Thursday, October 14, 1999
Ex-Milan coach Wood dies of cancer
Indiana legend memorialized in 'Hoosiers'
The Associated Press
Marvin Wood, whose team at tiny Milan High School is etched in Indiana basketball lore as the symbol of the triumphant underdog, died Wednesday of bone cancer. He was 71.
Milan's march to the 1954 state championship inspired the 1987 movie Hoosiers, in which Wood's role as coach of the fictitious Hickory High was played by Gene Hackman.
Even before that, however, Milan had been known as the epitome of Hoosier Hysteria, as the small-town school that defies the odds and upsets the favored big-city power in the title game. No small school ever won the Indiana championship after Milan until the state tourney was split into four enrollment classes two years ago.
“That's certainly going to be one of his legacies. He, as well as us, very happily so, are linked to that in the movie Hoosiers,but I think there's more of a legacy than that,” said 1954 Mr. Basketball Bobby Plump, who hit the last-second, winning shot in Milan's 32-30 victory over Muncie Central.
“If you could talk with the people he's touched during the time he had cancer ... He's given so many speeches and done so much with the Cancer Society and the Special Olympics.”
The cancer had been in remission for more than seven years but returned last winter. At the time, Wood was coaching his granddaughter's seventh-grade team in Kirtland, Ohio. He returned to his home in Mishawaka and died in Memorial Hospital in nearby South Bend.
Wood, a native of Morristown, played for Tony Hinkle at Butler and later coached at French Lick, New Castle, Indi anapolis North Central and Mishawaka high schools, as well as the women's team at St.Mary's College in South Bend. He also was athletic director for three years at Shelbyville High School
“Marv was just a great person. He was without a doubt a believer in students and a leader of students,” said John Danaher, the athletic director at Mishawaka, where Wood coached for 11 years. “He would just take them and try to mold them as much as possible, and that's the type of individual he was.
“He loved basketball and he just liked working with kids,” Danaher said.
Wood was at Milan only two seasons, but that's where he will be best remembered.
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