Milan basketball player from 1954 state title team wins over new fans

COLUMBUS, Ind. — The question asked most often about 1954 state basketball champion Milan High School is whether players from the smallest school to ever win an Indiana state title expected to run the field in the state tournament.

That’s according to Glen Butte, one of 161 students who attended high school at Milan that year — and played on the state champion team that upset basketball powerhouse Muncie Central, 32-30.

Butte said he answers the question the same way each time: The team had such a positive attitude that the players never entered a game believing they would lose.

Such messages were woven through stories Butte shared with about 70 Rockcreek Elementary School students he visited the school east of Columbus on Thursday afternoon.

Butte and other players from the Milan team are in the area for Sunday’s special 30th anniversary showing of theĀ 1986 film “Hoosiers” at the Park Theatre in North Vernon. Read more in Sunday’s Republic.