For many Indiana fans, the 1976 Hoosiers aren’t just a championship team—they’re a legend. Fifty years ago, Indiana University completed what no other Division I men’s basketball program has managed since: a perfect season. The Hoosiers finished 32–0 and captured the national title, becoming the last undefeated champion in NCAA history.
But the story of that season isn’t just preserved in box scores and banners. It lives in film.
While nearly 18,000 fans packed the Spectrum in Philadelphia for the championship game, a young cinematographer named Al Edyvean had already spent the season documenting the team through the lens of a 16mm camera. The footage he captured became the foundation for a documentary titled A Team That Wouldn’t Be Beat, narrated by legendary IU radio broadcaster Don Fischer.
Over the decades, the film became something of a hidden treasure—known to many longtime fans but rarely seen in its full form.
Recently, I had the opportunity to help bring it back.
Rediscovering a piece of IU history
The revival of A Team That Wouldn’t Be Beat began with the incredible work of several partners across Indiana University. The original film was preserved through the Media Digitization and Preservation Initiative (MDPI)at Indiana University. This initiative digitized more than 350,000 audiovisual items between 2015 and 2021.While working as a part of the project, I first saw this pristine copy of the film. Being an avid(sometimes rabid)Indiana Basketball fan since birth, I never forgot about the film.
My current role at WTIU involves producing on-air fundraising programs—broadcasts that connect viewers with the stories and programs they care about while also supporting the work we do as a public television station. This documentary felt like a perfect opportunity to combine those goals and finally give this masterpiece the attention it deserved.
I first contacted my former colleague at MDPI, Carmel Curtis, Interim Director of Indiana University Libraries Moving Image Archive. She was able to identify the collection holder as University Archives and get approval for broadcast and provide the 2K scan of theoriginal16mmfilm. She was also able to connect me with the cinematographer! She and Dina Kellams, Director of University Archives, were thrilled to see this film broadcast on television for the first time ever!
Preparing the documentary for broadcast
Bringing an archival film to television isn’t as simple as pressing play. The original footage digital scan had to be prepared for modern broadcast including reformatting for modern 16x9 screens and the addition of closed captioning. Along the way, we also worked to add new context that helps viewers appreciate both the history and the people behind the film.
That included recording interviews with Al Edyvean himself, whose camera captured the energy, determination, and camaraderie of the 1976 Hoosiers as the season unfolded. Watching that footage today is remarkable. You see moments that feel immediate and personal—glimpses of a team that knew they were chasing something historic, even if they couldn’t yet see how lasting their legacy would become.
Those moments remind us why archives matter. Without the work of archivists and preservationists, stories like this could easily be lost.
Why it matters now
The timing of this broadcast makes the story even more meaningful. As Indiana fans know, the 1976 team still stands as the last undefeated champion in Division I men’s basketball—a feat that continues to define the program’s legacy.
Sharing this documentary with our viewers gives the community a chance to revisit that remarkable season and experience it in a way that feels fresh again.
For many fans, it will bring back memories. For others, especially younger viewers, it may be the first time they see these moments at all.
That’s one of the things I love most about public television. We’re able to connect generations through stories that matter to our community.
Local storytelling on public media
Broadcasting A Team That Wouldn’t Be Beat is also a reminder of the role public media plays in preserving and sharing local history. Stories like this might not always find space on national networks, but they are deeply meaningful to the people who live here.
At WTIU, we believe those stories deserve to be told.
Whether it’s a documentary from the archives or a new program created today, our mission is the same: to bring thoughtful, meaningful storytelling to the communities we serve.
And sometimes that means reaching back into the past to bring a great story forward again.