INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) - Indiana athletes who make it to the NBA are common knowledge to most Indiana basketball fans: athletes like Alan Henderson, Randy Whitman, and of course, Larry Bird.
They are just a few of the examples of Indiana players who made it to the big time.
Reuben Fischer-Baum, a writer and researcher for the website, Deadspin, geocoded the hometowns of over 3,800 professional players from 1946 to the present, and found, per capita, Indiana produces more pro players than any other state.
"Indiana is not producing a lot of football players, it's not producing as many baseball players," says Reuben Fischer-Baum. "It is very very much a basketball state."
Maps prove his point. Indiana is the center of the universe when it comes to basketball, even at the high school level.
Even back in the dark ages when I went to high school, the basketball players were the superstars everybody wanted to be friends with. The football players, not so much. Even the tennis players probably got more respect.
