Pictured is my wife, Sandy, with Gene Hackman. Well, not really because this is coach Norman Dale. Well, actually, he’s both of them, and he’s also Roger Kunkel … and here’s the story.

In the photo, Sandy is wearing a Hickory Huskers letter jacket from the movie “Hoosiers,” and I’ll have more about that later.

Kunkel still remembers the day in 1985 when Hollywood set up shop in the tiny farm town of New Richmond, Indiana, in Montgomery County — a community withering away since it lost its school in the 1950s to consolidations of several schools in Montgomery County.

It didn’t take long for the eyes of the producers of the movie “Hoosiers” to spot Kunkel. He was built similarly to star actor Gene Hackman — big and strong and they needed a stand-in.

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So Roger got the job, and soon, the producers would discover that Roger was a man of many skills and asked him to do several things for them, like drive the car down U.S. 40 for the opening credits of the movie, something moviegoers would think Hackman did. Roger got the job because Hackman didn’t like driving a stick, so in the movie, when you see the 1951 Chevy Coupe driving down the highway, that’s Roger. Well, it’s supposed to be coach Norman Dale, so it’s both of them.

Roger also filled in when camera crews wanted to square up a scene and when Hackman didn’t want to stand there while cameramen worked to get people in the right spot, so Roger filled in for Gene then, too, something he did a lot of. For the record, though, Roger states Hackman was a great guy to be around.

“He was really down to earth. It was like he was from Indiana. Of course, he was from a small town in Illinois. It was like he was one of us,” Roger said.

Roger was the only local allowed inside the barbershop for one of the movie’s strongest scenes. The drilling of the new coach during the scene by the barbershop faithful was certainly not oversensationalized for the era.

The scene was filmed in one day and was very cold outside. The movie producers asked Roger to get there early and get the wood stove heated up so the actors wouldn’t be cold. Roger was somewhat surprised when as soon as it was over, the movie staff came in and tore down the barbershop like it never existed.

“I was surprised how fast they took it down. Everyone wanted to see how it was set up, but I’m the only one who got to see it. They didn’t waste any time in getting it down,” he said.

One of Roger’s favorite memories of Hackman has nothing to do with the movie. As Hackman made his way around the town, he was introduced to a woman named Fanny Stevens, who was nearing 90 years old.

Stevens told Hackman she knew his mother from many years ago and from when she once lived in Illinois. This impressed Hackman, and he told Fanny that his mother was now deceased, and many years ago, a fire destroyed all pictures of her. Well, Fanny then presented Hackman with two photos of his mother, something that deeply touched him.

Roger Kunkel loves to talk about the making of “Hoosiers” in his small hometown. The office of his small business is full of “Hoosiers” mementos. And when you listen to Roger, it’s as if Hickory is a real place and you never want to leave, and that’s just the way coach Norman Dale would have liked it.

Now, about that Hickory Huskers letter jacket that Sandy is wearing, and in wrapping up this story, here’s my take on it all. When the movie was over, the producers presented Roger with the jacket, and the left sleeve is signed by Maris Valainis, who played Jimmy Chitwood in the movie. Valainis also signed it “Jimmy Chitwood.” The sleeve also was signed by Bobby Plump, who is the real Jimmy Chitwood.

Mike Barrett is a local resident with an interest in history. Send comments to [email protected].