Catching Lightning in a Bottle
“This is not just a basketball story. It goes way beyond that. We're excited to bring it to life and showcase how the University of Massachusetts changed our lives and gave us opportunities through what this team accomplished.”
—MIKE COREY ‘99
Filmmakers Brad Davidson ’98 and Mike Corey ’99 capture the rise of the UMass Men’s Basketball program from 1988–1996 and give back to the university at the same time.
In 1996, when the UMass Men’s Basketball team reached the NCAA Tournament’s Final Four for the first time in program history, Brad Davidson ’98 wrote an article for the Massachusetts Daily Collegian suggesting that the team’s unprecedented run be made into a movie.
“I actually forgot I wrote that article,” says Davidson. “One day, I was going through my scrapbook, and I called Mike [Corey] in the middle of the night.”
Davidson and Mike Corey ’99 were both deeply involved in student media at UMass during the basketball team’s rise to greatness under Head Coach John Calipari. They decided to act on Davidson’s earlier idea and make a movie about that era of UMass basketball.
“I felt a real connectedness to this team,” says Davidson “This is pre-social media. Now you can see a million pictures of someone playing in practice. For us, we would call each other on landlines and say, ‘I saw Marcus Camby on campus today.’ These were rock stars on campus, you know? You felt like you were on the pulse of something.”
In 2021, the stars aligned to bring Davidson and Corey back to campus when UMass Athletics inducted the 1995-1996 men’s basketball team into the UMass Hall of Fame and unveiled statues of Hall of Famers Julius “Dr. J” Erving, Coach Jack Leaman, Calipari, and Camby – the star of the 1995-1996 team.
Corey emceed the event, and the two filmmakers started production on the film by interviewing multiple players from the 90’s era and conducting walk-throughs in the Curry Hicks Cage and Champions Center with Camby and Calipari, reminiscing about their years at the university.
Calipari and Camby both had an outsized impact on UMass’s basketball program. When Calipari arrived in 1988, the team was on a streak of 10 straight losing seasons and had not been to the NCAA tournament since 1962. Calipari led UMass to the National Invitational Tournament in his second season as head coach, the first of many postseason accomplishments to follow.
Camby earned National Player of the Year honors his senior season, was a consensus First-Team All-American, and was chosen by the Toronto Raptors with the second overall pick in the 1996 NBA Draft.
“In his interview for our project, Camby said, ‘I went on to the NBA for 17 years. I played in the 1999 NBA Finals. I was the NBA Defensive Player of the Year. But I always associate with UMass. That's where it all started.’” says Davidson.
With their documentary, Lightning in a Bottle: The Electrifying Run of UMass Basketball, Davidson and Corey capture the team’s meteoric rise from 1988-1996 to the top of the NCAA standings and how it transformed a community. But they also highlight their own experiences at UMass and how those opportunities set them on a path to success after graduation.
“I knew from a very young age that I wanted to be a broadcaster,” says Corey, who now broadcasts for ESPN and NBC and has served as an announcer for multiple Olympic games. “When I came to UMass, I said the first thing I was doing was going down to WMUA to work on the student radio and get experience.”
Davidson, who became an executive with Columbia Records and Warner Music Group and serves as the president of Ging Management Group, also credits his career trajectory to his involvement with UMass student media and the opportunity to cover the basketball team and music scene.
“The Daily Collegian had a real distribution, and the radio station had real reach and funding,” says Davidson. “Getting to interview Coach Calipari and getting to write articles about a massive national news story gave students like Mike and I the experience that led us to get good jobs, which is what it's all about.”
Once they had created a sizzle reel – an example of documentary footage that would help them recruit investors – they decided to use this opportunity to give back to the university as well. They established an endowed scholarship – the Lightning in a Bottle Endowment - where people could donate their return on investment in the film to help succeeding generations of UMass students.
“You're essentially doing two things with your investment: you are helping us bring this story to life, and you’re putting money right back into the university to help potential students.”
With interviewees including Calipari, Camby, Doctor J, and other NCAA and NBA players of the 90s, Davidson and Corey are targeting Netflix, Amazon Prime and other major streamers for distribution. They are also hoping to hold a screening on campus at UMass Amherst.
“This is not just a basketball story,” says Corey. “It goes way beyond that. We're excited to bring it to life and showcase how the University of Massachusetts changed our lives and gave us opportunities through what this team accomplished.”
“There are a lot of other people at the university that were affected by the athletic program and went on to build big journalism and entertainment careers,” says Davidson. “This story shows the true impact this magical time period at UMass had on so many of us. That's what we're hoping people really take away from the documentary.”
To learn more about the Lightning in a Bottle Endowment or investment opportunities, you can contact Brad Davidson at Brad@gingmanagementgroup.com.
