Undefeated

Undefeated

I can’t believe I enjoyed a football film (and there was a lot of football to watch). I confess to even having a tear in my eye at the end.
The documentary has won awards and it is well deserved.
The Tigers are the football team at the Manassas High school in Tennessee. The players are all black. They looked much older than high school age. Most of the boys were huge.
The town was poor. The local factory had closed and many people had moved away. Many were from broken homes and struggling to get along in school. Several had been in jail and many were volatile and ready to lash out if the wrong word was spoken. Most of the time I had trouble understanding what they were saying.
There were few funds and the team had never ever approached a final playoff game.
Bill, the coach, was white. He was the most wonderful coach and leader .He became a father figure to the boys. His own father had died when he was young and he knew how devastating it was for these boys to grow up without a father. One usually thinks of coaches as the yelling screaming type. He thought nothing of hugging the boys and comforting them. Don’t even think for a minute that there was any suggestion of sexuality between the players and the coach.
He never chastised them if they made a bad play. He talked about responsibility and character. He claimed that the character of a man is measured by his losses. He kept telling the boys that character is developed not by how you handle success but how you manage failure. He built up their morale and urged them to give it all they had. It was thrilling to see the team begin to win.
Bill worked so hard to give each player a feeling of confidence. He hired a tutor for one of the players. A tutor would not have been safe going into their neighborhood. The tutor came to Bill’s house and the football player worked with him there.
We meet many of the players and hear their stories. Teachers are also interviewed.
Bill was a happy family man and totally supported by his wife and children.
At the end of the film we are told what happened to many of the players