My chat with a "Hoosiers" favorite.

As many of you know, I am a big fan of the movie, "Hoosiers." So much in fact, I will stop on whatever channel it may be on while channel-surfing.

I decided a few months ago that it would be interesting to try to get in touch with one of the Hickory "players." I got lucky. Wade Schenck, who played "Ollie" agreed to talk to me. You remember Ollie...the player who was too small. The player who made the 2 free-throws that sent Hickory to the state championship game.

I sent Wade some questions and said he would be happy to answer them, but, he farms in Indiana and was in the busy part of the year and he'd answer as time permitted. I was more than willing to wait.

The following was my chat with Wade (Ollie).

Q- How much basketball had you played growing up prior to the movie?

A - I played basketball my entire life. In fact, I had to drop out my 1st semester of my senior year & returned to school the 2nd semester & returned to the varsity basketball team. Also, in my junior year, my high school (L & M) pop 136 kids in the top 4 grades, much like Hickory, was ranked #1 in the state of Indiana only to lose in the final game of the semi-state in a 1 class system.

We were also featured in the fall of 1984. I played sparingly that year as we were dominated with myself and 2 others as the only underclassmen. When I returned my senior year I started at point guard. I attended several camps growing up including Indiana University as well as attending some out of state.

Q - How hard did you guys have to train for the basketball scenes in the movie?

A - We started filming in September of 1985 but the filmmakers got us 8 ballplayers together & put us up in a motel in early August to build up some camaraderie &  practice together.

The actual scenes during the montages were basically adlibbed while we scrimmaged, excluding the "picket fence" and final shot scenes of course.

Q - Your thoughts about working with Gene Hackman?

A - Gene was great. He was always accessible to us when we needed advice, whether it was to do with the film or anything we had questions about. In fact, before we started filming, he called us ballplayers together and had 3-4 classes where he gave us some relaxation exercises so we would be more comfortable in front of the camera.

Dennis Hopper was also of great help even at times inviting us to his trailer to relax, hang out and play cards. You couldn't have asked for two better mentors, especially working with so many inexperienced you men.

Q - Do you stay in touch with any of the guys in the movie?

A - The only times I get to see the guys is usually on reunions or special occasions and those are becoming few and far between anymore.

Q - How tough was it to learn to shoot free-throws underhanded?

A - The underhanded free-throws were kind of an interesting story. It originally wasn't in the script to shoot them that way. Growing up and attending the shooting camps and trying to hone mt skills all my life, it was hard to stand at the line and shoot the ball and make it appear as though I had no clue.

So myself, Tom Abernathy, who played for the 1976 IU National championship team, who was there as a consultant, and the writer and the director got together and came up with the underhanded free-throe solution. The other players as well had difficulty adapting to the shooting styles of the 50's. Back then, there were no jump shots, but you'll notice in the film even though they tried, Jimmie and Merle both shot a jump shot.

Q - How often are you recognized as "Ollie?"

A - Mark, I never really did get recognized unless someone knew and told someone.

Q - Are you surprised how popular the movie became?

A - Being so young when we filmed and the film didn't release for about a year after we wrapped up the filming, I matured physically more than mentally, lol. I filled out after I graduated high school and into my freshman year in college as most do.

I was and still am in awe at the success of the film and its following. Even today, when the casting call was in the local media and newspapers, I assumed it was going to be a film that would be displayed in the Indiana High School Hall of Fame museum.

I didn't have much knowledge of who Gene and Dennis were. If it wasn't Tom Cruise or Kevin Bacon, I was pretty much clueless.


My thanks once again to Wade for taking the time to answer questions from a long-time fan.