Members of the community served the country by answering the call of freedom. The Hunter brothers, Albert, Kenneth, John and Walter, became known around the world on July 4, 1930, when newspapers called them the "Spartans of the air" after they set an air-to-air endurance flight refueling record of 553 hours, 41 minutes, 30 second, a total of 23 days of continuous flying. Sparta, Illinois, was also the primary filming location for the groundbreaking film "In The Heat of The Night," starring Sidney Poiter and Rod Steiger, which received five Academy Awards, including Best Picture, in 1967.