We Will Rise

Basketball has been central to life in Evansville, Indiana, since the 1950s. 

During World War II, Evansville was a thriving defense contracting town, manufacturing military aircraft, ships and ammunition. By the 1950s, it had fallen on harder times. Chrysler, Servel Refrigeration and International Harvester left town. Evansville College’s basketball program became the social glue that held the town together.

In the late 1950s, the town got a boost when the Whirlpool Corporation established an Evansville plant that provided thousands of jobs. By 1965, coach Arad McCutchan had led the school’s Purple Aces men’s basketball team to three championships in the College Division, a nationwide collection of small schools now known as Division II. That year, Sports Illustrated ran a feature story on the Aces. The team finished the season with a 29-0 record and their fourth College Division championship title.

In 1977, Whirlpool began layoffs. Evansville College had changed its name to the University of Evansville (UE) and had moved up to Division I, where it competed with the college basketball elite. After...