North Memphis is home to many impoverished children, most of which are African-American, who had to grow up with no father figure to raise them. It is also home to the Manassas High School, whose football team had not found short- or long-term success before the team signed Bill Courtney as coach in 2004.
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| Image source: weinsteinco.com |
Prior to Courtney’s hiring, the ragtag bunch of inner-city black kids had not won a football game for more than 10 years. And since its founding in 1899, the Manassas Tigers had not yet won a single playoff game. With all the danger the children face on a daily basis (their hometown was once considered the crime capital of the U.S.), it would be hard to imagine them giving much of their focus on the sport rather than on survival.
But once Courtney entered the scene, everything changed. He not only became the kids’ coach but also became something of a father to them. What is even more impressive is that this was not even his day job; he was a volunteer coach, along with all his staff.
The football team’s turnaround, particularly the inspiring story of then eight-grader O.C. Brown, caught the attention of three filmmakers, co-directors Daniel Lindsay and T.J. Martin and producer Rich Middlemas, in 2011. They traveled to Tennessee with the intent of filming a documentary about the offensive tackle, whose life story mirrored that of Michael Oher, the subject of the critically-acclaimed biography, “The Blind Side.”
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| Image source: thedailybeast.com |
Ultimately, the film centered on not just Brown, but also the journey of the entire team during the 2009 season. Though it was titled “Undefeated,” the documentary showed the Manassas Tigers losing its first game a few minutes into the movie. It becomes apparent then that the title should not be taken in the literal sense, instead, it describes the resilience of the inspiring football team.
