YouTube Gold: Coach Norman Dale

Gene Hackman was unforgettable in Hoosiers. R.I.P.

Like a lot of you we suspect, in March we always watch Hoosiers right around NCAA tournament time. It’s one of the greatest sports movies ever made and if there’s a better basketball movie, we haven’t seen it.

It’s the story of a small-town team that gets a new coach who takes a roster with no margin of error to the state championship.

Gene Hackman, who played Coach Norman Dale, was found dead Thursday. Now 95, the circumstances of his death are unclear. The police found him in a mudroom where he appears to have fallen. His wife was found in another room with an orange prescription bottle and pills scattered around. And in a strange twist, the couple owned three German Sheperds and one was found dead in a closet in the same room with Hackman’s wife.

Additionally, an exterior door was said to be ajar but there was no sign of forced entry.

It’s a sad ending to a great actor’s life and his wife, who was a talented pianist, will also be missed.

We thought we’d commemorate Hackman’s life with a clip from Hoosiers. In this scene he meets his team for the first time and sets the tone immediately with some quick and decisive discipline that ultimately pays off. Jimmy Chitwood, the star who is in mourning and who would later propel the team to immortality, is paying close attention just out of view of coach and team.