The Final Season: The Story of a Teenager and His Team’s Final Season During the Golden Age of Hoosier Hysteria

If you recall the high-energy atmosphere of high school basketball—Chuck Taylors squeaking, fans roaring, cheerleaders hyping the crowd—you’ll find yourself being pulled toward Dave Austin’s The Final Season. The book reminds readers of a time when zealous small-town fans anticipated every season, knowing that the coming season could be the year that put them on the basketball map. The approaching 1958–1959 season for the Hanover High Bulldogs had to be their year. That season is deeply personal to Dave, his teammates, students, teachers, and the entire community of Hanover, Indiana. Because of consolidation, Hanover High would no longer exist after this school year. The team and the entire community desperately desired their final season to be one that all could remember with pride.

Advanced Praise for The Final Season

“Dave Austin’s wonderful memories of his southern Indiana high school basketball team in the 1950s bring real life to the golden age of the state sport. Along with the glory of a championship team are realities of teenage romance, racial conflict, and the sad closing of high schools too small for changing times.”

—Professor James H. Madison, preeminent historian of Indiana history. He is author of Hoosiers: A New State History.

“The 1950s were certainly one of the golden ages for boys’ high school basketball in Indiana. Dave Austin lived it and has brought it back to life in The Final Season. Small towns in the pre-consolidation days were the beating heart of the state’s love for the game. Hanover High School’s last year as a school in 1959 is the perfect backdrop for a team that dreams of a last chance at the glory achieved five years earlier by nearby Milan, as portrayed in the beloved movie Hoosiers.”

—Jim Gordillo, a Hoosier journalist who covers Indiana high school sports for the Bloomington Herald-Times and USA Today

“It warms my heart to see a book that so well represents Indiana high school basketball during the Golden Age of Hoosier basketball. Dave Austin’s book nails it!”

—Bobby Plump, a Hoosier legend for making the last-second shot to win the Indiana state championship for Milan in 1954 and owner of Plump’s Last Shot Restaurant in Broad Ripple

“The Final Season is a very personal, even intimate account about not just high school basketball, but about growing up in small-town Indiana in the 1950s (which will feel very familiar to those of us who grew up in the early 1970s). It is a story about rock and roll music and maple fudge and first girlfriends, as well as fast breaks and teamwork and an inevitable poignant loss. The hundreds of thousands of Hoosiers who played or followed high school basketball and didn’t win a state championship or become an All-American will find many people and moments they recognize in these pages.”

—J. Ronald Newlin, first director of the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame and author of the widely acclaimed book, Legacy and Legend: The History and Mythology of Basketball in Indiana

“Dave Austin is a gifted storyteller who loves basketball. His book tells a heartfelt story that keeps the reader’s interest throughout with its ups and downs. A great read!”

—Don Lane, legendary college basketball coach who coached for 26 historic years at Transylvania University. He is the author of The Lane Way: Family, Faith, and Fifty Years in Basketball.

“During the 1950s, when there was no internet, television was still new, and nearly every small town had its own school, Indiana high-school basketball was more than a game, it was the entertainment, the gathering place, and the heartbeat of the community. Dave Austin takes readers back to the unforgettable final season of one small-town basketball team as they battled their way to a county championship in the school’s final year before consolidation. It is the story of a team, a community that rallied behind it, and the closing of an era.”

—Bill Varble, historian and coach who led the Shawe Memorial High School boys’ team to its first-ever sectional championship in 2002

“The Final Season is a particularly engaging and enjoyable read. In this story based on a true account, Dave Austin offers a compelling perspective on the profound influence of high school basketball in Indiana, drawing readers into his journey from the unique vantage point of a small-town athlete. Beyond the game itself, the manuscript highlights the many life lessons that can be learned through sports, including perseverance, relationships, character, and personal growth. Austin’s honest storytelling gives readers a front-row seat to these experiences and illustrates how the lessons learned on the basketball court can extend far beyond a final season.”

—Carla Eades-Krebs, a legendary figure in women’s basketball, from her dominance at Madison Indiana High School to her record-breaking career at Central Missouri, where she was named the NCAA Division II Player of the Year in 1984. She is a member of the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame.

“Dave Austin’s book captures the passion of small-town basketball in an era when over 700 schools competed for the coveted state championship.”

—James More, retired lawyer who lives in Nashville, Indiana, and who has become a basketball aficionado during the years he has lived and died for Hoosier basketball

About the Author

Dave Austin grew up in Hanover, Indiana, where he played varsity basketball for three years as a Hanover High School Bulldog. He received his BA from Union College in Kentucky, his MS from Indiana University, and his PhD from the University of Illinois.

He was on the faculty of Indiana University Bloomington for 29 years, during which he received the highest award given by his profession and he authored or coauthored eight textbooks on recreational therapy.

Dave continues his love of basketball and is a season ticket holder for both IU’s men’s and women’s basketball teams. He and his wife, Joan, reside in Bloomington, Indiana, along with their cat, Ares.

Dave has many fond memories of his life in his hometown of Hanover, which is apparent in The Final Season.