Top 10 Indy Sports Moments — I'll Ask For It

← Back to Home

Indianapolis has always been a sports city. People from the coasts just didn't notice until it was impossible to ignore. These are the ten moments that made it undeniable.

Indiana Hoosiers Go 16-0 — 2025-26 CFP National Champions

The program that had been building finally arrived. Sixteen wins, zero losses, and a national championship that nobody outside Indiana could argue with. The city celebrated like it had been waiting forty years. It had.

We Are IU

Peyton Manning's Super Bowl XLI Win — February 2007

The MVP performance in the rain in Miami. The monkey off the back. Indianapolis watched the Colts beat the Bears 29-17 and then poured into the streets. The quarterback the city loved finally had the ring.

The Ring

Reggie Miller's 8 Points in 8.9 Seconds — May 7, 1995

The Knicks led by six with under ten seconds. Then: three. Then: a foul drawn. Then: two free throws. Then: a stolen inbound. Then: a three. Eight points in 8.9 seconds. Spike Lee just watched.

Impossible

The Colts' Perfect Regular Season — 2005

14-0 before Bill Polian rested his starters. The city had never seen a team that dominant. Manning to Harrison. Marvin Harrison catching everything. A team that made you watch every snap.

14-0

Indiana Pacers Beat the Celtics — 1991

The first playoff series win in franchise history, in six games. The Reggie era was beginning. The city was starting to understand what it had. Market Square Arena was never louder.

First Blood

Larry Bird Leads Indiana State to the NCAA Final — 1979

The undefeated regular season. The run to the championship game. Magic vs. Bird in the final, the game that saved college basketball and launched two careers that would define the next decade.

French Lick to Final

Tony George Launches the IRL — 1996

The split was messy. The politics were real. But Tony George's decision to create the Indy Racing League kept open-wheel racing American and kept the 500 its own thing. History will argue about this one.

Consequential

The Indianapolis 500 Returns After WWII — 1946

The first race back after the war. One hundred thousand people showed up to watch thirty-three cars take the green flag. The sound of engines after four years of silence. Some moments earn their mythology.

Historic

Reggie Miller's Final Game at Conseco Fieldhouse — April 30, 2005

He played 18 seasons. Scored 25,279 points. Never won a ring. And when he walked off the court for the last time, the entire building stood for ten minutes and wouldn't stop. Pacers fans knew what they had.

Goodbye Reggie

Conseco Fieldhouse Opens — 1999

When the arena opened, it was immediately called the best in the NBA. The brick exterior. The sky boxes that look like a high school gym scaled up. The building that proved Indianapolis could have something world-class.

Home