Pacers to wear 'Hoosiers'-themed Hickory Pacers jerseys

When Angelo Pizzo heard the Indiana Pacers planned to honor the 30th anniversary of "Hoosiers" by wearing Hickory-inspired uniforms, he wasn't sure what to expect.

"Maybe some sort of mix between the current uniform and Hickory," said Pizzo, who wrote and produced the 1986 film with director David Anspaugh. "But those are the exact jerseys. It's obviously quite amazing to see that."

On Tuesday, the Pacers announced the team will wear special Hickory Pacers jerseys in honor of the film that has become synonymous with Indiana basketball.

Point guard George Hill posted a photo on Instagram modeling the "Hoosiers"-themed jersey, which will be worn at an undetermined number of games over the next several seasons.

"Our team will be honored to wear the Hickory uniforms because of the attention it will bring to the storied history of Indiana basketball and the success of that movie," Pacers President Larry Bird said in a press release. "Hoosiers takes us all back to a special place and time."

The uniforms celebrate the 30th anniversary of the movie. Hoosiers was inspired by Milan's 1954 Indiana High School state championship team. It was written by Pizzo and directed Anspaugh, and won two Academy Award nominations, including Dennis Hopper for Best Supporting Actor.

Never in Pizzo's wildest dreams could he have imagined an NBA team honoring the Hickory Huskers - certainly not at the time he was making the movie.

"It's beyond my imagination," he said. "We were just trying to survive and make a movie without collapsing. We were shooting scenes just hoping to put together a movie that anybody would want to see. We really had no idea what we were doing."

But the movie still resonates with basketball fans 30 years later, a nod to the care Hoosier natives Pizzo and Anspaugh took in making the film. Many of the game scenes were shot in high school gyms in Indiana, including Hickory's "home court" in Knightstown. The "Hoosier Gym" remains a tourist attraction for fans of the movie.

The jerseys are not currently available for sale.

No word on whether or not Frank Vogel will run out the picket fence.