Indiana is represented in professional sports by the Indiana Pacers of the National Basketball Association, by the Indiana Fever of the Women's National Basketball Association, and by the National Football League's Colts, who moved to Indianapolis from Baltimore in 1984. There are also several minor league baseball, basketball, and hockey teams in the state.
The state's biggest annual sports event is the Indianapolis 500, which has been held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Memorial Day or the Sunday before every year since 1911 (except for the war years 1917 and 1942–45). The race is now part of a three-day Indiana festival held over Memorial Day weekend that attracts crowds of over 300,000 spectators, the largest crowd for any sporting event anywhere in the world.
The state's most popular amateur sport is basketball. The high school boys' basketball tournament culminates on the last Saturday in March, when the four finalists play afternoon and evening games to determine the winner. A tournament for girls' basketball teams began in 1976. Basketball is also popular at the college level: Indiana University won the NCAA Division I basketball championship in 1940, 1953, 1976, 1981, and 1987, and the National Invitational Tournament (NIT) in 1979; Purdue University won the NIT title in 1974; and Indiana State, led by state basketball legend Larry Bird, advanced to the NCAA finals in 1979. Evansville College won the NCAA Division II championships in 1959–60, 1964–65, and 1971.
Collegiate football in Indiana has a colorful tradition stretching back to at least 1913, when Knute Rockne of Notre Dame unleashed the forward pass as a potent football weapon. Notre Dame, which competes as an independent, was recognized as National Champions in 1946–47, 1949, 1966, 1973 (with Alabama), 1977, and 1988. The Fighting Irish won the following string of bowl games: the Orange Bowl in 1975 and 1990, and the Cotton Bowl in 1971, 1978, 1979, 1993, and 1994, the Sugar Bowl in 1973 and 1992, and the Fiesta Bowl in 1989. Indiana and Purdue compete in the Big Ten. Purdue won the Rose Bowl in 1967. Indiana State is part of the Missouri Valley Conference.
The Little 500, a 50-mi (80-km) bicycle race, is held each spring at Indiana University's Bloomington campus. The RCA Championships are held annually in Indianapolis.
Other annual sporting events include the National Muzzle-loading Rifle Association Championship Shoot which is held in Friendship in September, and the Sugar Creek canoe race, which is held in Crawfordsville in April.