Veritas Mission Film Association & Oceania Film Studios Presents

    A Kevin McAfee Film

    More Than
    Champions

    Based on a True Story · 1963–1969 · Macon, Georgia

    Based on true events — the extraordinary story of Sam Oni, the first Black student at an all-white Southern university, and the integrated basketball team that changed a city, a state, and a nation.

    • Exec. ProducersLynn McAfee & Jag Gholson
    • ProducersDr. Kevin McAfee & John Chalfant
    • Co-ProducersJulie Spencer, Dr. Miller Bargeron & Heather Olive
    • StoryKevin McAfee, Jag Gholson & Sam Oni
    • Screenplay & DirectedDr. Kevin McAfee
    • Narrated ByMichael Jordan
    • StarringShaquille O'Neal
    • DistributionCanyonStar.TV
    More Than Champions Poster

    Talk of the Town

    Featuring Jag Gholson

    The True Story

    Sam Oni — An Unsung Hero

    Sam Oni

    In the summer of 1963, a young African student from Western Nigeria was encouraged by a U.S. missionary to come to America for his education. Sam Oni had so many promising attributes — an athlete, a leader, a man of deep faith. He was admitted to Mercer University in Macon, Georgia — the first Black student ever accepted to this all-white Christian college.

    He arrived with a small brown bag holding everything he owned. Dr. Martin Luther King was speaking at the Lincoln Memorial the very week Sam stepped onto American soil. What awaited him was a church that voted on whether to let him worship, teammates who refused to pass the ball to his roommate Don Baxter because of their friendship, and a KKK marshal who warned him to leave Macon.

    Yet Sam stayed — and changed everything. Don Baxter, the biggest man on campus and future Mercer Hall of Famer, stood beside Sam through every trial. Their friendship became a beacon. Today, Mercer University is nearly 40% African American. Sam was honored at the Founder's Day 50th Anniversary alongside Don Baxter by the University President.

    "Once you recognize the divine in you and in me, and you behave consistent with that knowledge, you are liberated."

    — Sam Oni

    Starring & Narration

    World-Class Talent

    MJ
    Michael Jordan
    Narrator
    The greatest basketball player of all time narrates the opening montage — from James Naismith's 13 rules in 1891 Springfield, through the Harlem Globetrotters, to the integrated courts of 1960s Georgia. Jordan's voice anchors the film's sweep of history and gives the story its championship spirit.
    SO
    Shaquille O'Neal
    Starring Role
    One of basketball's most iconic figures brings his commanding presence to the story of men who became champions not just on the court, but in the heart of a divided nation. Shaquille O'Neal embodies the spirit of the film — that true greatness is always more than a trophy.
    Historical Content · Civil Rights Era · 1960s Georgia

    The Antagonists

    The KKK & The Racial Divide

    Bill Forrest — descendant of Nathan Bedford Forrest, the KKK's founder — leads the effort to drive Sam Oni out of Macon. His network operates through barber shops, the mayor's office, church pews, and a white Cadillac that stalks the campus streets at night.

    Captain Page approaches Sam directly: "Leave Macon… and soon. This is your first and only warning." Klansmen in white hoods gather around burning crosses in the Georgia woods. The grip of the KKK on 1960s Macon is the backdrop against which Sam's extraordinary grace and courage shine all the more powerfully.

    Yet even within the Forrest family, change begins. Billy Junior — Bill's own son — watches Sam's courage at church and on the basketball court, and quietly begins to see a different future. By the State Championship, even Captain Page is asking to attend the game to cheer for Mark Smith.

    Key Facts · 1960s Georgia
    1963
    Sam Oni becomes the first Black student admitted to Mercer University — a white Christian college in the Deep South
    KKK
    Nathan Bedford Forrest's descendants actively operate in Macon — using the church, city hall, and night terror to maintain segregation
    40%
    Mercer University's African American student population today — a direct legacy of Sam Oni's courage in 1963

    The Story · 1963–1969

    Five Acts of Champions

    Act One · 1963
    Sam Arrives in Macon
    From Ghana to New York — MLK on the cab radio — to Mercer University. A church votes on his right to worship. A campus meets its first Black student.
    Act Two · 1964–65
    The Integrated Team Forms
    Coach Butch Clifton builds Georgia's first integrated high school basketball team at Mark Smith High, mentored by John Wooden and Pete Maravich.
    Act Three · 1965–66
    The KKK Closes In
    Bill Forrest's men stalk campus in a white Cadillac. Sam loses his mother. President Kennedy is assassinated. Yet Sam stays and becomes team chaplain.
    Act Four · 1967–68
    Gator Rivers & Beach High
    Future Harlem Globetrotter Larry "Gator" Rivers leads Beach High Savannah to state glory as Coach Ellington's team dominates Georgia basketball.
    Act Five · 1969
    Georgia State Championship
    Two overtimes. 400,000 radio listeners. Mark Smith High — the first integrated team in the finals — wins the Georgia State Championship at Georgia Tech.
    Epilogue · Macon, Georgia
    A City Comes Together
    Black and white citizens line both sides of the highway. Fire trucks shoot water arches over the bus. For one shining moment — hostility stopped.
    More Than Champions

    Oceania Studios · In Production

    More Than Champions · 1969

    "Basketball brought our whole town together in one unified celebration, like never before. For a moment in time, hostility stopped. We were living beside each other and dividing lines blurred. I wish we could have lived like this every single day."

    — Jag Gholson · Executive Producer · More Than Champions

    Filmmakers

    A Film by Dr. Kevin McAfee

    Written, directed, and produced by Dr. Kevin McAfee — founder of Oceania Studios and Veritas Films, and the creative force behind Last Ounce of Courage (1,500+ screens nationwide) and End of the Spear (Fox Films).

    The story is drawn from the real lives of Sam Oni, Jag Gholson, Coach Butch Clifton, Don Baxter, and the Mark Smith High School championship team of 1969 — whose final game was heard by over 400,000 radio listeners, the largest audience in Georgia high school basketball history.

    Executive Producer Jag Gholson continues to host annual reunions with the original Mark Smith championship team to this day.

    • Written & DirectedDr. Kevin McAfee
    • Story ByKevin McAfee, Jag Gholson & Sam Oni
    • Exec. ProducerJag Gholson · FinTrust Advisors
    • ProducerDr. Kevin McAfee & John Chalfant
    • Co-ProducerDr. Miller Bargeron
    • NarratorMichael Jordan
    • StarringShaquille O'Neal
    • DistributionCanyonStar.TV · Columbia, Tennessee
    • StudioOceania Studios · Veritas Mission Films
    • Set InMacon & Savannah, Georgia · 1963–1969
    • Film Websitewww.MoreThanChampions.net

    Be Part of This Story

    More Than Champions is currently in production. Investors, distributors, and creative partners are welcome. The clock is starting — and we are in overtime.