Interesting story on the possible origins of Indiana Bubblegum. I had not heard of it before. The timelines and genetic inputs seem plausible from my experience with the '91 clone we used in FDM’s stabilized Bubblegum line.
It’s definitely a balanced indica/sativa hybrid, and the overall morphology, terp mix and head would support Mexican lineage on the sativa side. That would have a common breeding input in the early 70s, and a common strategy, i.e., “skunking” a long-season Latin American sativa with a short-season Afghani Indica to bulk-up yields and bring down maturation times. As this breeding strategy was first practiced by California growers in the Santa Cruz area, the Oakland angels connection ties it all in. It at least makes for a good origin story. I have no reason to doubt it, but that’s not the same as confirming it. A lot of this stuff is apocryphal.
The earliest references I’ve heard about the strain date to the late 70s, when it was fairly widely known and grown in the Midwest, especially Indiana, Illinois, Kentucky and Ohio. It was guerrilla grown in the feed corn fields where it could mature before the feed corn, which was allowed to dry on the stalk before it was harvested.