Lady Tiger Coaches Ginger High-Colvin and Donna Wise pose for a photo during the recent premiere of the documentary.
Campbellsville University is honoring the 50th anniversary of the Lady Tiger basketball program with a new documentary highlighting the team’s legacy, key figures and community impact.
The documentary was a joint effort between CU’s Sports Information Department and its new marketing and communications team.
“It was the 50th year of the program, and we saw this as a perfect time to tell the story,” said Sheldon Dossett, director of sports information. “This was also a chance to bring departments together and use our strengths to create something bigger than any one group could do alone.”
Dossett said one of the most surprising parts of the process was learning how far the program has come.
“Lady Tiger Basketball started as just an intramural sport,” he said. “To see how it became a national powerhouse, with only two head coaches in 50 years, shows how strong the culture and leadership have been.”
He also said one of the hardest parts was narrowing down what information they wanted to use.
“We had so much great material, interviews, highlights, old footage. Having to leave some things out to keep the story focused was the toughest part,” Dossett said.
Liliana Gonzalez, sports information assistant, led much of the background work. She said the team spent weeks planning interviews and digging through files.
“We started with coaches Donna Wise and Ginger High-Colvin,” Gonzalez said. “Then we listed every player and team they talked about and tried to find video, photos or past stories about them. We were even going through VHS tapes and old CDs.”
She said the team hopes the documentary helps people understand how special the program is.
“This is about more than basketball,” Gonzalez said. “It’s about the players, the fans, the history, and the impact this team has had on Campbellsville.”
Graduate Assistant Guilherme Vital served as the lead photographer and assisted with editing. He said the vision from the beginning was to make something that connected different generations.
“One of our goals was to show how the past shaped the present,” Vital said. “We used archival footage throughout to make viewers feel like they were part of that history.”
He said his favorite moment was filming Wise and High-Colvin watching old game film together.
“That scene brought everything together,” he said. “It was a creative way to invite the audience into their memories and show the bond they’ve built over the years.”
Vital also pointed to a scene with former player Madison Faulkner talking about long-time fans.
“She mentioned how some people have been sitting in the same seats for years,” Vital said. “We were able to find footage that showed those fans in the crowd over time, which made that part really powerful.”
The editing process took about three weeks and included long days of organizing, cutting and reviewing.
“This was the biggest project I’ve worked on at CU,” Vital said. “But it’s also the most meaningful.”