30 for 30 Shorts

Reggie Ho never dreamed of playing football in college. Growing up in Hawaii and from Chinese descent, Reginald Ho always visualized himself to be a doctor like his father. He enrolled at Notre Dame pre-med and didn’t think much of playing football until he decided he needed a more well-rounded life. Living the life of “a geek” was not for him. He was the placekicker on his high school football team and decided to walk on to the Notre Dame Football team. At 5’5’’ and 135 pounds, Reggie Ho was one of the smallest players in a major college football program and was now a sudden celebrity on and off campus. While other student athletes may have reveled in the attention, Ho wandered the university streets with his head down, hoping not to get recognized. As a walk-on, Reggie Ho didn’t receive any financial support for Notre Dame. A pure student athlete. He did it for the love of the game and for the love of Notre Dame. After the 1988 season, the walk-on walked off the field. Ho continued his pre-med degree at Notre Dame, but no longer played football. Yet he was a crucial part in Notre Dame’s only undefeated season in history.

The film will explore the inception of the original formula set against the 1965-1966/7 seasons of the University of Florida Gator football team. In time for the 50th anniversary of its creation, we'll hear from many of those who were involved in testing the original formula, including Dr. Cade's wife, co-inventor Dana Shires, players Steve Spurrier, Larry Smith, Jim Yarbrough, Coach Ray Graves and others.

Ted Williams was already one of baseball's immortals when two of his three children decided there might be a way to give him life after death. That way was cryogenics, and in this film directed by Miles Kane and Josh Koury, the 2002 controversy over what to do with his remains—"The Big Chill"read one headline—is revived. Doctors, writers and intimates offer up their opinions, but the one truth that shines through is this: love works in mysterious ways.

Kevin Von Erich was part of a legendary wrestling family that consisted of five brothers: David, Michael, Chris, Kerry and Kevin. Although the Von Erich family had huge success in the ring, this famous family is also known for the tragedy it has endured. Now Kevin is the only surviving brother, the other four were lost to drug addiction or suicide. Now he lives off the grid, in a remote part of Hawaii. Here he finds a sanctuary, a place to retreat from the memories of his days in the ring and the ghosts of his brothers.

March Madness, 1989. Faced with the last seed in the tournament, sixteen seed Princeton is set to play tournament favorite number one seed in Georgetown. The game was expected to be such a blow out that it wasn’t even originally scheduled to be broadcast on television. Unbeknownst to the Princeton players or their innovative coach, Pete Carril, they were about to play one of the greatest games in college basketball history.

Under the cloak of secrecy, a rookie pitching prospect attended the New York Mets spring training in 1985. His name was Hayden “Sidd” Finch and he had never played baseball before, had dropped out of Harvard to study transcendental meditation, spoke ten languages, wore one hiking boot and the other foot bare when on the mound, and threw a 168mph fastball.

1984 was a grim year for the San Francisco Giants. The team finished dead last, losing 96 games. But no one -- not the players, not the front office, not even the fans -- had as nightmarish a time as Wayne Doba. That season, the 33-year-old actor was selected to play the club’s first mascot. The “Crazy Crab” was conceived as an anti- mascot. The Giants wanted to satire the late 1970s mascot craze, which had introduced now-iconic characters like the Philly Phanatic. So the Giants gave their Crab an intentionally shabby foam costume which looked like a hamburger with arms; during spring training, TV ads showed manager Frank Robinson attempting to strangle the Crab; at games, announcers would encourage fans to boo whenever the Crab took the field. It was an experiment unlike anything in professional sports. Doba became the Andy Kaufman of baseball. He mooned the crowd. He taunted his own players. The concept worked -- all too well. Fans did more than boo. They pelted Doba with everything from beer bottles and peanuts to golf balls, batteries, carrots and water- balloons filled with human poop. The Crazy Crab’s career was short-lived. The character was unceremoniously axed in 1985. But Doba and his anti-mascot left such a lasting impression, it would be 17 years before the Giants would try introducing another mascot.

When Ted Turner entered his yacht Tenacious in the famed Fastnet Race in 1979, he did not need to prove himself. He had already started a television network, purchased the Atlanta Braves and Hawks, and won the 1977 America's Cup. But a freakish storm turned the Celtic Sea into a terrifying washing machine that tossed the 303 entrants about and killed 15 sailors. In this 30 For 30 short for ESPN Films, Turner and many of his crew members relive that harrowing—and ultimately victorious—voyage amid riveting footage and photographs. Never was a boat so aptly named.

Casey Stengel said he was the “strangest man to ever play the game of baseball”. Morris "Moe" Berg was a third string catcher and a first rate spy. Whether he was dining with the Marx Brothers, learning Quantum physics from Albert Einstein, or on a mission to assassinate Heisenberg, Moe Berg was in a league all his own.

The Special Olympics Athlete Oath: “Let me win. But if I cannot win, let me brave in the attempt.” has come to embody the movement started by the late Eunice Kennedy Shriver in 1962 with a summer camp in her Maryland backyard. Special Olympics is now made up of more than 4.5 million athletes all over the world, and in this powerful and moving exploration viewers will see how this world-changing social action, sports & political initiative was born, and why its growth is so important. “Brave in the Attempt” captures the force of nature that was Eunice Shriver and shows how her personal mission, inspired by her sister Rosemary Kennedy’s own struggles with inclusion, to improve the lives of children and adults with intellectual disabilities eventually developed into the Special Olympics movement.

This film explores the defining moment of Kansas City Chiefs running back Joe Delaney. After garnering a starting spot in the Pro Bowl, AFC Rookie of the Year honors and on the verge of super-stardom, Delaney’s life ended tragically at the age of 24. On June 29,1983, in a heroic attempt to save three young boys from drowning, Joe, who did not know how to swim, made the ultimate sacrifice. More than thirty years later, Delaney’s family, community, and the man he saved are still picking up the pieces of that fateful day.

On the night of October 30, 2001, Derek Jeter walked into the warmup area beneath Yankee Stadium and saw a man practicing for the ceremonial first ball. "They'll boo you if you throw from in front of the mound," he told the 43rd President of the United States. "And they'll boo you if you bounce it." But George W. Bush had a lot more riding on that pitch than just approval from the fans.

Tells the story of the Pittsburg Pirate drug trials of 1985 and the significance it had upon the game of baseball. The film will shed light on this truly unique, profound and incredible event in sports history that might be lesser known but its reverberations are still being felt today.

With the nation gripped by Kansas City Royals’ fever, filmmaker Josh Swade flew to South Korea. He was dead set on bringing back the Royals’ good luck charm- super fan SungWoo Lee- in time for the World Series. SungWoo’s fandom became a viral sensation this past summer when he flew to Kansas City to see his beloved team in person for the first time. The Royals caught wind and asked SungWoo to throw out the first pitch at a home game. Twitter fanned the flames and SungWoo became a local celebrity. This film follows Swade's journey to bring SungWoo back and examines the phenomenon of this unlikely super fan.

On November 3, 2013, 86-year-old Joy Johnson ran her 25th consecutive New York City Marathon--it would be her last. Near the 20 mile marker, Joy fell and hit her head, but with unwavering resolve got back on her feet to complete the race. The next day Joy passed away, the way she always hoped, still wearing her running shoes. "Joy's Last Run" will be a portrait of the inspiring athlete who lived and died by her sport with uncommon passion and commitment, warmth and spirit.