Movie About Pennsylvania College Hits The Big Screen

The “little movie that could” chugs to the big screen – telling the story of the team from a small Pennsylvania college that won the first national women’s collegiate basketball title in 1972.    The Immaculata College  (now Immaculata University) team faced many challenges- no home gym and no money for travel.  It would take years after they won the first women’s college basketball title for the right person to tell their story, and a few more years to find the right distributor for the independent film.

Katie Hayek, who played basketball at Lancaster Catholic and the University of Miami, landed a key role in the movie as she was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma. She says director Tim Chambers was so great about it.  He kept her on board and pushed the basketball scenes toward the beginning of filming. Hayek completed the film, her first movie role, while undergoing treatments. She says Chambers was first and foremost concerned about her health, and she knew she was in good hands.

Hayek plays Trish Sharkey in the movie  “The Mighty Macs“, a character based on Immaculata Basketball player Theresa Shank. She says Shank recently told her a story about some of the other challenges faced by the players. Shank had to catch a bus and walk to get to school. The team only lost two games in four years and Shank told Hayek she is still mad about it, because she wasn’t about to walk that far to lose.

Hayek played Division 1 basketball, where she had team gear, sneakers, and travel expenses paid, compared to the Immaculata players, who barely had enough money to get to the championship game. She says taking part in the movie gave her a chance to see where it all started for women’s sports. She says the movie shows how appreciative we should be, for how far collegiate sports have come.

Parts of the movie were filmed in Pennsylvania. The director and writer, Tim Chambers, was head of the Pennsylvania Film Office under Governor Ridge.  He’s a University of Pennsylvania grad. Co-writer Anthony Gargano is a Philadelphia radio personality and went to Temple University.  Executive Producer Pat Croce is the former President of the Philadelphia 76ers.

“The Mighty Macs” is rated G.

Today, Immaculata University’s women’s basketball team competes in the Colonial State Athletic Conference in Division III.  While they’re no longer winning national titles, the 2010-11 team was ranked in the top 25 by the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association for their 3.508 GPA and they were among those nominated for the NCAA sportsmanship award.  They also finished the last season with a 19-9 record.

**Photos Courtesy of “The Mighty Macs”, Quaker Media.