‘Unrivaled: Sewanee 1899’ Regional Emmy Contender
by Beth Riner, Messenger Staff Writer
“Unrivaled: Sewanee 1899,” a documentary detailing the exploits of Sewanee’s legendary 1899 football team, is now a regional Emmy contender.
Entered by Alabama Public Television (APT) in the historical documentary category, the team behind the film includes Director David Crews, Editor Matthew Graves, and Producer Norman Jetmundsen. Nominations will be announced April 30 followed by an awards show June 17 in Atlanta.
“It’s really a fantastic film—not just for the story of the football team but the culture in the South and how the sport of football changed over time,” said Mike McKenzie, director of programming and public information for APT. “Everything behind the production is top-notch.”
Winning an Emmy wasn’t on the radar for co-creator Jetmundsen, a 1976 University of the South graduate, who said he and Crews, also a Sewanee alum, did the film for two reasons. “It was a story that needed to be told, and we thought it would be great for the university.”
Jetmundsen, a self-described football lover, first heard about the 1899 team as an undergraduate studying English literature. “Everybody who goes here hears the story within the first week. It’s part of the DNA of Sewanee.”
The 1899 Sewanee Tigers took a 2,500-mile railroad journey to win five games in six days against some of the South’s biggest teams without allowing a single point and ended up with a perfect 12-0 season—only 10 points were scored against the team in the entire season.
The story of these Sewanee Iron Men became campus folklore; even today, dorm and office posters proclaim: “In 6 days, Sewanee beat Texas, Texas A&M, Tulane, LSU, and Ole Miss. On the 7th day they rested.”
The story so resonated with Jetmundsen that nearly 40 years later in 2014 he would pitch it to ESPN. When nothing came of it, he turned to his lifelong friend, David Crews, an award-winning documentary film maker, who agreed to take on the project provided Jetmundsen helped. It would turn into a five-plus year collaboration, which included raising more than $300,000 in funding and doing more than 40 interviews.
Jetmundsen relied on his experience as a trial lawyer in Birmingham, Ala., to conduct interviews. “That part came naturally to me,” he said. “I’d taken hundreds and hundreds of depositions.” He used the skills honed from writing legal briefs to tell a compelling story mixed with moments of humor.
“We thought we knew the story,” Jetmundsen added. “We only knew half of it. It was much richer than we’d imagined.”
He said one of the most gratifying things about the project was that “we preserved a story that was about to be lost and now it’s preserved forever.” He noted that some of the folks he’d interviewed were in their nineties and had since passed.
The documentary contains interviews with legendary football coaches Bobby Bowden, Johnny Majors, Vince Dooley, and Nick Saban. “I still can’t believe we got Nick Saban,” Jetmundsen said. “All these people who were nationally known and so willing to help—it was just incredible.”
A big coup for the project was getting fellow Birmingham resident Bobby Horton, who has done music for the Ken Burns’ documentaries, on board. Horton used vintage songs to fit music into the scenes. “He’s a musical genius,” Jetmundsen said.
Another local friend and Episcopal priest, Gates Shaw, lent his melodious Southern voice to narrate the documentary.
Birmingham artist Ernie Eldridge contributed 14 original paintings to the documentary since there were no moving pictures in 1899 and only a handful of photos of the team. Artist Jim Trusilo also did a couple of original paintings. Their work greatly enhanced the documentary, Jetmundsen said.
Their remarkable artwork will be the basis for a coffee-table book that Jetmundsen is now working on with Karin Fecteau. “Our hope is to launch the book in the fall of 2024,” he said. The book will feature old photos, letters, telegrams, and other archival information.
Although no one has picked up the story yet for a motion picture, Jetmundsen said he and Crews remain hopeful. “We just think it would be a great movie.”
“Unrivaled: Sewanee 1899” will be shown at the Monteagle Sunday School Assembly at 7:45 p.m., July 1.
“We’re really excited that the Assembly asked us to show it on that particular weekend,” Jetmundsen said, explaining that there is nothing quite like the Fourth of July Weekend on the mountain. “It’s just old-time America and so much fun.”
For more information about the documentary, go to <https://sewanee1899.org/;.