What’s on your Mount Rushmore of sports movies?

Gene Hackman, the legendary Oscar-winning actor, has died at the age of 95.

Hackman was found dead yesterday with his wife, Betsy Arakawa, and their dog when deputies performed a wellness check at their New Mexico home. Foul play was not suspected, though an investigation is underway.

Hackman's acting career spanned more than four decades prior to retiring nearly 20 years ago in his mid-70s. Among Hackman's most notable roles of his career was that of basketball coach Norman Dale in the 1986 film "Hoosiers."

It's a film Hackman famously thought would bring an end to his acting career and instead went on to become one of the most popular sports movies of all-time. In fact, it was voted the best sports movie of all time by the Associated Press in 2020.

Every sports fan knows the movies story. Hackman's character, coach Dale, is given a second chance after his first coaching job ended in controversy years earlier. The Hickory Hoosiers then go on an unlikely run through the Indiana high school basketball tournament, eventually taking out big-city South Bend Central on a buzzer beater in the title game.

It's a movie I've seen countless times and one of those ones that if you're flipping through the channels and it happens to be on, you watch it the rest of the way through.

Do you agree with the AP in saying Hoosiers is an automatic on the sports movies Mount Rushmore?