By 2009, after years of losses, the all-black football team at Manassas High School in inner-city North Memphis, Tenn., was known as ‘Whipping Boy Manassas’ — one of the worst teams in the entire state. The new documentary Undefeated, recently nominated for an Oscar, captures the team’s following season, and the struggles of its coach and players, on and off the field.
Co-directors Dan Lindsay and T.J. Martin describe the team’s recent history.
“For years, Manassas would sell their home berths,” Lindsay tells NPR’s Melissa Block. “They didn’t have a home stadium, so they would sell their games to county schools that would pay them to come up and, basically, get beat. They just got the reputation as being the team you could call on to come and just beat up and make sure you won your homecoming game.”
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