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.
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RT @DannyBreslauer: #Rutgers Spaces NOW! The room is live. We’ll start at 8:30. @RutgersMBB talk: - ‘22-‘23 schedule - Roster const… https://t.co/A0nAhNEf8n -
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Narrator
Carli Lloyd
One of the greatest athletes in Rutgers sports history and a member of the Rutgers Athletics Hall of Fame, Carli Lloyd is a long-time member of the U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team and the National Women’s Soccer League’s NJ/NY Gotham FC.
A two-time Olympic Gold Medalist (2008 and 2012), Carli holds the unique distinction of scoring the game-winning goals in the finals at both the 2008 Games in Beijing and the 2012 Games in London. She also represented the United States at the past four Women’s World Cup tournaments (2007, 2011, 2015, and 2019) and is a two-time World Cup Champion (2015 and 2019).
She has been awarded the most prestigious and highest award in soccer being named two-time FIFA World Player of the Year (2015 and 2016), with only four other Americans receiving the award. She became the only American to score multiple goals in three separate Olympic Games (2008, 2012, 2016). As she retires, she ends her career with 134 goals, in 316 games played.
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Archive & DOC Gallery
Forgotten Champions Premiere Gallery
