As Seen
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- ABC
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- CBC
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- Fox
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- NBC
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- Amarillo Globe News
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- The Dallas Morning News
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- New York Times
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- Amazon
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- Barns & Noble
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- Playboy
From THE Producer of Hoosiers
When SLAM DUNK – The True Story of Basketball’s First Olympic Gold Medal Team came my way, I immediately knew. I read it from beginning to end in one sitting. The content, the story, the unknown historical facts, the tragedies, the writing, the interesting characters, the very special young athletes, the unbelievable odds, the writer’s ability to combine the story from 1891 through the Dust Bowl to the 1936 Hitler Olympics makes this an epic story. I knew this script was very special and I’m lucky to be involved. From the players to the writer, this is the real deal.”
Carter DeHaven – Hoosiers Producer
Los Angeles, 2019
ABOUT SLAM DUNK
When I was eight years old, my father took me to see the GREAAAAT Joe Fortenberry....It changed my life forever. Now, here's the Bestseller Book that tells the whole story. Enjoy!
Ever wonder who invented basketball or who invented the Slam Dunk? Well, I can clear that up for you... James Naismith invented basketball and Joe Fortenberry invented the dunk. Yep, Joe’s my cousin and I grew up thinking everybody had a 6’8” relative with an Olympic Gold Medal that was kept in a shoebox, on the highest shelf in the hall closet! Seven years ago when Joe’s children decided this would make a good movie, I was summoned to bring the story to life, and it’s my pleasure to share this story with you.
About Author
BETH FORTENBERRY
Beth Fortenberry is an award-winning writer/producer in Los Angeles. She got her Actors Equity card when she was 19 and her Screen Actors Guild card at 21. To make ends meet she worked as a Playboy Bunny in New York. She’s a member of the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences and faithfully votes for the Emmy’s. She and her husband are Newlywed champs and went on to be Goldywed champs twice! They are living happily even after 30 years of marriage. She has two children, a stepson, a grandson and a miniature Yorkie. She loves her life, ballroom dancing and sports!
see: Production Credits:
Internet Movie Database
Introduction:
It’s a blustery December day in Springfield Massachusetts. The year - 1891. James Naismith, age 29 is a rare combination of violent rugby player and Presbyterian minister. He has his dream job as an athletic coach at the Y.M.C.A. but his boss threatens to fire him if he doesn’t come up with a game to be played between the football and baseball seasons. Determined not to fail, he prays in earnest and through logic and elimination invents “a New Game” - Basketball. A few days later he sees a pretty Southern lady who just happened to invent the first football helmet and they fall in love. He keeps his job and gets the girl all in the same week! They marry and have children.
Now, it’s the Depression:
1932 to be exact, and Joe Fortenberry at 21 years old, wants to play in the Olympics more than anything. Phog Allen protege, Gene Johnson, discovers Joe and hires him to play for the Globe Refiners with the goal of going to the Hitler Olympics in 1936. In preparation, at a Madison Square Garden game in 1936, the world sees the fast break, the zone press and for the first time Joe Fortenberry unveils his own invention - the Slam Dunk! The Refiners join with the Hollywood Universals and they become the first U.S.A. Olympic basketball team.
In 1905, the family moves
to Lawrence, Kansas so Naismith can head the Kansas University Athletic Department. There he meets Phog Allen, a superb basketball coach with a foghorn voice. Phog starts a campaign to put basketball into the Olympics. As Naismith mentors many students (among them African- American John McLendon, who later becomes the Father of Basketball Integration), he wonders who would even want to go to the Olympics.
After much controversy and many obstacles,
The team arrives in Berlin to win. However, the rules are changed, the ball is a balloon beach ball and the game is going to be played outdoors in rainy weather! Their uniforms are stolen and other countries want to eliminate all players over 6’2”. Still America perseveres. In the thrilling last game, it’s pouring rain and even though the court is a mudpit, America wins 19-8 with Joe as the high scorer. The next day is sunny and beautiful for the awards ceremony. Naismith presents the first Olympic Gold Medal for Basketball to the U.S.A. team. “The happiest day of my life”. Indeed, James Naismith made “the world a little better than he found it”.
Five Star Reviews!
I must confess that this is my favorite story these days. Joe Fortenberry is my father, and Beth Fortenberry is my cousin. She has caught the spirit and essence of the Olympic tale as told to me by my Pop. This is a mixture of old fashioned American sport against the spectre of Nazi Germany. Beth weaves an entertaining story from the advent of basketball; to the first Gold Medal. I know the story probably as well as anyone, and yet I felt as though I were discovering this lost gem of a tale for the first time. I envy those who will read it for the first time. I highly recommend this tale of the Depression, Dust Bowl, Nazis, Basketball and good versus evil. Sounds like a good premise for a Spielberg movie.
Beth Fortenberry writes a fascinating book about how basketball was invented in SLAM DUNK: The True Story of Basketball’s First Olympic Gold Medal Team. The author first gives the highlights of James Naismith’s life and what caused him to invent an indoor game. You would also appreciate the sweet way he met and dated his wife. Then we are introduced to Joe Fortenberry. His skill and love for basketball takes him to great challenges and victories. SLAM DUNK by Beth Fortenberry is told in a way that brings: basketball, James Naismith, and Joe Fortenberry alive. A motion picture is in the makings featuring this book. I loved the book because I can now talk more intelligently with my teenage sons. I am looking forward to them reading this book also, they will love it. The history surrounding the Olympics is amazing as Hitler has his part in this book.
This book reads just like the description - a play by play sports news show with high energy, moving inspiration and mind blowing challenges, that our first ever USA Basketball team overcame to win the Gold medal at the summer Olympics in Berlin during the Hitler era! This incredible book illustrates how our very first Basketball team and how the first ever slam dunk went down in history! This will definitely be an exciting film to watch on the big screen!!!
