Forgotten Champions Documentary Set to Premiere on BTN Monday Night
Mar 27 | Women's Basketball
PISCATAWAY, N.J. – Forgotten Champions, the documentary celebrating the 40th anniversary of the Rutgers University women's basketball 1982 AIAW National Championship is set to premiere on the Big Ten Network on Monday, March 27 from 7-9 p.m.
It will be an evening of Scarlet Knights programming on BTN, as the 1982 game versus Texas will kick off the night starting at 6 p.m. After the documentary, panel discussions recorded in October of 2022 at the film's New Brunswick Performing Arts Center debut will air at 9 p.m.
The panels feature Big Ten Commissioner Kevin Warren, former Rutgers head coach and Naismith Basketball Hall of Famer Theresa Grentz, Naismith Basketball Hall of Famer Marianne Stanley as well as members of the team. Rutgers alum Kelly Whiteside moderates the conversations discussing both the 50th anniversary of Title IX and Rutgers women's basketball history.
The film, co-executive produced by Rutgers and WRSU-FM alums Geoff Sadow and Jon Newman, is five years in the making. The historic 1981-82 Lady Knights team will be honored at an all-star event premiering the documentary at the . The documentary 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. The film is narrated by FIFA World Cup Champion, Olympic Gold Medalist, and Rutgers Hall of Fame soccer star Carli Lloyd.
About Forgotten Champions
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 punctuate 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.
