"Power, Passion & Glory"

[GreenBat]

The release of “Friday Night Lights” has turned the nation’s attention to the incredible drama and emotion of high school football as played in the Lone Star State. But more and more of this attention is being directed away from the Hollywood film to the unscripted, unrehearsed, “un-Hollywood” version: “Power, Passion & Glory: The Real Story of Texas Football Madness.”

Narrated by veteran sportscaster Pat Summerall, the documentary is the product of filmmaker Ken Heckmann’s quest to capture the grit, hysteria and heart-stopping tension of the real thing. Appropriately, he selected as his subject the Celina Bobcats, who became the winningest team in Texas history during their dramatic 2002 season, all of which Heckmann captured on camera. Celina had won 57 straight games and four consecutive state 2A championships heading into that campaign. What Heckmann didn’t know when the project began was that two extraordinary events would give his documentary an extra dose of drama.

First, to everyone’s shock, Celina’s legendary head coach of 14 years, G. A. Moore, suddenly left to coach for the school’s archrival, Pilot Point, who they would later play in a key game. To this day, it’s not clear why he left. But when Moore’s key assistant, protégé and friend Butch Ford took his place, the stage was set for a riveting story. The game pitting their teams against one another is one of the unforgettable parts of the film.

The plot thickened further when the governing body of Texas high school athletics bumped Celina up to the 3A division. Overnight, they became the smallest school in their division, playing against better teams from bigger schools.

The result is the pulse-pounding story of a team, and a town, defending their cherished reputations as champions.

After the close of this fateful season, Heckmann spent the following eighteen months turning miles of video into a tightly-wound, 110-minute documentary with enough twists, turns and excitement to fill several movies. Pat Summerall’s narration is complemented by original music from Dallas composer Chip Evans.

Emerging as the star of the documentary is Celina’s new head coach Butch Ford. With his spiritual approach and characteristically “Texas” colloquialisms, Ford delivers a natural and unrehearsed tour-de-force. His pre-game and halftime speeches are highlights of the film.

Power, Passion & Glory is a heart-stopping story of a season on the brink. Can Celina maintain their record-breaking winning streak, even with a change of coach and division? Will they win their fifth-straight state championship? The film builds in tension to an unforgettable ending even Hollywood could not have even dared to imagine.

Link to Power, Passion & Glory website

This is a great movie.

[Coach]

I have been thinking about getting that for a while now.

Have you seen it? What is it like?

[Greeneagle87]

any mention of the schools they crushed during those years(Aubrey,Prosper,S&S,Callisburg,Gunter)?

[Coach]

I believe they were still 3A when that was filmed. The big game was against Gainesville.

[Zeke]

That does sound very good. If anybody remembers the MTV special they had on Celina several years ago, it was very good. It is my cousin who was featured in it who broke his leg and could not participate for the rest of that season.

[GreenBat]

Coach,

Here is the email I sent to Ken Heckmann, the producer of the film.

_________________________________________________________

Mr. Heckmann,

I have covered Texas High School football for more than 20 years.

This film is what TEXAS HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL is about. There are

problems with teenagers growing up, but this film shows what a

positive attitude and hard work can do. It is a good bet that none of

these kids will play on Sunday or even on a national stage on

Saturday, but that does not take away from the message of this movie.

It only enforces it. The only thing I did not like about the film was

it was TOO SHORT. "Friday Night Lights" is a good movie, but "Power,

Passion, and Glory" is a GREAT FILM. My thanks to you for making a

film that pulls back the curtain on the fervor that Texas High School

football creates.

[Greeneagle87]

So....this wont be in theatres? only a order-only movie?

30 bux is a stretch for me

[PlummMeanGreen]

So....this wont be in theatres? only a order-only movie?

30 bux is a stretch for me

Looking at the above link and all the flashed (favorable) comments on the movie, it appears to have been funded by some SMU money with as many comments on the film coming from the SMU Country, ie, the Park Cities, ex SMU QB Lance Mc???????, etc, etc, etc. Why? Because, honestly, I am trying to remember just how close the city of Celina is to SMU Country?

So to quote NT80, BUILD IT! AND........

...... lets remove forever whats left of the rest of the Metroplex SMU football influence. If NT doesn't go into a deep freeze and continuous brain fart athletic hiring practices upon completion of our new football stadium (like we did soon after we built the Super Pit) then we can dominate DFW college football. Dominate? As much as some of us respect and admire TCU, the Mountain West Conference IMO is not going to be good karma for the Horned Frog's football (and athletic) program long term. Anyone else notice how so against that conference move the TCU coaches were? Think they were onto something with their attitude?

RANT TIME & FOR THOSE WHO ARE SQUEAMISH IT'S TIME FOR YOU TO LEAVE THIS P0ST (if you haven't already)! LOL!

..................................................................................................................................................

HOW SOON WE SEEM TO FORGET IN DENTON:

Yall do remember SMU, don't you? You know, the school that has black-balled NORTH TEXAS "EVERY" freakin' "blankety blanked chance it has had to do so? I'll be at those "Big 2" scheduled games, but I don't agree with the scheduling of those pompous, condescending bastards because NT is not going to get any warm fuzzies or honey with this particular kind of (horse) fly. I have a DVD of the 1990 SMU/NT game at Fouts and if you think SMU fans are going to travel to Denton en mass, then some of you who haven't been around the Green Scene long enough are going to be in for an (un)pleasant surprise.

And upon further reflection, I'm sorry that a small handful at NT have genuflected to SMU and scheduled the sumbiches. Those who do the scheduling have no idea (or seem to care) how those of us who have been around all this SMU crap a few decades feel. I am sure it might look good on a few selected NT employee's resume's as they continue to build onto that, but not at the expense of those of us who have had to listen and put up with this SMU bullshit for decades. Most of us haven't forgotten that it was especially rubbed in on our alums/fans with all the losses we had to the $tangs when they went $emi-pro for probably longer a time than any of us will ever know or that SMU will ever admit to.

So all you NT "Young Guns" and newbies please understand that SMU being on our football schedule is "NOT" our panacea and maybe 2 games will show some of you (on and off campus) what some of us already know about that; that is, the many of us who have seen all the other NT/$MU games the last part of last mid-century.

Nevertheless, as for most of the last 3 decades, I will be at any NT home football game to support the Mean Green because that is the team that represents the school I graduated from (and I sorta' like college football, too, especially when your opponents are fully unpaid amateurs.

Edited February 13, 2005 by PlummMeanGreen

[Coach]

Where the heck did that come from?