UH's iconic Phi Slama Jama teams to be profiled in ESPN documentary

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After years of being reduced to onscreen bystanders to Jim Valvano and North Carolina State's 1983 NCAA Tournament champions, the University of Houston's Phi Slama Jama teams finally get their moment in the spotlight in an ESPN documentary that airs in October.

"Phi Slama Jama," part of ESPN's "30 for 30" documentary series, is being directed by Houston native Chip Rives, who was a heartbroken Houston middle schooler when the Cougars lost to the Wolfpack in 1983, and in conjunction with his colleagues at Texas Crew Productions in Austin.

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Scenes from the film will air Saturday on ESPN's College GameDay, and the 90-minute film will be part of ESPN's fall "30 for 30" schedule.

Rives said he interviewed more than 30 people for the film, including players Hakeem Olajuwon, Clyde Drexler and others, and writers and broadcasters who covered the team, including UH alumnus Jim Nantz of CBS Sports, Curry Kirkpatrick of Sports Illustrated and former Houston Post sportswriter Thomas Bonk, who coined the Phi Slama Jama nickname.

As a long-suffering Houston sports fan, Rives said his goal for "Phi Slama Jama" was to provide another perspective on the Cougars and their Hall of Fame coach, Guy V. Lewis.

At HoustonChronicle.com: The man behind Phi Slama Jama





Click through the gallery to see more Phi Slama Jama photos. less UH's iconic Phi Slama Jama squads, led by Hakeem Olajuwon (left), Clyde Drexler and the late coach Guy V. Lewis, will get spotlighted in an upcoming ESPN documentary.



Click through the gallery to see more Phi ... more UH's iconic Phi Slama Jama squads, led by Hakeem Olajuwon (left), Clyde Drexler and the late coach Guy V. Lewis, will get spotlighted in an upcoming ESPN documentary. Photo: Michael Paulsen, Houston Chronicle Photo: Michael Paulsen, Houston Chronicle Image 1 of / 29 Caption Close UH's iconic Phi Slama Jama teams to be profiled in ESPN documentary 1 / 29 Back to Gallery

"It's a story about a guy who was a pioneer and a rebel who bucked the system and had a vision," Rives said. "He treated his players like men and was tough, but he showed a respect that, I think, was unique for that era. He let kids be themselves.

"People know about Hakeem Olajuwon and Clyde Drexler, but he also had players like Eric Davis, the captain of the 1982 team, who became a Chicago police officer. It was the way he molded guys like Reid Gettys and David Rose that is what the story of Phi Slama Jama is all about."

Rives and his Texas Crew Productions colleagues have produced or contributed to numerous sports documentaries, including the ESPN film "Brian and the Boz" on former Oklahoma football player Brian Bosworth and a recent MLB Network film about the Astrodome.

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ESPN Films in 2013 produced "Survive and Advance" on the 1983 North Carolina State team, and Rives said he lobbied ESPN for years to greenlight an alternate view of the 1983 championship game.

"There was a film, for example, on the 1980 Soviet Union hockey team (which lost to the U.S. in the "Miracle on Ice" game), so it's important to understand that there is another side to this story, too," Rives said.

That single-minded portrait, enforced over the years by Valvano's post-coaching association with ESPN and its sponsorship of the foundation named in his honor, that has long irked former UH players such as Gettys, one of the players interviewed for "Phi Slama Jama."

"There are so many urban myths surrounding that game that it was enjoyable to talk about the facts," Gettys said. "The myths are that we were overconfident and that we were far the superior team (to N.C. State), and that was never the case.

"All the narratives have been from their perspective and, of course, they won the championship, but it's been difficult for those in the other half of the story to constantly let somebody else define the narrative. Chip did a lot of research, and I am excited to see the final product."

Rives said he has acquired the rights to use footage from Lewis's weekly TV show and rarely seen shots from other games during the Phi Slama Jama era, and he's looking for more.

His Great White Whale, as it is for anyone who cares about the Phi Slama Jama years, is any word about the elusive Benny Anders, the elusive sixth man who has dropped off the face of the earth since the 1980s.

"We are always looking for more photos, more footage, anything we can add to this film," Rives said. "This is very much a Houston story and I would implore Houstonians to let us know (via info@texascrew.com) if they have anything they think we would like to see.

"This, for us, is a Houston thing that we lived through. They may not have won the championship, but they changed the way the game was played. A lot of what you see today is a direct result of what they did in the early 1980s."