ESPN Films - SEC Storied

Beginning with never-before-revealed details about his life growing up in Chicago, continuing on through his emergence as a star at Marquette and then with the Miami Heat, "D. Wade: Life Unexpected" covers every chapter of Wade's path. From dealing with drug raids on his house as a young child; to becoming a father as a college sophomore; to the long and painful custody battle for his children years later; to his relationship with his wife, actress Gabrielle Union-Wade, and the challenges they've encountered; and embracing his child Zion's gender identity, the film does not shy away from any difficult topic. The film is a memorable look back at one of the defining careers of this generation.

Profiling former Georgia running back Herschel Walker. The 1982 Heisman Trophy winner overcame teenage bouts with bullying for being overweight and having a severe stutter.

The Play That Changed College Football takes a look back at the first SEC Championship Game in 1992 between Florida and Alabama. The documentary dives into what the inaugural championship meant at the time and what it has meant to college football today.

Explore the rise, fall and re-birth of legendary University of Arkansas coach Nolan Richardson, at a time when the state of Arkansas was at the epicenter of American culture.

The appeal of the Lolo Jones story goes beyond the track and field community. It is one of heartbreak, adversity and the hope of triumph at the end, the kind of storyline that appeals to the masses. This is her story!

An insightful look at Sylvester Croom, the first African-American center at the University of Alabama and one of the school's first black players. After playing for legendary coach Paul "Bear" Bryant, then coaching under him for a decade, Croom eventually rose to to become head football coach at Mississippi State University and, more importantly, the first African American head coach in the Southeastern Conference. Narrated by Terrence Howard.

Plagued by injuries at UK and the NBA, Sam Bowie has always been overshadowed by his draft placement. The 7-foot-1 center was seen by many as a franchise player when he was selected by Portland with the second overall pick in the 1984 NBA Draft, just ahead of Michael Jordan. Sadly, injuries limited his success while Jordan helped the NBA reach new heights. Sam Bowie went on to a long and relatively productive professional career, despite recurring leg injuries. Still, he labeled a bust because of the lofty expectations. Going Big tells Bowie's story of perseverance and determination. Now a successful horse-owner in Lexington who never let his run of bad fortune deflate his spirit, Bowie has found success and happiness.

Trailing Mississippi State 59-56 with seconds left in regulation, Alabama forward Mykal Riley heaves a buzzer beater as time expires in the 2008 SEC men's basketball tournament.  Unknowingly, his shot has saved thousands of lives.  A few minutes into overtime, the Georgia Dome begins to shake.  A major tornado is sweeping through downtown Atlanta, the first to hit the city since the 1880s.  If the game ends in regulation, thousands would have been outside unprotected in the path of the oncoming twister. This "Miracle Three" prevented a major tragedy.  What followed was also a "miracle three" days when rivals united, heroes emerged and underdogs prevailed.

Abby Wambach never gives up. The soccer phenom has maintained an astonishing level of success, from helping the Florida Gators win their first and only national championship, to collecting a Founders Cup title with the WUSA's Washington Freedom and earning two Olympic gold medals. But her journey included setbacks - the collapse of a professional league, World Cup disappointments, and a career-threatening injury - all while shouldering the changing of the guard of the Women's National Team. Abby: Head On shows how Wambach has persevered, making her mark on the sport and becoming one of the best this country has ever produced.

Perhaps no family has had more influence on a sport than the Mannings. Written into the pages of football folklore is the Manning legend - a father and his sons. Patriarch Archie Manning, a star quarterback at the University of Mississippi and in the NFL, followed by oldest son Cooper, whose football dreams were cut short by a spinal condition, then sons Peyton and Eli - both of them quarterbacks, All-SEC, number one draft picks, back-to-back Super Bowl champions and MVPs. Director Rory Karpf explores how a tragedy shaped the course of not only Archie's life, but his family's as well.

When Alabama's Sarah Patterson and Georgia's Suzanne Yoculan arrived on their respective campuses, both programs were on the verge of folding. The Crimson Tide and the Gym Dogs were having little success, and Patterson and Yoculan were brought in to help salvage what was left. What no one could have guessed at the time is that not only would the two programs become the best in the nation, but the coaches would become pioneers and mavericks of the sport forever. In the 25 years that Yoculan and Patterson coached against each other, they filled arenas with passionate fans while winning a combined 21 SEC Championships and 14 NCAA titles.

What do Ashley Judd, Darius Rucker, James Carville and Governor Rick Perry have in common? Well, they live and die with the fortunes of their respective SEC schools. 14 famous figures—each representing a different college in the Southeastern Conference—spill their emotions and explain why they’ll never forget where they came from. Also features Charlie Daniels, Amy Robach, Jonathan Papelbon, Melissa Joan Hart, Emmitt Smith, Shepard Smith and Ralphie May, among others.

It started with the unheralded arrival of a wisecracking heavyweight basketball player named Charles Barkley. Then came the recruitment of multi-sports legend Bo Jackson, a victory in itself since he might have gone to Alabama. When Frank Thomas wasn't drafted by a major league baseball team, he decided to cast his fate with Auburn… as a football player. Told through an unforgettable reunion of the famed trio at the 2013 Iron Bowl, here's the real story of how these future Hall of Famers turned the orange and blue of Tiger athletics into gold.

The SEC is in Steve Spurrier's blood. He grew up in Tennessee as a fan of the Volunteers. He won the Heisman Trophy as the quarterback for the University of Florida, and then came back to coach the Gators to a national championship. Now he coaches the University of South Carolina, the team that produced the No. 1 pick in the 2014 NFL draft, Jadeveon Clowney. Co-executive produced by Kenny Chesney and Shaun Silva, "The Believer" reveals the essence of the most competitive man in the most competitive football conference in the nation.

On October 28, 1989, Ole Miss defensive back Chucky Mullins hit Vanderbilt running back Brad Gaines in the back and separated him from the ball. While Gaines was uninjured, Mullins suffered a broken neck on the play, leaving him a quadriplegic.

Narrated by Louisiana native and music superstar Tim McGraw, follow former basketball great Shaquille O’Neal as he returns to LSU to visit with Dale Brown, the coach who helped make it all possible. The relationship between these two men goes back to the time when Shaq was 13 and living on an army base in Germany when he asked the coach for some exercise tips. Since that day, O’Neal has received at least one letter or email from Brown every week—and a lot more of them during their three years together in Baton Rouge. Back then, they might have seemed very different, but they forged a deep friendship that they cherish to this day.

Before the basketball world came to know him as “The Human Highlight Film,” a teenage Dominique Wilkins quickly became the toast of his new hometown of Washington, North Carolina. The 6’8” basketball star led the Pam Pack to 56 straight victories and two state titles. But when he chose the University of Georgia over local ACC schools, the cheers turned to jeers and resentment twisted the high school highlights into a lowlight. That betrayal left ‘Nique distrustful of fans until a community of support in Georgia convinced him otherwise and paved the way for his return home.

When Rick Pitino was hired to coach the Kentucky basketball team in 1989, the once-proud program was reeling from NCAA probation and the loss of scholarships. He needed to shake things up and give the players who stayed a fresh perspective. To help achieve this, in 1990 he hired Bernadette Locke, only the second female assistant coach in Division I men’s basketball history.

The best team never to win the College World Series? It might have been the 1985 Mississippi State Bulldogs, who produced four Major League Baseball All-Stars. Two of them, Bobby Thigpen and Jeff Brantley, became Relievers of the Year, while the other two, Will Clark and Rafael Palmeiro, formed the imposing one-two punch known as “Thunder and Lightning.” As teammates at Mississippi State, they nearly propelled the Bulldogs to a College World Series title. Thirty years later, director Rory Karpf revisits those fabled Bulldogs, tracks the complicated relationship between Clark and Palmeiro, and brings closure to men who should be remembered for what they did, and not for what they didn’t do.

Danny Wuerffel was on top of the world at the end of the 1996 college football season. The University of Florida quarterback had just won the Heisman Trophy and led the Gators to a National Championship. But drafted by the New Orleans Saints in the spring of 1997, he struggled to attain the same kind of success in the NFL. It was in that first year as a pro that he began volunteering in New Orleans’ Desire neighborhood, one of the poorest locales in the country. After Hurricane Katrina devastated his Desire Street Academy in late August 2005, Wuerffel took the lead in tracking down his students, established a new location for the school in Florida, and expanded his outreach to help several more communities in the southeastern United States. He continued his efforts while battling a life-threatening illness. Now, ten years removed from the costliest natural disaster in American history, Wuerffel returns to New Orleans to dedicate the rebuilding of the Desire Community Square and further the cause he joined two decades ago.

On April 23, 2013, the oaks at Toomer’s Corner had to be removed. More than two years earlier, those trees at Auburn University’s historic landmark had been poisoned, casting a dark shadow over the school. Meanwhile, the Auburn football team went from National Champions in 2010 to the bottom of the SEC by 2012.

When the name “Bo” is uttered in SEC circles, images of Bo Jackson’s domination at Auburn quickly come to mind. But there is another Bo who is likely far less familiar to SEC followers. That would be Robert “Bo” Rein, whose pedigree could be traced to stints under Woody Hayes, Lou Holtz, and Frank Broyles.

When Michael Sam announced on February 9, 2014 that he was gay, he became football’s first openly gay active player. For most, the revelation was a surprise. For his teammates in Columbia Missouri, it was not news. In the Tigers football family, Michael had found acceptance.

Life was never easy for Derrick Thomas.  At the age of 5, his father, an Air Force pilot, was lost in Vietnam during a flying mission.  As an adolescent growing up in a rough Miami neighborhood, Thomas ran afoul of the law and found himself in front of a judge who would give him a second chance.  He turned his life around, became a star on the gridiron and attracted the attention of the University of Alabama, where he established himself as arguably the greatest pass rusher in college football history.

In 1956, on the University of Missouri campus, Norm Stewart was the man. In the spring he threw a no-hitter for the baseball team. In the winter he led the basketball team in scoring. Unlike most big men on campus, whose exploits drift into folklore, Norm's best days were ahead of him. In 1967 Norm would become the Mizzou men's basketball head coach. As much as his program-leading 634 wins endeared him to the fans, his fiery style and loyalty to the state that raised him made "Norm" a Missouri legend.

If her story were only about basketball, Ruthie Bolton would be a legend. Bolton far exceeded expectations when she led Auburn to three SEC titles and two NCAA championship games, then went on to win two Olympic gold medals. But it was Ruthie Bolton's courage during and after her playing career ended that ultimately defines her. After surviving years of domestic abuse, she has opened up about her experiences and has become a powerful advocate for women who live in fear of their spouses.

Twenty years ago, LSU baseball player Warren Morris became the only man ever to hit a walk off home run to end the College World Series, and it was his only home run of the season. Recovering from a broken bone in his right hand, Morris could barely swing a bat. Still, legendary LSU coach Skip Bertman inserted him into the lineup in the title game of the College World Series against the University of Miami.

The likes of Florida's back-to-back National Championship wins in 2006 and 2007 may never be seen again. A starting line-up of college basketball players spurned multi-million dollar opportunities in the NBA for the chance to win it again. Joakim Noah, Al Horford, Corey Brewer, Taurean Green, and Lee Humphrey, led by head coach Billy Donovan, learned togetherness, loyalty, and how to deliver a championship when a championship is expected.

The remarkable story of two extraordinary men linked by alphabet, alliteration, and fate. Jerry Jones and Jimmy Johnson teamed up to help lead the 1964 Arkansas Razorbacks football squad to its only undefeated season in history, long before they joined forces to win two Super Bowls with the NFL's Dallas Cowboys. Back then, they were vital senior members of the 1964 undefeated team that won a national championship, and in time, they came to be two of the biggest men in the NFL.

Johnny Neumann took the Ole Miss nickname seriously. A 6’6” prodigy from Memphis often compared to LSU superstar Pete Maravich, Neumann was supposed to lead the Rebel basketball program to national prominence in the early 1970s. But he proved to be too headstrong, too egotistical and not keen enough to know he could be his own worst enemy.