Happy 90th Birthday to Gene Hackman, the Greatest 'Hoosiers' Coach Ever

Gene Hackman starred in the movie "Hoosiers,'' the greatest sports movie ever made. He turned 90 years old on Thursday.

Legendary actor Gene Hackman, a winner of two Academy Awards and four Golden Globes, turned 90 years old on Thursday (Jan. 30). He is, without question, one of the greatest actors of our time.

He's been in a lot of great films, but for me, my favorite is "Hoosiers,'' where he played Norman Dale, the coach of a small-town Indiana high school basketball team that improbably won a state championship in the 1950s.

A small-budget movie that came out in 1986, "Hoosiers'' is considered by many to be the greatest sports movie ever made. (Hand raised.) It was written and produced by Bloomington's Angelo Pizzo and directed by David Anspaugh.  

Hackman has done nearly 100 films, so paring down a list of my favorite Hackman movies is hard. But here goes:

My 10 Favorite Gene Hackman Movies

1. Hoosiers 
2. The French Connection
3. Mississippi Burning
4. The Conversation
5. Reds
6. The Firm
7. I Never Sang For My Father
8. Unforgiven
9. Runaway Jury
10. Bonnie and Clyde

Feel free to weigh in with your own lists.

The Best Gene Hackman Birthday Tweets

My 15 All-Time Favorite Lines from "Hoosiers"

1. "I think you’ll find it’s the exact same measurements as our gym back in Hickory.''
2.  "Let’s win this one for all the small schools that never had a chance to get here.''
3.  "I didn’t think I could cut it the other night, either, but after what Jimmy did, it would take the Indiana National Guard to get me out of here.''
4. "If you put your effort and concentration into playing to your potential, to be the best that you can be, I don't care what the scoreboard says at the end of the game, in my book we're gonna be winners.''
5. "We're going to run the picket fence on them, Now, boys, don’t get caught watching the paint dry.''
6. "I don’t know why Cletus drug your tired old bones in here, he musta owed you somethin’ fierce. Fact is, mister, you start screwin’ up this team, I’ll personally hide-strap your ass to a pine rail and send you up the Monon Line!''
7. "Stick with your man. Think of him as chewing gum. By the end of the game, I want you to know what flavor he is!'' ('Coach, it was Dentyne.')
8. "My team’s on the floor!''
9. "Sun don’t shine on the same dog’s ass everyday, but mister, you ain’t seen a ray of light since you got here.''
10. "Look, mister, there’ two kinds of dumb. The guy that gets naked and runs out in the snow and barks at the moon, and the guy who does the same thing in my living room. First one don’t matter, the second one you’re kinda forced to deal with.''
11. "Five players on the floor functioning as one single unit: team, team, team - no one more important that the other.''
12. "You know, a basketball hero around here is treated like a god. How can he ever find out what he can really do? I don't want this to be the high point of his life. I've seen them, the real sad ones. They sit around the rest of their lives talking.''
13. "I play, coach stays. He goes, I go.''
14. "I'll make it.''
15. "Welome to Indiana basketball.''