About The Film

Forgotten Champions is the story of the 1981-82 Rutgers women’s basketball team, an underdog squad that shocked the powerful Texas Longhorns to win the AIAW national championship and punctuated a season of upheaval in the sport. It is the story of how Theresa Grentz, the All-American center who led tiny Immaculata College to three straight national titles from 1972-74, built Rutgers into a contender after becoming the nation’s first full-time collegiate women’s basketball coach in 1976, at age 24.

Above all, the film examines a pivotal moment in women’s sports history, when noble aspirations collided with economic interests to create a paradigm shift that continues to reverberate almost 40 years later. While Grentz and her players would go on to achieve great success in their future endeavors, both on the court and off, their championship season has largely become a footnote, an overlooked accomplishment that unfolded in the shadow of the NCAA’s takeover of the women’s game.

The documentary is presented by Whoo-Rah Productions and was written & co-directed by former ESPN the Magazine executive editor Sue Hovey, who guided ESPN’s extensive cross-platform coverage highlighting the 40th anniversary of Title IX in 2012.