BUIES CREEK, N.C. – The Campbell Basketball School, a 30-minute documentary film by Devine Utley, is now available for online viewing.
 
The document premiered Oct. 20 in the Harris Student Union Theater on the Campbell University campus during Homecoming weekend festivities.
 
Following the showing of the documentary, a panel discussion was held featuring Utley, Coach Wanda Watkins, Coach Billy Lee and Brooks Lee, in addition to a time of sharing.
 
Former head coaches Danny Roberts, Billy Lee, Wanda Watkins and Jerry Smith, appeared in the film, along with Fred Whitfield, M.L. Carr and Lisa Singletary, daughter of the Basketball School's co-founder.  In addition, Tonya Colwell, Brooks Lee, Ronda Langdon and John Boney were interviewed.
 
A host of alumni, friends and fans, plus the 2023-24 Campbell men's and women's basketball teams and staff, filled the theater. 
 
Watkins and Langdon were joined in the audience by fellow Campbell Athletics Hall of Fame members Clarence Grier and Johnny Marshbanks.  Former players or staffers in attendance included Colwell, Gary Elmore, Brooks Lee, Mary Weiss, Cordell Wise and Randy Yates.  Longtime camp coaches Charles Babb (33 years) and Boney (49 years) also attended.
 
Utley, who earned her degree in documentary film studies from the University of Missouri, conducted interviews with many of the coaches and staff members who worked at the Campbell Basketball School, which in its heyday was the nation's largest summer basketball camp.
 
Founded in 1956 by Campbell head coach Fred McCall and Bones McKinney of Wake Forest, 125 boys attended the first camp in 1956.  Over the next 50 years, the camp grew to accommodate as many as 2000 youngsters in a summer.  At the time of its opening, the camp was the first of its kind to be held in North Carolina and one of the few in the United States.
 
Through the years, basketball immortals such as John Wooden, Bill Sharman, Dean Smith, Lefty Driesell, Dolph Schayes, Press and Pete Maravich, Michael Jordan and James Worthy appeared at the camp. 
 
Hall of Famer Pete Maravich attended the camp from age nine through 17.  He is one of at least seven of the NBA's Top 50 Legends to have appeared at the School.  A further sampling of NBA players who have appeared at the camp included M.L. Carr, Vinny Del Negro, Danny Ferry, Christian Laettner, John Lucas, Sam Perkins and Ralph Sampson.