Angelo Pizzo, a Bloomington resident who wrote the movie Hoosiers, remembered Gene Hackman as a movie star who made a huge impact on his life.
Hackman played coach Norman Dale in Hoosiers. He was found dead Wednesday at age 95.
“He's a legend,” Pizzo said. “He changed my life and there's a certain sadness to that, no doubt.”
Hoosiers, released in 1986, told the story of a small-town high school basketball team that won a state championship.
Alongside established movie stars, non-actors were cast as players for the fictional Hickory High School. Pizzo says Hackman gave the players “little acting lessons.”
“I want to believe it's because Gene at heart was a kind man, but I also think that he needed to have them be good, or he would be in an embarrassing movie,” Pizzo said.
Pizzo noted that when Hackman retired, he said people in public recognized him primarily as coach Norman Dale from Hoosiers.
Read more: The Hoosier Gym, home of the Hickory Huskers, still resonates with basketball fans