"Flannery and the Thunderbolts"
The McClymonds High girls basketball team, once the Oakland Athletic League doormats and even disbanded for lack of participation, rose to the top thanks in part to a little organization, some serious hard work and mostly a lot of love from an unlikely retired coach.
Photo by Eric Taylor
Dennis Flannery, McClymonds
Photo by Eric Taylor
Dennis Flannery wasn't doing much. A retired school district employee in Oakland and former basketball coach, he always said that the girls basketball program at
McClymonds (Oakland, Calif.) was a juggernaut in hiding. Instead, McClymonds, opposite of the school's state power boys program, was all broken. Losing records, little participation and poor grades ran rampant. So Flannery, an 60-something caucasian gentleman, accepted the challenges of a very diverse inner-city program. With a quiet, humane but firm approach, some schmaltzy techniques — he plays "One Shining Moment" before big games — and some Pat Riley "thunderbolt" methods, he helped lead the Warriors to not only historic back-to-back league titles, but also academic honors as well. He also whisked a trio of his players from a nearby grocery store where a gunman had started shooting. Flannery wears many hats.
Casting call
It's hard to find a personality as unique as Flannery, but
Malcolm McDowell would be a good fit. Like the Pujols baseball movie, finding young female actors who can really play basketball might be challenging. We would hit up teams at USC, UCLA, Long Beach State and Loyola Marymount and perhaps find ringers for the director.
