Behind the ‘Hoosiers’ Bus
The 1939 Chevy has more than just film history. The story behind the “Hoosiers” bus.
Story and photos by Bill McCleery
The 1986 flick “Hoosiers” is widely regarded as the greatest sports movie ever made. Based loosely on the true story of tiny Milan High School’s march to the 1954 Indiana state basketball championship, the film follows fictional Hickory High School’s similar quest in 1952.
For aficionados of old cars, the film offers an added bonus—plenty of picturesque scenes featuring the typical cars and trucks that populated American roads during the post-World War II era in which the plot is set.
One of the most noteworthy vehicular “stars” appearing throughout the film is a 1939 Chevrolet school bus that carries the “Hickory Huskers” basketball team. That bus is currently owned by Darryll Baker, whose family’s association with the vehicle goes back 75 years—long before its use by filmmakers.
Darryll is so devoted to his vintage vehicle’s claim to fame that, in early 2021, he moved back to his home state of Indiana from Virginia to be in the same region where the old Chevy’s cultural significance is most appreciated.
Specifically, he moved to the city of Greenfield, a community equidistant between Indianapolis and Knightstown’s “Hoosier Gym”—an historic building constructed in 1921 that was used as Hickory High School’s home court for the filming of the movie.
Since 2000, Baker has regularly driven the bus to fairs, festivals, parades and other events in both Virginia and Indiana. While the movie “Hoosiers” might have its most loyal fan base in Indiana, where basketball reigns as the king of all sports, Darryll has discovered firsthand that the film retains a devoted cult following across all of the United States and beyond.
But Darryll’s affection for the bus stems as much as from his personal family roots as from its celebrity status.
From school bus to motorhome
The bus’s connection to the Baker family starts with Darryll Baker’s grandfather, Jack Baker, who worked for years as a mechanic in the small town of New Ross, Ind. While in that role, Jack purchased the bus in 1949 in Mace, Ind., near the city of Crawfordsville, after the bus was retired from service transporting students in the Lebanon and Indianapolis school districts from 1939-’49.
The one-and-a-half-ton bus was originally powered by a 216-cid six-cylinder engine. Soon after rolling off the assembly line, it was taken to a third-party company (whose identity is now unknown to the owner) and fitted with a school bus body.
After buying the bus, Jack replaced the well-worn body with a used Wayne school-bus body that was in better shape and some years later, he also replaced the 216 engine with a larger Chevrolet 235-cid low-pressure six-cylinder engine in order to achieve stronger performance—an upgrade that enabled Jack to drive the bus up Pike’s Peak in Colorado after failing in that endeavor with the original, smaller engine.
From the beginning, Jack’s vision for the bus was to convert it to a motorhome for family vacations. And that’s exactly what he did, adding a couch, double bed, stove and icebox. It was used to haul various family members on trips out west to national parks and other destinations.
“Jack liked to hunt,” Darryll recalled, “and on those trips he would shoot some varmint out west, dress it and drive it back to New Ross. I remember Jack always said that the bus had made it to 39 states, though exactly which ones he missed are lost to history.”
By the 1970s, the bus had largely fulfilled its duties as a family RV, and Jack began using it to transport material around his community. He hauled limestone from local quarries and feed for cattle, hogs and chickens. He also transported clay pigeons for the local trap shooting club, which is now the New Ross Conservation Club (NRCC). The NRCC is located on what is left of the Baker family’s 160 acres obtained from the U.S. government in 1830.
In the early 1980s, the bus became less active, but was sometimes used by Darryll’s father, Darrell, who continued to maintain the vehicle and repainted it at least once.
At some point, the bus was idled in New Ross, and it appeared the old Chevy’s years of faithful service might very well be behind it. But fate had something else in store.
A third life for the ‘Hoosiers’ bus
In the early to mid 1980s, members of the “Hoosiers” movie crew were scouting filming locations in rural Indiana. One day, as the crew was breaking for lunch near New Richmond, a waitress in a small café heard the filmmakers talking about their desire to locate a school bus of an appropriate vintage that would have carried a small-town high school basketball team in the early 1950s.
The waitress interjected, volunteering that she knew the whereabouts of just such a vehicle. She suggested they go see Jack Baker in New Ross.
The rest is history.
The old Chevy came out of retirement to play its most prominent role yet—one that put it in front of millions of movie watchers.
The movie production company paid Jack Baker $500 to rent the bus during filming. Baker allowed them to modify it for their purposes, such as painting it and adding seats.
And in 1986, the bus became famous when “Hoosiers” hit the big screens.
Around that same time, however, the bus experienced another twist in its saga. Not knowing the sentimental value of the bus to family members, most of whom had moved out of state, Jack sold it shortly after the filming was done to Charley Bronaugh, a friend and fellow New Ross resident.
At that time, Darryll was leaving the U.S. Navy to continue his career abroad in U.S. foreign service after serving aboard three ships and spending five years in Pearl Harbor. Stunned to learn that his grandfather had sold the bus, Darryll swore he would attempt to locate the cherished family heirloom after his overseas tours.
And he would get it back.
Yet another life for a special bus
Back from working 10 years in South America, Darryll learned in 1996 that the late Charley Bronaugh’s widow still owned the bus. With her permission, Darryll pulled the bus from a lean-to shed in New Ross and inspected it.
He found the old bus in dire straits from its lack of use. Birds, rats and raccoons had lived in the bus. Some of the critters had eaten through the wiring. The old bus needed serious attention to ever be roadworthy again.
Talking with Helen, Darryll learned she had already been contacted by both the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame in New Castle and a basketball coach at Milan High School. For all intents and purposes, she had agreed to eventually sell it to one of those suitors.
Although Darryll could not convince Helen to budge from those commitments, he tried one last tact. He told the 86-year-old Helen he knew that his now 89-year-old grandfather, Jack, would like to see the bus one last time.
“Helen had known Jack all her adult life,” Darryll explained.
Cheered at the prospect of seeing her longtime family friend, Helen readily agreed to host Darryll and his grandfather again the very next day at the property where the bus sat.
When the next morning rolled around, Darryll and his grandfather arrived at the property before Helen. Darryll took a photo of Jack sitting in the driver’s seat of the bus.
When Helen arrived, the three of them talked for perhaps five minutes—with Darryll and Helen standing outside the bus and Jack still sitting in the driver’s seat.
Suddenly, Helen realized the ploy to play on her sympathies.
“Darryll, that’s not fair!” she said.
Darryll begged to differ.
“It’s absolutely fair,” he recalls saying. “This bus was never meant to leave our family, and we’d like to get it back.”
As Darryll recalls, Helen scowled for 20 to 30 seconds, shook her head, and with a look of resignation, agreed to sell the bus to Darryll.
From 1996 to 2000, the bus underwent restoration by Terry Nichols, a former Indianapolis race car mechanic from Russellville, Ind., and Dale Roll, of English, Ind. In addition to dropping a fresh 235 into the engine compartment, the restorers gave it other upgrades, such as adding electronic ignition and converting the electrical system from 6 volt to 12 volt.
“I didn’t need it to be stock,” Darryll said. “I needed it to work. Besides, it already was long past being stock.”
In 2000, following the restoration, Darryll and his father drove the bus on Interstate 70 to Washington, D.C., near where Darryll lived at the time.
In ensuing years, Darryll drove the bus in numerous parades, car shows and charity events in Virginia and Washington, D.C., including parades on Constitution Avenue and in front of the White House for St. Patrick’s Day, Memorial Day and the Cherry Blossom Festival.
After fully retiring in 2021, Darryll moved back to Indiana with his wife, Cathy. He continues deriving great satisfaction from using the bus to celebrate the movie and pay homage to Indiana’s historic love affair with basketball.
Often, the bus is parked outside Knightstown’s Hoosier Gym, a tourist attraction that draws visitors not only from other states, but also other countries. The Hoosier Gym is the home gym of the Hickory Huskers from the movie, and it has an almost mystical allure for basketball fans, some of whom come from afar saying that the gym is a hallowed mecca of their favorite sport.
"Some people seeing the bus develop the mistaken impression that it carried the actual Milan team that won the state title, Darryll said."
He must remind them that the bus is from the movie.
Connecting real and film history
In real life, Milan beat the much larger Muncie Central team in the championship game held at Butler University’s fieldhouse in Indianapolis. In the movie, which featured a state championship game filmed at that same historic venue, the fictional Hickory Huskers defeat the South Bend Central Bears.
In the movie, with the championship game tied, a player named Jimmy Chitwood holds the ball for what seems like an eternity in order to take—and make—the winning shot right before the final buzzer.
That particular detail is one that mimics the final seconds of the actual game—even down to the spot on the court where the shot was taken—and in real life, that player was Bobby Plump, now 88.
“The movie had its own characters and its own story, but it was based on what we did at Milan,” Plump said. “Because of that, it caused people all over the world to take new interest in our team. It took our story international.”
Plump made that observation to this writer at the Indianapolis restaurant he owns, Plump’s Last Shot, located in the village of Broad Ripple. The restaurant is famous for its giant and delicious tenderloin sandwiches, which have been ranked by USA Today as among the best in the Midwest.
When showing off the bus, Darryll enjoys being part of the magic surrounding Plump’s Milan team and the fictional movie that arose from the actual history.
At the same time that he uses the bus to promote the iconic movie and Indiana basketball lore, Darryll is also honoring his own grandfather and a family legacy.
Truly, for this old bus, the wheels of service continue to go ’round and ’round.
If you like stories like these and other classic car features, check out Old Cars magazine. CLICK HERE to subscribe.
Want a taste of Old Cars magazine first? Sign up for our weekly e-newsletter and get a FREE complimentary digital issue download of our print magazine.
