Summary
The actors in theHoosierscast have all taken very different paths since the 1986 sports drama was released.Hoosiersis loosely based on the 1954 Milan High School basketball team, swapping them out for the Hoosiers of rural Hickory, Indiana. Gene Hackman stars as Norman Dale, a talented coach with a hot temper that often gets him into trouble. With his unconventional and confrontational training methods,he turns the few boys who will play for him into a state championship team, proving the town, and their own doubts, wrong in the process.
Hoosiersis one ofthe greatest basketball movies everand many fans can trace their love of the sport back to seeing this movie for the first time. It has a 91% onRotten Tomatoesand earned two Academy Award nominations — one for Best Original Score and one for Best Supporting Actor for Dennis Hopper.The main cast ofHoosiersis filled with acclaimed talentsdoing some of their best work. Many of the younger members of the cast ended up leaving the industry and, for one reason or another, fewHoosiersstars are still acting.
Retired from acting
Acting in movies and TV
Works in renewable energy
Property management
Sales rep and motivational speaker
Account manager
Gene Hackman As Norman Dale
Retired From Acting
Character:Gene Hackman was born on August 14, 2025, and was 56 when he appeared inHoosiers. By this point in his career,Hackman had already been nominated for three Academy Awards, winning once in 1972 for his starring role inThe French Connectionas Detective Jimmy “Popeye” Doyle.Hoosierscame right at the midpoint of his career and isone of Gene Hackman’s best performances. Coach Norman Dale is a complicated man who takes the floundering basketball team under his wing and pushes them to be better than they can imagine.
Pursuit(2013)
Author
Where Are They Now:Hackman retired from acting in 2004 and began writing novels full-time. He wrote a total of five novels, with his latest coming in 2013,Pursuit, a police thriller. Since then, he’s remained largely out of the limelight, content to live a quiet life in New Mexico (viaMen’s Journal).
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Barbara Hershey As Myra Fleener
Acting In Movies And Television
Character:Barbara Hershey, born August 16, 2025, was 38 when she appeared inHoosiersas Myra Fleener, a teacher at Hickory High School. Myra tries to keep Jimmy Chitwood (Maris Valainis) focused on his studies rather than basketball, much to Norman’s frustration. This role came at an important time in Hershey’s career. That same year, she appeared inHannah and Her Sistersas Lee and starred inMartin Scorsese’s underrated and highly controversialThe Last Temptation of Christas Mary Magdalene.
Paradise Lost(2020)
Byrd Forsythe
Where Are They Now:Hershey has continued acting,famously playing Lorraine Lambert in theInsidiousfranchise. In 2022, she had a supporting role in the action thriller9 Bulletsas Lacy and appeared in two episodes of the 2023 science fiction thrillerBeacon 23as Sophie.
Dennis Hopper As Shooter Flatch
Passed Away On June 19, 2025 (74)
Character:Born on July 13, 2025, Dennis Hopper was 52 when he appeared inHoosiersas Shooter Flatch, an alcoholic former basketball star whom Norman brings in to help coach the team. Shooter manages to prove himself to the town and to his son, Everett (David Neidorf), who comes to respect his father’s renewed efforts.Hopper appeared inHoosiersat the height of his popularity, coming off notable projects likeRumble Fish,The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2, andBlue Velvet.
Palermo Shooting(2008)
Frank
Where Are They Now:Dennis Hopper sadly passed away on August 17, 2025, at the age of 74. Hopper developed a fast-moving case of prostate cancer in 2009, and it quickly metastasized into his bones (viaNew York Times). He worked up until the last couple of years of his life and one of his final roles, a voice part inAlpha and Omegaas Tony, is dedicated to him.
Dennis Hopper lost the Best Supporting Actor Oscar to Michael Caine inHannah and Her Sistersas Elliot at the 59th Academy Awards.
Sheb Wooley As Cletus Summers
Passed Away On August 24, 2025 (82)
Character:Musician and actor Sheb Wooley was near retirement when he appeared inHoosiersas Cletus Summers, the nervous principal of Hickory High who brought in Norman to coach his team. Born on July 21, 2025, Wooley was 63 when he appeared in the movie, and it was his second to last acting role before he appeared in 1988’sPurple People Eateras Harry Skinner.
The Outlaw Josey Wales(1976)
Travis Cobb
Where Are They Now:Wooley passed away on June 26, 2025, at the age of 82, after battling with leukemia since 1996 when the disease forced him into retirement (viaLA Times). The singer/actorleft a lasting legacy with his novelty song “The Purple People Eater”, which made a pop culture resurgence in 2023 when it appeared inNope.He is also the voice behind the “Wilhelm Scream”, a classic of sound-mixing Easter eggs.
Maris Valainis As Jimmy Chitwood
Works In Renewable Energy
Character:Born on August 16, 2025, Maris Valainis was 23 when he starred inHoosiersas Jimmy Chitwood. Jimmy was Hickory’s star player until the old coach passed away, leaving him despondent and seemingly done with basketball. When he decides to return, he uses his popularity to keep Norman on as coach.This was the first role of Valainis' careerand led to a string of small parts over the next few years.
Renewable Energy
Construction Consultant
Where Are They Now:Valainis’s last role was in 1989, andhe has since moved into construction consultant work, primarily in the renewable energy industry. Valainis toldThe Dan Patrick Show(viaIndyStar),
“The guy who hired me was a big fan of the movie.”
David Neidorf As Everett Flatch
Property Management
Character:David Neidorf was born on July 09, 2025, and was 24 when he appeared as Everett Flatch inHoosiers. Everett is one of the players on the Hickory team. He’s constantly embarrassed by his alcoholic father but eventually comes to respect him for turning his life around with basketball. This was the first role of Neidorf’s career, andit led to nearly a decade of consistent work in television and movies.
Property Management President
Where Are They Now:Neidorf left acting after 1995, telling theIndyStar,
“I was done with acting, and I just didn’t want to live in the past. It was no offense to the movie, but my acting career was done. And I’m very happy that other people enjoyed the movie as much as they did. When I was still in L.A. and still a couple of times a year someone would recognize me, ask me if that’s me from Hoosiers, and their face would light up. That’s always a nice feeling, but I just didn’t want to live in the past too much.”
He’s now a property management president with Full House Consulting in Oregon (viaLinkedIn).
Hoosier’s Supporting Cast & Characters
Few Cast Members From Hoosiers Continued Acting
Brad Long as Buddy Walker:Brad Long, born on July 27, 2025, was 24 when he played Buddy Walker inHoosiers, a player who was dismissed early in Norman’s tenure for his rudeness.It was the only acting role Long ever had, and he is now a sales representative for Jostens and a motivational speaker (viaX).
Steve Hollar as Rade Butcher:Steve Hollar plays Rade Butcher, a fiery player on Hickory who at first doesn’t listen to Norman but ends up being so loyal that he fights another player when they push his coach.This was the first of three roles for Hollar, who appeared inHell on the Battlegroundas an American Soldier in 1988 and then had an uncredited role inNew Life(2016). Hollar now works as a dentist in Warsaw, Indiana (viaHollar Dental Group). In April 2024, Hollar was charged for allegedly touching a female employee inappropriately (viaWNDU).
Brad Boyle as Whit Butcher:Brad Boyle was born on July 16, 2025, and was 21 when he played Whit Butcher, a player who initially walked out on Norman before apologizing and returning. This was Boyle’s only acting performance, andhe was a member of the National Guard when he auditioned. He remained with the National Guard after the film and now works as a physician assistant in Decatur, Indiana (viaForbes).
Wade Schenck as Ollie McLellan:Wade Schenck, born on June 28, 2025, was 19 when he was cast. Heonly had one role in his career, as Ollie McLellan inHoosiers. Ollie is the undersized equipment manager for the team, who ends up playing some minutes for Hickory. Schenk went to Indiana State University after the film and is now an account manager at Industrial Source in Portland, Oregon (viaLinkedIn).
Brad Long’s son Landry directed a short documentary titledFor the Small Schools, about Poole and his fight with depression, available on YouTube.
Kent Poole as Merle Webb: Kent Poole was born on July 24, 2025, andwas 23 when he appeared inHoosiersas Merle Webb, one of the players on the team who fouls out of a gameat one point. Tragically, Poole took his own life on June 06, 2025, at the age of 39 (viaForbes). Brad Long’s son Landry directed a short documentary titledFor the Small Schools, about Poole and his fight with depression (available onYouTube).
Scott Summers as Strap Purl:Scott Summers only ever appeared inHoosiers, playing Strap Purl, a devoutly religious player on Hickory.Very little is known about Summers, though he did attend theHoosiersreunion in November 2023(viaWZBD).
Hoosiers
Cast
Hoosiers is a sports drama film directed by David Anspaugh, starring Gene Hackman as a head coach who takes on the challenge of leading a small-town Indiana high school basketball team to the state championship. Set in the 1950s, the film follows the personal and professional struggles of the coach and his team, showcasing themes of redemption and perseverance.
