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The Real White Shadow

*Fannie Lou Hamer High School, located in Bronx, NY is a run down, dilapidated urban community with a high crime rate and the drop out rate to match. Seventy percent of the students are African American. Ninety-five percent of the school's student-athletes are African-Americans. The school is so run down, so in need of funding, and there is so much need that you can't figure out where to start in order to turn things around. Sports are not a priority here. Back when Fannie Lou Hamer's basketball team was winning league championships and challenging for state titles, sports lifted the spirits of the entire high school community. But recently the chips have not fallen their way. In the past ten years the school has had three new head coaches and no winning seasons. There has been little school spirit or support during the thin years. Players have been dropped off the team mid-season for poor grades or for being in trouble with the police. To put it gently, teamwork and hard work have not been in this team's vocabulary for a very long time.

This fall Fannie Lou Hamer High is going to get a chance to turn it all around with some big help. An NBA legend has offered to come in and help right the sinking ship: a real life White Shadow if you will. He will bring his years of life and basketball experience to this special group of student-athletes who have been given so little and have had little success. They will learn the lessons of hard work, diligence, persistence and teamwork from one of the best ever and they will see the results of their commitment.

The school's current coach will be afforded the privilege of consulting with a mastermind of basketball. This will be a once in a lifetime opportunity to learn from one of the best who will help mentor both team and coach.

FIRST AND FOREMOST - THIS IS NOT A SERIES JUST ABOUT BASKETBALL. THIS IS A SERIES ABOUT THESE YOUNG KIDS' LIVES. THIS IS A SERIES ABOUT HOW A SINGLE PERSON CAN CREATE A LIFE LONG CHANGE FOR THE BETTER IN THE LIVES OF IMPRESSIONABLE YOUNG MEN.

In eight 1 hour episodes, the audience will get a chance to meet this unique group of kids as they go through try-outs and learn who has made the varsity team and who has not. The audience will get a glimpse into the complicated and sometimes painful back-stories for the players. Drugs, jail, sleeping on the streets, teenage fatherhood. We'll also learn what their hopes and their dreams are-getting out of the projects, going to college, getting a full time job, getting into the union. Making their moms proud.

With some guidance from The White Shadow, the current coach will select the varsity team and will begin to meet each of the players and learn who they are, what are their strengths and weaknesses both as athletes and as people, and formulate a plan to help them grow and achieve their goals. Each week throughout the season, The White Shadow will check in with the team. Each player will spend one-on-one time with The White Shadow during school time to talk about life, their hopes, dreams, troubles and to discuss their role on the team. After school The White Shadow will coach practice- giving the kids a lesson in basketball and life.

The magic lies within personal philosophies that transcend sport into life. These are philosophies that turn boys into men and men into a team: philosophies that can carry a man far in this world, far enough to make positive changes for his life and community, and find his own dreams.

The cameras will be with the team most every day through the season. When The White Shadow is on the road, he'll look at game tape and know what is happening in the classroom. The results of his time and tutelage are unknown. What we do know is that this group of kids has never in their lives had an opportunity like this. This is going to be their chance, their opportunity to turn their basketball program around and more importantly to put their own personal lives on a solid track for life beyond high school.

This will be a unique series capturing the best the human spirit has to offer- charity, compassion, hard work, perseverance and redemption. The viewer is going to witness a story arc that will encapsulate much more than what happens on the hardwood. This is a story about life and it's struggles and an NBA legend that will lend a hand when no one else does.

* Fannie Lou Hamer is our composite school. Unfortunately there is no shortage of schools we can locate to fit the story we crafted. The actual school's casting will depend on many factors such as the coach's casting and his geographic location, budget and school district support.