How Indiana lost, remembered and revived its 50

What, exactly, is a hoosier?

It's a riddle pondered by many. The simplest answer is the strongest: It's a person from Indiana. The specifics, though, get more difficult.

There have been dozens of theories and explanations over the years. A bill filed to the Indiana House of Representatives in 2023 cited Harry Hoosier, a former slave-turned-Methodist preacher who passed away in 1806, as the origin of the nickname. The Indiana Historical Bureau notes a number of possible written origins for the word on its website , including references to a poem and a boat from the 19th century.

This uncertainty has long put Indiana University athletics, whose squads have been nicknamed the Hoosiers for well over a century, in a strange spot. There's little doubt Indiana's teams play under a fitting