With the sad and tragic story emerging of how Gene Hackman died, it is worth taking a moment to remember the joy he brought the world. To make one or two really good movies is rare, but to make as many as Hackman did is special, especially when one of them is so iconic.

Of all his movies the ones I will fondly remember most are Runaway Jury, Enemy of the State, Absolute Power, The Quick and the Dead, The Firm, Unforgiven, Mississippi Burning, Uncommon Valor, The French Connection and Superman. He played a good bad guy. Yet to me his most iconic movie is Hoosiers, not only because it’s my favorite of his but because it’s the greatest sports movie ever.

Hoosiers has every theme you can ask for — a David and Goliath story, redemption, forgiveness, second chances, fathers and sons, sports, dedication, urban versus rural, teamwork, faith and love.

Given a second chance after a major mistake, Hackman’s character Norman Dale takes over a small-town Indiana high school basketball team where basketball is as much a religion as a sport, yet the town and the team are too small to complete at really any level. This was before high school sports were divided up into divisions by school size.

You often hear coaches described as “old school,” yet I often think that is just an excuse to treat players poorly and yell a lot. At Hickory, the small Indiana town, Dale became the kind of coach every young player deserves. He was no nonsense as seen when he kicks off several players who refuse to follow his rules. Yet he had also learned there is a place for compassion like when star player, Jimmy Chitwood, was pushed into a glass case during a scuffle and was cut. At first, Dale patches him up and puts him back on the floor but then changes his mind. You can see he had learnedtocaremoreabout the players than winning as seen in an earlier scene with Chitwood when he said, “You know, in the 10 years that I coached, I never met anybody who wanted to win as badly as I did. I’d do anything I had to do to increase my advantage. Anybody who tried to block the pursuit of that advantage, I’d just push ’em out of the way. Didn’t matter who they were, or what they were doing. But that was then.”

Don’t misunderstand his compassion as weakness. Coach Dale was as hard as they come and drove his players to breaking points to make them great. But he did as much for their development as for himself. Along the way he took chances on players and especially on one of their fathers as his assistant coach. You could tell he cared for his players as much as men as athletes and they in return fought for him both literally and figuratively. He taught them the importance of teamwork and if they followed his plan and worked together then can overcome any obstacle.

The most famous scene in the movie is classic. The team arrives at the massive stadium for the state final and the coach measured all the distances to show the boys their gym back home had all the same dimensions. The most famous line comes just before the final game, “If you put your effort and concentration into playing to your potential, to be the best that you can be, I don’t care what the scoreboard says at the end of the game, in my book we’re gonna be winners.” That is old school in my book. Yet I think the closing line of the films said it best, “I love you guys.”

I have three amazing kids but only one is into sports. When he got old enough to really understand what I wanted to teach I showed him two things. First was an ESPN 30 for 30 about the life of Pat Tillman, so he always knows that heroes are made on sports fields and then we watched Hoosiers.

Thank you, Gene Hackman, for giving me a special moment to share with my son.