Indy Film Fest: We Are EC: The Untold Story of East Chicago Basketball

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Walking my dog at 6:45 in the morning on a Saturday, 48 degrees out, there’s a kid shooting hoops in his driveway, age 9 or 10, still wearing his PJs and just socks. If there’s a better snapshot of what Indiana means, I thought, I don’t know what is.

People who grew up in the Hoosier State, or emigrated here like me a dozen years ago, grasp the significance basketball has on the state. There are certainly other hoops meccas across the country, but nowhere else is it infused into the essence of a state like it is here.

Think about it: if you say “Indiana,” most people conjure a scene of a flag and a sun-kissed corn or wheat field, with a lonely hoop next to it where a tawny teen is practicing his jump shot.

The title of writer-director Tim Helfen’s new documentary, and his first film, “We Are EC: The Untold Story of East Chicago Basketball,” says it all. It’s a comprehensive overview of the role basketball has played in the northwest tip of Indiana, known here simply as The Region.

I’m sure some of the local sportswriters might grumble at the “untold” part, but certainly East Chicago doesn’t have the hoops reputation it deserves, at least outside of Indiana. Here, their legacy is unquestionably well-known.

Going back more than a century and bringing things right up to the modern day, Helfen tracks the rise of basketball in a tiny immigrant town where people didn’t necessarily care where you came from, as long as you could perform on the parquet.

Through archival photos, video and dozens of interviews with basketball luminaries who came from the area — including Gregg Popovich of the San Antonio Spurs and ESPN’s Ray Flores — “We Are EC” vibrantly displays the pride of a community bound together by sport.

For decades, there was an intercity rivalry to power the competition: the Washington High Senators vs. the Roosevelt High Roughriders. We get to see plenty of representation from both, the legendary players, the larger-than-life coaches, even the everyday fans. Though the film mostly focuses on boys’ basketball, a few girls’ team standouts get some time in the spotlight, too.

The teams traded records and state championships back and forth, though there was a dry spell after the schools were merged into Central High. When the Cardinals eventually broke through with a multicultural squad of stars, the witnesses speak about how people broke down in tears after winning it all.

There are also some great cultural insights, steelworkers and millworkers beaming with pride as their kids played in massive auditoriums, being cheered on by thousands and offered college scholarships. Back in the day when the coach would invite players to dinner, many of them had never been to a restaurant before — so they always ordered a hamburger, since that was the fanciest food they knew.

“Playing in East Chicago, you become like a basketball family,” one alum says.

The film can be a mite repetitive at times, with one enthusiastic talking head after another extolling the virtues of East Chicago basketball. It’s not helped by a canned-sounding musical score that’s perpetually set on “upbeat inspirational.” The documentary would have been better off with more focus on the downtimes.

Still, “We Are EC” accomplishes what it sets out to: extolling the virtues of an Indiana town where basketball is so much more than just a game.