Grambling's White Tiger

Grambling's White Tiger
Grambling's White Tiger
Directed by	Georg Stanford Brown
Written by	William A. Attaway
Based on	My Little Brother's Coming Tomorrow; by Bruce Bahrenburg
Produced by	Bert Gold (Producer); Max A. Keller (Executive producer); Micheline H. Keller (Producer); Scoey Mitchell (Associate producer); George Wallach (Executive producer);
Starring	Bruce Jenner; Dennis Haysbert; Bill Overton; Deborah Pratt; Byron Stewart; Ray Vitte; LeVar Burton; Harry Belafonte;
Cinematography	Joseph M. Wilcots
Edited by	David Rosenbloom
Music by	John D'Andrea; Michael Lloyd;
Production; company	Inter Planetary Pictures
Distributed by	NBC
Release date	October 4, 1981 (United States);

Grambling's White Tiger (also released as White Tiger in Europe) is a 1981 TV movie^[2] about the true story of Jim Gregory (played by Caitlyn Jenner, credited as Bruce Jenner) the first white quarterback of the Grambling Tigers at Grambling College, a historically black college, in 1968. The movie covers Gregory's freshman year. Harry Belafonte stars as coach Eddie Robinson and LeVar Burton (already famous from Roots and later to be known for Reading Rainbow and Star Trek: The Next Generation) appears as Charles 'Tank' Smith, the first friend Jim Gregory makes on the team. The film is directed by Georg Stanford Brown.^[3]

Plot

The movie starts with the recruitment of Gregory as a talented recruit, keen to have the opportunity to go to a school with real NFL credentials, who also opens avenues for funding and recognition for the college. The story deals with issues of race, culture and integration at a critical time in America's history. It ends with grudging acceptance and a positive message — although Gregory only actually plays for less than a minute in the final game of the team's division winning season.

Outside the USA

The movie has enjoyed popularity outside the USA under different titles, usually some version of simply White Tiger. This is because Grambling would be unknown to other audiences and would not be understood in the title. It has been released in Finland under the names Team Tiger and White Tiger. It is particularly well known in Germany under the title Der Kampf der weißen Tiger (which translates as, The Struggle of The White Tiger).^{[dead link]}^[4] Movies featuring American Football have a very specific following in Germany.^[5]

All the releases are identical to the US release with various different covers for Video and DVD releases.