When he was a student at Duke, NBA All-Star Grant Hill was
in Al Buehler's class. Twenty years later, Hill's narrating a movie about the
life of the Duke track legend who helped integrate the university, was a
champion of Title IX and played a bit role in one of the most controversial
moments in Olympic history.
"Starting at the Finish Line: The Coach Buehler
Story," explores how Buehler changed track and field coaching, made it an
institution at Duke, gave rise to Olympic stars and even helped to improve
racial and international relations through the sport.
Produced by Hill and Ann Rubenstein Tisch, the documentary
was directed by Duke alumnus Amy E. Unell, who used many resources at Duke to
compile much of the footage for the film.
Unell said Buehler was the right choice for a documentary
because while even avid sports fans may not be familiar with him, his influence
was widespread because he thought his
job was to enrich the lives of the athletes he worked with, not simply coach them as athletes.
A rough cut of the film was shown at Duke this past
September. The world premiere was March
31 at the Phoenix Film Festival, but the news media was ready with interest and
praise when it was shown in New York City April 22 at the ESPN Film Theater.
"The response to our film has been amazing," Unell
said this week. "Audiences are
laughing, crying, clapping during the film -- it's been great to see how it
connects with non-sports fans too. Everyone can relate to this story."
That reaction was shown this week in a series of stories and
televised interviews centered on Hill and Buehler. Below are the main stories
from this week:
NYTimes -- An
NBA Rival Offers Hope to Knick Fans
Good Morning, America -- Grant
Hill's Documentary (video starts after ad)
MSNBC -- "Starting
At the Finish Line" (video)
Yahoo Sports -- Grant
Hill Talks About His New Documentary
ESPN -- Grant Hill Talks
about "The Coach Buehler Story"
USA Today -- Grant
Hill Debuts Documentary About Al Buehler
To see the movie trailer, click on the video tab of the
story.