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Here’s what’s so brilliant about the Hoosier Gym, where the seminal 1986 film “Hoosiers” was shot: Not only has the town of Knightstown kept everything just as it was when Hollywood left, not only is the gym open to anyone who feels like poking around the building, but – wait for it -- visitors are encouraged to play basketball on its hallowed floors.

Hickory High, the tiny team chronicled in the David-beats-Goliath classic, was a screenwriter’s invention. So when filmmakers needed a place to shoot pivotal game scenes, they conscripted the old Knightstown Community School gym, abandoned in the late 1960s.

In honor of the wildly successful movie, town leaders rechristened the 1922 gym as the “Hoosier Gym,” inviting tourists into the space where Hickory claimed victory for all the underrated, overlooked little guys who deserve more respect than they get.

 But tourists aren’t the only ones patronizing the gym: Locals shoot hoops on their lunch hours, and meet up for friendly games of one-on-one. All they ask is that you turn off the light when you leave.