THE DOCUMENTARY SUBJECTS
THE FILM WILL PRESENT THREE COACHES AND EDUCATORS IN AN EFFORT TO DEMONSTRATE THAT THEIR WORK AS MENTORS AND LEADERS IS AN EXTENSION OF THEIR LEGACY AS PLAYERS AND IS A POWERFUL COMPONENT
IN IMPROVED OUTCOMES FOR STUDENTS .
IN IMPROVED OUTCOMES FOR STUDENTS .
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DAVID NOEL
Elite player for the Tar Heels of UNC Chapel Hill (2002-2006) and member of the 2005 National Championship team, Mr. Noel brings his gifts to the courts and classrooms at Southern Durham High School after he completed his NBA and his pro career overseas. |
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SHAWAN ROBINSON
Elite player and Academic All-ACC for the Tigers of Clemson University (2002-2006), Mr. Robinson brings his gifts to the courts and classrooms of Panther Creek High School after he completed his pro career overseas. |
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DONALD WILLIAMS
North Carolina Mr. Basketball (1991) and MOP for the 1993 National Champion Tar Heels of UNC Chapel Hill (1991-1995), Mr. Williams brings his gifts to the courts and classrooms at Wakefield High School after he completed his pro career overseas. |
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Each of the subjects is a former elite athlete that has become a coach or educator after completing a professional playing career, and most players define professional success in relation to participation in the apex of professional league performance overseas, where fewer than 20% of elite athletes make it, or in leagues like the NBA, where only 1% of college players take their careers.
These men have completed their professional playing days and have returned to sport by becoming teachers and coaches. We will explore how their personal hoop dreams, family pressures, coaching expectations, fan expectations, and other factors shaped the trajectory of their sporting lives and brought them to careers as educators. To lend context to their stories, we will interview their family members, former teammates & coaches, as well as other experts and writers that have studied the lives of athletes after sport. We will couple these more personal explorations with the upsetting reality that African American male teachers make up fewer than 2% of the teaching workforce.
By celebrating the work of these exceptional men and demonstrating the need for better representation in the teaching ranks, BEYOND TOBACCO ROAD will show audiences the positive impact of their leadership and coaching and will show that we desperately need more teachers and coaches like these men if we hope to unseat persistent cultural problems like the achievement gap.
These men have completed their professional playing days and have returned to sport by becoming teachers and coaches. We will explore how their personal hoop dreams, family pressures, coaching expectations, fan expectations, and other factors shaped the trajectory of their sporting lives and brought them to careers as educators. To lend context to their stories, we will interview their family members, former teammates & coaches, as well as other experts and writers that have studied the lives of athletes after sport. We will couple these more personal explorations with the upsetting reality that African American male teachers make up fewer than 2% of the teaching workforce.
By celebrating the work of these exceptional men and demonstrating the need for better representation in the teaching ranks, BEYOND TOBACCO ROAD will show audiences the positive impact of their leadership and coaching and will show that we desperately need more teachers and coaches like these men if we hope to unseat persistent cultural problems like the achievement gap.
Click on the image to read the full article on the News & Observer website.
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Behind the scenes during the Kickstarter promo shoot.
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The documentary will also feature
DR. CHANCE LEWIS
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DR. CHANCE LEWIS – Dr. Lewis studied at Southern University at Baton Rouge, Louisiana before completing his doctoral work at Colorado State University, and he is the Carol Grotnes Belk Distinguished Professor of Urban Education at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte where he teaches graduate students and is the Executive Director of UNC Charlotte’s Urban Education Collaborative. Dr. Lewis has written more than one hundred publications and has authored or co-edited twenty books, including The Dilemmas of Being an African American Male in the New Millennium; An Educator’s Guide to Working with African American Students, 3rd Edition; and Teacher Education and Black Communities: Implications for Access, Equity and Achievement.
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DR. CONSTANCE A. LINDSAY – Dr. Lindsay studied at Duke University before she obtained a doctorate in Human Development and Social Policy from Northwestern University in 2010. Her research focus has been on teacher training and closing the achievement gap. A recent study that she co-authored addresses the significant role African American teachers have in the lives of young people. Dr. Lindsay's study explored over 100,000 black elementary students in North Carolina. She is currently a research associate at the Urban Institute in Washington, DC.
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DR. CONSTANCE A. LINDSAY
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JABARI K. SMITH
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JABARI K. SMITH – Mr. Smith works in professional sports for the LA Sparks. He is also a former elite athlete at Texas Tech and professional football player, though not in the NFL, which he describes in detail on his website and in his book. His book, Life’s Playbook, and his website, The Professional Athlete, explore the discovery and development of self after sport. Jabari is affable and charismatic and will be a valuable asset to the film and the film’s mission of audience engagement. He is also willing to support the project in other ways, including marketing advice and social media outreach, which are his specialties.
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DARRYL ROBINSON – Coach Robinson was the director's AAU coach in high school, and his son, Shawan, is one of the primary subjects. Darryl Robinson played at Appalachian State University in Boone, NC under the legendary Bobby Cremins who, with Darryl Robinson’s leadership on the court, helped transform ASU to a regional powerhouse and resulted his being drafted 1979 in the 4th round by the Portland Trailblazers. Coach Robinson’s coaching life continued up to very recently, but one of the highlights of his career was leading Shawan’s team, Leesville Road High School, to the state finals during his son’s junior year.
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DARRYL ROBINSON
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KELLI TENNANT
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KELLI TENNANT – Ms. Tennant is a former elite volleyball player and has worked in professional sports media as a commentator and journalist for ESPN, Fox Sports, and Spectrum Sportsnet. Her book, The Transition, came about after her volleyball career at the University of Southern California ended suddenly because of her health problems. Kelli’s book explores the complex emotional experiences that athletes confront when they leave sport, and she relies upon interviews from experts coupled with her own research in making her compelling case about the challenges athletes confront in their lives after sport. Watch as Jabari K. Smith interviews Kelli about her career and her book.
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