Unraveling George Documentary Reveals Coach Raveling’s Societal Impacts Beyond Basketball

**‘Unraveling George,’ The Life of Hall of Fame Coach, Entrepreneur, Civil Rights Leader and Executive George Raveling To Open Martha’s Vineyard African American Film Festival**

Directed by Mike Tollin, Executive Produced by Charles Barkley, and Produced and Narrated by Marlon Wayans

A soon to be released documentary about George Raveling titled, Unraveling George, will open Martha’s Vineyard African American Film Festival this Friday. MTP, the award-winning sports film production company produced the narrative that chronicles the life of 88-year old George Raveling, a respected Hall of Fame basketball coach, courageous civil rights leader and a major influencer on the likes of Michael Jordan and also my brother, Ricky Roble, after he attended Cougar Cage Camp in Pullman, WA where Raveling was the Head Coach for Washington State University. Director Michael Tollin (The Last Dance, Coach Carter, Radio), joined executive producer Charles Barkley, and Producer and Narrator Marlon Wayans to create this theatrical insight about George. Raveling also became a renowned civil rights advocate and has the unique honor of being given the original typed “I Have a Dream” speech by Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King in Washington, D.C. in 1963 while he was attending The March on Washington, a piece of history that he still owns. My Father also happened to be in attendance. The Sports Techie community blog is truly honored to share this true story to all our international followers and readers of any age or ethnic group. Whether you played hoops or believe in equal rights for all, I hope you’ll be inspired to view this film and to learn more about Coach Raveling and the many positive attributes he’s given to humanity, society, and people of all colors, especially fellow African-Americans.

“George Raveling is a mentor, a friend, and a confidant, and I would not be Michael Jordan without him,” remarked Michael Jordan.

Unraveling George Trailer

George Loved Hoops

Often credited with driving the international popularity of basketball while serving as global director of basketball at Nike, Raveling’s life was put under the spotlight in the Ben Affleck-directed “AIR,” a film which took some liberties in telling the story of how a young Jordan ended up at NIKE . Then 21-year-old M.J. forged a strong bond with Raveling, who was an assistant on the 1984 US Olympic gold medal-winning basketball team.

“While George is not widely known by the public,” said Director Mike Tollin, “he has been a bit of a “Zelig” in African-American culture. He was there at Martin Luther King’s side for the monumental “I Have A Dream” speech, and actually was given the original copy of the speech by MLK Jr. . He was the person most responsible for Michael Jordan going to Nike and changing the sporting landscape forever. He coached two US Olympic basketball teams and five major college teams, and led NIKE grass roots and then their global efforts to expand the game of basketball around the world. He brought Kobe Bryant to China and Dirk Nowitzki to the US. Above all, he has been a role model, a mentor, a ‘second father’ to scores of young men for the last half-century.”

Raveling followed his record-setting career at Villanova University by entering the coaching ranks, first as an assistant at Villanova before moving on to the University of Maryland, where he became the first African-American coach in the history of the ACC under Charles “Lefty” Driesell.

For 22 years Raveling was head men’s basketball coach at Washington State, Iowa and then USC, winning 336 games and garnering three PAC 10 Coach of the Year Honors as well as being selected as NABC Coach of the Year in 1992.

He was assistant coach for two US Olympic basketball teams (‘84 & ‘88) and following his retirement at age 58, ran Nike Basketball from 1993 through 2018, and remains a senior advisor to founder Phil Knight. He was inducted into the College Basketball Hall of Fame in 2013 and the Naismith Memorial Basketball HOF in 2015.

Director/Executive Producer Mike Tollin is a film and television producer/director who served as Executive Producer of the Emmy award-winning The Last Dance, a 10-part documentary series on Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls dynasty. The series received rave reviews and set numerous ratings records, being seen by nearly 15 million viewers per episode on ESPN and many million more on Netflix around the world.

The Rise of Tollin

Tollin’s other career highlights include Radio, Coach Carter, Varsity Blues, and Hank Aaron: Chasing the Dream, which won a Peabody Award and was nominated for an Academy Award. He has also produced and/or directed movies such as Summer Catch, Wild Hogs, Good Burger, Big Fat Liar, and Dreamer, and television shows such as Arli$$, Smallville, One Tree Hill, All That, Kenan & Kel, and The Bronx is Burning.

In documentaries, Tollin has won four Emmy Awards and was one of the founding producers of the acclaimed Peabody Award-winning series, “30 For 30”. Among those films he Executive Produced are The Redeem Team, The Captain (Derek Jeter), Justice, USA (six-part series), The Comedy Store, Shaun White: The Last Run, Kareem: Minority of One, Morningside Five, Iverson, and Small Potatoes: Who Killed The USFL.

An active philanthropist, Mike is a founding board member of CommonSense Media, and sits on the board of the Hank Aaron: Chasing The Dream Foundation, and PACE, a private philanthropy group he founded.

Sports Techie, my brother was a Cougar Cage Camp all-star in the late 1970s and had a picture taken with George that we couldn’t find on short notice. Our family looked up to Raveling over the years, Go Cougs.

Coach Raveling helped to guide the likes of Jordan and so many others, I’m certain Unraveling George will showcase.

One thing about the trailer, in it, 53-year old Wayans acts like he doesn’t know who George Raveling is when talking to Affleck about the project, something I believe is a complete fabrication or a fairly weak attempt at comedy.

I personally want to know if George had anything to do with helping create and promote the ‘Air Jordan’ brand for Mike and Nike.

Enjoy this flick and also, Nothing But A Winner the revealing documentary about Alabama Football.

See you later sportstechie in Seattle, Atlanta and around the world!

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