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Documentary on Cam Henderson debuts March 13 Henderson is the winningest coach in Marshall University basketball history with 362 victories from 1935 to 1955 and the second-winningest coach in Marshall football history with 68 wins from 1935 to 1949. Before going to Marshall College, he coached football and basketball from 1923 to 1935 at Davis & Elkins College in Elkins, W.Va. Novak and Witek made the Emmy Award-winning Ashes to Glory, which first aired in 2000 on the 30th anniversary of the Marshall plane crash. They also have created three documentaries on Blenko Glass for Public Broadcasting. The Henderson documentary looks at the life of the man who is credited with inventing basketball’s fast break and zone defense. The program features rare footage, both in color and black and white, of Henderson in action. The clips were obtained from private collectors and have not been seen publicly in more than 50 years. “One of the pleasures of this project is seeing the old film,” said Novak, the documentary’s director. “I really hope people enjoy the 1930s Marshall football film at Fairfield Stadium.” Witek, the producer, discovered what he says could be the earliest college basketball footage of the 1920s. “College basketball was rarely filmed,” Witek said, “because arenas were dimly lit. But we managed to find a reel of film, and the differences in the game are quite startling.” According to Novak and Witek, Henderson beat bigger, stronger, nationally-ranked teams year after year while coaching at Davis & Elkins College and Marshall College. Recruiting his players from coal fields and steel mills, from family farms and Indian reservations, he gave poor country boys their only chance at a better life through sports, and by so doing, propelled both colleges into the national spotlight. Breaking the color line in West Virginia by recruiting Hal Greer to play basketball at Marshall was his final major achievement. To tell Henderson’s story and dispel the many rumors surrounding him, Witek and Novak said they visited 25 libraries and conducted dozens of interviews with former Henderson athletes, acquaintances, and historians. What emerged, they said, is a vivid portrait of a stoic and misunderstood man who died from complications brought about by diabetes. Among those interviewed were Dr. Sam Clagg, Andy Tonkovitch, Bill Toothman, Ernie Salvatore, Andrew D’Antoni, Robert P. Alexander, Don Gibson, Danny Clark, Lewis Wilcox, Herndon Wilks, Paul A. Lewis, Bob Wright, Frederick J. Altizer, Bill Staats, Dick Smarr, Woody Woodrum, Dr. C. Robert Barnett, Walter K. Yates, M.D., Margaret (Polly) Bell, Elinor McDermott Miller, and Charlie Slack. To recapture Henderson’s life during the golden age of sports, Witek and Novak also recreated events for which no film records exist. Scenes of a one-room school house, a 1913 basketball game, and a vintage newsreel, cartoon, and bouncing ball sing-along were developed for the documentary, together with an original musical score by Jay Flippin. Scrapbooks, news clippings, photos, letters, and home movies were generously contributed by the people of Huntington making the Cam Henderson documentary a genuine community effort, according to Novak and Witek. Novak said a DVD of the Henderson documentary, along with four bonus features, will be available next week. The bonus features include a nostalgic look at Huntington in the 1950s, “The Cam Stories,” anecdotes from former players, and tributes to Clagg, Henderson’s biographer, and Salvatore, a longtime sports columnist with The Herald-Dispatch. Novak said the DVD will be available in several places, including the Marshall Bookstore, Stadium Bookstore and Borders Books Music Movies & Café at the Huntington Mall. During the broadcast on Tuesday, West Virginia Public Broadcasting will offer it as part of its pledge drive. For more information, contact Novak at (304) 638-0681 or via e-mail at Novak1@marshall.edu, or Witek at (304) 697-0681 or via e-mail at Jcwitek@aol.com. |
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