It’s given us Dan Quayle, whose place in U.S. vice presidential history is mostly remembered for things he said, then wished he didn’t.
“I have made good judgments in the past. I have made good judgments in the future.”
More recently, Mike Pence. Hero, or heel?
Both from Indiana, like Benjamin Harrison.
Who? One of our more obscure presidents, the 23rd man to hold the office, for one term (1889-93).
Shifting to “who are celebrities born and raised in Indiana, for $400″ …
Larry Bird.
The Jacksons – Janet, Michael, Tito, et al.
John Mellencamp.
DAY-vid LETTERMAN.
No great Indy 500 drivers, but the Indy 500.
Tony Stewart, one of NASCAR’s all-time stars.
Colonel Sanders, who crossed the Ohio RIver and became the most famous chicken cooker ever.
Axl Rose and David Lee Roth.
The real “Hoosiers,” the 1954 Milan High School Indians, with a school enrollment of 154, the smallest school ever to capture the all-classifications Indiana state basketball title. You surely have seen the movie.
Jane Pauley. If you haven’t seen her CBS Sunday Morning package on her alma mater and home state, find it online.
(Me. No celebrity, but like Jane, born in Indianapolis. Unlike the esteemed TV journalist, I was shipped out to western Pennsylvania eight weeks later. It was really cold both places, I was told, this time of year.)
Then let’s get to people who aren’t native Hoosiers, but are anchors of Indiana University.
Bob Knight, not Hoosier born or educated, but …
Mark Cuban, currently overjoyed alumnus, and Shark.
Six Million Dollar Man (remember when that seemed a breathtaking figure?) Lee Majors, Kevin Kline and a bunch of actors.
Joe Buck. We just assumed he went to college at Busch Stadium.
Now, Fernando Mendoza and Curt Cignetti.
One won the Heisman Trophy and lived up to it leading IU to the College Football Playoff crown Monday night. He was the two-star high school quarterback born a mile from Miami’s Hard Rock Stadium, where the legend was set in stone last night.
He’s a guy who the previous Hurricanes’ staff told no, thanks, there’s not a spot for you to walk on here.
Cignetti is the architect, chief builder and mad scientist who thought one of the country’s least successful programs could rule the college football universe. In just two years, his Hoosiers are 27-2 and in fact, do rule the CFP landscape.
Two years ago, Cignetti was coaching at James Madison. Mendoza was the freshman starting quarterback for the Cal Bears in the Independence Bowl.
All who encountered him for that week in Shreveport have said this guy is that guy. He was every bit as charming, as humble and as magnetic as he has been this season.
Cignetti has told journalists and anyone else that the Hoosiers’ story is fit for a Hollywood script. He’s not wrong.
It’s as if Indiana is the epicenter for unlikely epic sports accomplishments.
Milan HS (a.k.a. the Hickory Huskers) is obvious. Bird leading Indiana State to the NCAA finals is another. Butler’s more recent run to the Final Four championship game fits.
John Daly got in the 1991 PGA Championship as a last-minute alternate, and won wire-to-wire in Crooked Stick, Indiana.
It happens there. In Hoosier land.
As the TV talking heads scrambled to express their amazement, justifiably, Monday night, more than a few said Indiana may be the best college football team ever.
The 2019 LSU Tigers beg to differ.
Cignetti said as much later last night. His isn’t the most talented. Just the most unlikely rags-to-riches story ever – “sum of the parts,” he said.
The Hoosiers finished 16-0, the most wins by an unbeaten modern-day college team ever.
They did it in Miami, where the 1972 Dolphins went 17-0 in their perfect Super Bowl season, the only one in NFL history.
Wonder if the Hoosiers will hold champagne toasts at the end of each season when no other college squad can do what they did.
They have earned the right. And with an average age of 23 on the team, they can already do it legally.
Contact Doug at sbjdoug@gmail.com