daughters:
Anne Baxter of Michigan City, winner of Best Supporting Actress Oscar for “The Razor’s Edge”.
Carole Lombard of Fort Wayne, who was married to “The King” Clark Gable when she was killed in a plane crash while en route to raise funds for the U.S. war effort in World War II.
James Dean, born in Marion and raised in Fairmount, a legendary “method” actor who made only three movies before his auto-accident death, and was nominated posthumously for Academy Awards in two of them. Dean was a Hoosier through and through, because he was a starting player on his high school basketball team. What’s more Hoosier than that?
Madison’s Irene Dunne (all right, she was born in Louisville, but she lived here for about seven years), nominated for five Academy Awards, and recipient of a Lifetime Achievement Award.
Will Geer of New Hope — better remembered as “Grandpa Walton.”
Jo Ann Worley of Lowell, tall, zany comedienne on “Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In.”
Marjorie Main (real name, Mary Tomlinson) of Acton, character actress best known as Ma Kettle in the “Ma and Pa Kettle” series of movies.
No less than five — count ’em, five — “B” Western cowboy stars of the 1930s and ’40s: Ken Maynard and his brother Kermit of Vevay, Buck Jones (real name, Charles Gebhart) of Vincennes, Max “Alibi” Terhune of Franklin, and Allan “Rocky” Lane of Mishawaka.
Comedian Richard “Red” Skelton of Vincennes — one of the all-time great funnymen.
James Baskett of Indianapolis, a talented African American actor who played Uncle Remus in the Walt Disney classic “Song of the South.” His performance was so highly regarded that he received a special Academy Award for it. Unfortunately the film is not available on DVD in the U.S. because the Disney organization is afraid to release it. The NAACP doesn’t approve of the film’s depiction of slavery.
Sidney “Big Sid” Catlett of Evansville, considered the greatest of all the jazz drummers. His son, also named Sid Catlett, played basketball on several of the UCLA national championship teams.
Steve McQueen of Beech Grove, one of the most talented actors in modern U.S. movies. Remember how he jumped the motorcycle over that fence in “The Great Escape”?
Sid Grauman of Indianapolis, who built and operated the famous Grauman’s Chinese Theatre in Hollywood. Handprints and (sometimes) footprints of many stars can be found in the concrete outside the theater.
We’re no slouches in the literary field either. For we have:
James Whitcomb Riley of Greenfield, the “Hoosier poet,” who penned “When the Frost Is On the Punkin,” “The Raggedy Man,” and “The Old Swimmin’ Hole,” among many others.
Booth Tarkington, Indianapolis, whose novels included “Penrod,” “Penrod and Sam,” “Seventeen,” and “The Magnificent Ambersons,” which won the 1919 Pulitzer Prize.
Edward Eggleston of Vevay and Madison, author of the afore-mentioned “The Hoosier Schoolmaster.”
Lew Wallace of Brookville, a Civil War general who later wrote the classic novel, “Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ,” which was made into a 1959 movie that won multiple Academy Awards.
Jessamyn West of Vernon, just north of us, novelist whose greatest work, “Friendly Persuasion,” was also put on the silver screen. She was a cousin to president Richard M. Nixon.
Theodore Dreiser, Terre Haute, whose novels “Sister Carrie” and “An American Tragedy” sparked much controversy.
Music? We got it!
Cole Porter of Peru and Hoagy Carmichael of Bloomington were two of the greatest popular composers of the 20th Century. Porter’s songs were known for their clever lyrics; Carmichael’s melodies had a signature sound that was at once lazy and sensual, probably a product of his early love for jazz.
Phil Harris of Linton led his own band on early radio, later having his own show with his wife, Alice Faye. He was also a featured comedy regular on the “Jack Benny Program.”
Paul Dresser of Terre Haute, a musical composer, wrote the state song, “On the Banks of the Wabash.” He was Theodore Dreiser’s brother. Historians disagree as to whether Dresser changed the spelling of his name merely to anglicize it, or because he was embarrassed by the social extremes many saw in Dreiser’s novels.
Michael Jackson of Gary, originally one of the Jackson Five family rock group, became one of the world’s leading solo rock performers.
And of course in basketball, the “Hoosier Hysteria” that has become known nationwide, we have Oscar Robertson, Tennessee-born but who grew up in Indianapolis and led Crispus Attucks to two straight state high school championships. He later achieved great success playing for the University of Cincinnati, and in the NBA. Many believe him to have been the greatest basketball player of all time. Unless, of course, you believe that
Larry Bird of French Lick was the greatest. The self-described “Hick” had an outstanding career at Indiana State, then led the Boston Celtics to three NBA championships. He is now in the business end of the roundball business as an owner of the Indiana Pacers.
And there you have it, folks. Not bad for a state full of “hicks, hayseeds and farmers,” is it? Nobody here but us Hoosiers!
Old Corporal <corporalko@yahoo.com>
Us Hoosiers!, – Saturday, January 17, 2009 at 13:43:44 (EST)
