Documentary Highlights 1950’s Kansas Team

A documentary written by Kevin Wilmott chronicles how an unlikely Kansas basketball team came together in the 1950’s. Producers of the movie, look to intertwine the team and civil rights movement. The documentary is a narrative project, entirely funded by backers of the project, if there is $50,000 dollars on hand by August, 2nd.

Former Kansas head coach Forest “Phog” Allen recruited an one of a kind player out of Philadelphia, named Wilt Chamberlain. Everyone wanted Chamberlain, yet he decided to play for Kansas, and Allen. Lawrence, Kansas at this time was separated into two sides, black and white. Segregation was rampant, almost causing Chamberlain to leave the school. Though the big center hung around. Then, as he made varsity, Allen was forced to retire.

Assistant coach Dick Harp took over the helm. Kansas finished the season with a record of 24-3, then won the Big 7 tournament before racing through the NCAA tournament. The end of the movie depicts Kansas’s title game in 1957 vs North Carolina. The Tar Heels pulled out a squeaker in triple overtime.

Wilmott previously wrote and directed, “C.S.A., Confederate States of America.” The documentary was shown at the Sundance Film Festival, and later picked up by IFC films.

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