T-shirts call for Hoosiers to ‘never give up’

Outside of optimism and the ability to lead, there are few parallels when comparing Winston Churchill and Tom Crean.

Yet a free white T-shirt will forever connect the two.

Every fan in attendance of the men’s basketball game Sunday will receive a free T-shirt in honor of the white out when the Hoosiers (5-12, 0-5) host the Minnesota Gophers (16-3, 4-3).

The Hoosiers are currently amid an eight-day break from conference games following the team’s 65-55 loss to Penn State on Jan. 17. Riding their longest losing streak since 1964, the Hoosiers are hoping to get a boost from a vibrant Assembly Hall crowd this weekend.

Driving home from Columbus, Ohio, last week, IU Athletics Director Fred Glass had an idea. Looking for a way to engage the crowd, and most importantly, students, Glass decided to organize a white out. He knew handing out free T-shirts at the gate would increase the promotion’s chances of running smoothly and soon found out the University’s contract with adidas would cover the cost.

As Glass sat behind IU’s bench during the Buckeyes’ clobbering of his department’s prized program, he saw something. Despite the odds or the score, Glass saw a team that didn’t quit – a team that gave maximum effort.

Brainstorming in the car, a famous Churchill quote popped into Glass’s mind.

“Never, never, never give up.”

“And I thought of the Churchill thing because, to me, that really crystallizes what this team is all about. They never quit,” Glass said Wednesday. “Coach isn’t quitting. They aren’t quitting.”

So Glass had a shirt designed with the quote in big crimson lettering. Below it, crossed out, read “Winston Churchill, London, 1941.” In its place: “Tom Crean, Bloomington, 2009.”

When Churchill spoke those famous words in 1941, it had been 10 months since England had joined the war against the Axis powers. His country endured “terrible catastrophic events” and the “ups and downs” were beginning to take their toll on his proud people.

“We stood all alone a year ago, and to many countries it seemed that our account was closed, we were finished,” Churchill said. “All this tradition of ours, our songs, our school history ... were gone and finished and liquidated.”

But Churchill knew his country wasn’t finished. Things were beginning to look up, and the grueling 10 months had taught him a lesson he deemed worth noting.

“Never give in,” he told his people. “Never, never, never, never – in nothing, great or small, large or petty – never give in, except to convictions of honor and good sense. Never yield to force. Never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy.”

On Sunday, when IU Athletics hands out the thousands of free T-shirts, it will have been about 10 months since Crean and the Hoosiers waged war against unprecedented challenges. The program endured terrible catastrophic events, and the ups and downs of the season were beginning to take their toll on his proud people.

A year ago, the basketball team stood alone, and to most bystanders the program seemed finished. Thanks to a myriad of mistakes, integrity was gone and pride, absent.

But Crean and Glass believe that, like England, IU basketball is not finished. The grueling 10 months have taught Crean and the Hoosiers a lot – a lesson IU Athletics deemed worth noting.

“It hurts so much when you work as hard as we have and you come and play a game and you’re so close but you end up losing,” freshman guard Verdell Jones said. “That’s one of the hardest feelings to deal with.”

But the “never quit” motto has helped Jones and his young teammates fight through this season’s adversity.

“That’s one of the greatest things about Coach Crean: He’s always on a positive side, pushing us towards the good,” Jones said. “After the Northeastern and Lipscomb losses we got a little down ... but (Crean) is bringing us back up right now and now guys are believing we can win.”