Doyel: Photo of Peyton Manning, cast from 'Hoosiers' is great – then Peyton made it greater
Not every story has to be a long one. This story you’re about to read, for example, about Peyton Manning and an autograph show outside Chicago and the cast of “Hoosiers.” It won’t take long, certainly nowhere near as long as it took for this picture to happen.
We’re talking 37 years.
Weird, because the picture itself happened in an instant – or as long as it took “Hoosiers” director David Anspaugh to look one way and see Peyton Manning smiling at him, then look over his shoulder and see every living actor from that movie’s iconic team, Hickory, following him.
This was last week at a convention center in Rosemont, Ill., site of the Chicago Sports Spectacular autograph and memorabilia show. You know how those things go: Famous sports figures young and old, Earl Campbell and Aroldis Chapman at booths over here, Tony Dorsett and Kyle Schwarber at booths over there. A crowd around Peyton Manning. A bigger one around the cast from “Hoosiers.”
David Anspaugh is an Indiana original, a high school quarterback from Decatur, Ind., who attended IU and became close with another Indiana original, Bloomington native Angelo Pizzo. They set off for Hollywood and made movies together. Pizzo wrote, Anspaugh directed, you watched: “Hoosiers” and “Rudy” and so forth. You know the stories.
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But get a load of this one.
Until last week in a suburb of Chicago, only one picture of Anspaugh and the roster from Hickory had been taken since 1986, when “Hoosiers” was filmed. Hey, it’s how life goes. People get busy. The players went their way, propped along by currents nobody saw coming when the movie was released. Anspaugh was directing St. Elsewhere, Hill Street Blues and Miami Vice.
The memorabilia show brought them together. So the cast from “Hoosiers” is signing autographs over here and Peyton Manning’s signing over there, and Anspaugh has already told one of the show’s organizers that he wants to say hello to Peyton. They’ve been friends for decades, since Manning was playing for the Colts and holding parties at his Downtown home. Anspaugh attended one. That’s how it happens.
How this picture happened? Don’t blink, because it’ll be over before you know it.
That’s how time works.
Who do you recognize from 'Hoosiers'?
Check out the picture. See if you can name everyone, but no cheating! The faces from Hickory have changed, harder lines and softer cheekbones and, in most cases, a whole lot less hair, but look hard enough and you’ll see them: Everett and Buddy, Whit and Strap, and good ol’ Ollie.
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Jimmy Chitwood, who made the shot, hasn’t aged. He’s easy to pick out. So is Rade, another high-scoring guard on that team, the guy who decided he was done with Coach Norman Dale’s patient offense and jacked up two quick shots. Made them both, remember?
Then was benched. Remember?
Sure, you remember. Look at the picture now, eight men forming a huddle around Anspaugh, the former high school quarterback who ran a few plays under center during the filming of “Rudy." That's him in the front row in the cardinal red Hickory hoodie, smiling that goofy grin of his. Behind him, from left:
Everett (played by David Neidorf), Ollie (Wade Schenck), Strap (Scott Summers), Rade (Steve Hollar), Peyton, Buddy (Brad Long), Jimmy Chitwood (Maris Valainis), Whit (Brad Boyle).
How’d you do?
Oh, you think you’re a “Hoosiers” expert, do you?
Listen to me: You’ve got nothing on Peyton Manning. Watch what he’s about to do.
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It started with someone from the autograph show approaching Anspaugh and quietly letting him know: Peyton’s almost done.
Anspaugh leaves the “Hoosiers” table. When he reaches Peyton’s area, Manning barks, “Anspaugh! What are you doing here?”
Sheepishly, because that’s Anspaugh, he asks Manning if he has time for one more photo. The answer: Of course. Now Anspaugh hears a commotion behind him, looks over his shoulder and sees them.
“Next thing I know,” he says, “I turn around, and it’s the whole Hickory team. Neidorf goes, ‘We weren’t going to let you have this alone!’”
The players from “Hoosiers” are beaming, but you should’ve seen Peyton. This guy was beaming. You can imagine, right? He was 10 when he first saw the movie. No telling how many times he’s seen it since, but this happened next:
Peyton points at every player, says their character’s name and jersey number, then quotes a line from each of them.
“Seriously,” Anspaugh’s telling me, just cackling, “Peyton did that. He’s brilliant. That’s why the guy can read defenses as well as he could, I guess.”
That was two Sundays ago. One day later, on the ManningCast he does for ESPN2 with his brother Eli, Peyton shows the picture from Chicago. It’s part of a montage, moving fast, so you could’ve missed it. But the brilliance of Manning – his almost weird genius when it comes to sports movies – comes out later when a defensive back from Philadelphia, Bradley Roby, forces Kansas City tight end Travis Kelce to fumble by punching out the ball.
Roby used his right hand, which is important, because they’re talking about the force of the punch on the ManningCast and someone mentions former heavyweight champion Mike Tyson, and poor Eli brings up Rocky Balboa.
Peyton isn’t having it. He saw “Rocky.”
“C’mon, E!” Peyton’s saying, and he sounds disgusted. “Rocky’s a southpaw!”
Meanwhile, the picture from the autograph show outside Chicago – Peyton and Anspaugh and every living member of that Hickory roster – has caused a stir. At his home in Bloomington, David’s phone is ringing and buzzing late into the night because friends from around the country have just seen their buddy, sheepish and humble David Anspaugh, on Monday Night Football.
Anspaugh is telling me about it over the phone in real time, late in the game, when something happens and he interrupts himself by shouting:
“They just showed the picture again!”
That picture was 37 years in the making. Show it again. And again and again and again.
Find IndyStar columnist Gregg Doyel on Twitter at @GreggDoyelStar or at www.facebook.com/greggdoyelstar.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Peyton Manning, cast from movie 'Hoosiers' take picture for the ages
