Indiana University Archives has a new collection featuring works of screenwriter and novelist Steve Tesich, best known for writing the film Breaking Away, about Bloomington and IU Little 500 culture.
His papers comprise five boxes, holding more than 50 of Tesich’s plays, screenplays and novels with accompanying newspapers and photos. People can see the collection by appointment.
University Archives and Special Collections Director Dina Kellams said that in fall 2025 she received a phone call from Steve’s wife, Becky Tesich. Becky had Steve’s papers and asked Kellams if she knew who Steve was and if she wanted his papers. Kellams said yes to both.
The collection has multiple screenplay versions of Breaking Away. This includes versions called The Eagle of Naptown, The Cutters and the original titled version called Bambino. The collection does not have the final screenplay of Breaking Away. Kellams said Becky told her she loaned it to someone and never got it back.
Listen: Noon Edition: The inspiration behind the Oscar-winning movie 'Breaking Away'
Breaking Away is based on Tesich’s teammate in the Little 500 who cycled 139 laps out of 200.
“I think that what Steve really means to Bloomington is that he really brought the rest of the world into Bloomington, invited the rest of the world into Bloomington, and the Little 500 so that they could really see what it was about, and I think that it's still very important, you know,” Kellams said. “This year, the IU Student Foundation celebrated 75 years of the Little 500 and so the legacy just continues.”
Evan Kern, student staffer, processed the collection. He started working on it in October and finished in May 2026.
Kern said having multiple versions of Breaking Away reflects the writer Tesich was and shows people his writing process.
“It's so incredible to have all of these different versions, because you see, he's such a heavy rewriter, such a heavy editor, even just the handwritten notes he takes, it's incredible to see the margins and the margin writing and the strikethroughs, the Xs, the circles, all of that,” Kern said.
Breaking Away is not the only work by Tesich that includes multiple drafts and notes.
Kern said he encourages people to explore the different genres and modes of Tesich’s work. He said one can see how the early works were shaped by his upbringing in East Chicago and his later works were inspired by the political state of the world.
“It's really interesting to look at all of his works in a way that the earlier ones with a play like The Carpenters starts as just a somewhat like family struggle class crisis kind of play, but then you look into later works with other things like The Speed of Darkness or Square One, and things take on much more psychological and moral kind of pivotal struggle moments,” Kern said.
One of Tesich’s novels, Karoo, was published posthumously in 1998, after he died of a heart attack.
“There's a lot more to him than just Breaking Away, so being open to the guy that is very much a well-rounded figure and wanted to stay true to his IU roots, that's just a really cool thing,” Kern said.
