Usually when I am doing my exercise routine, there are the typical thoughts that run through my head — how soon until this is over with, why are Braves’ pitchers always getting hurt, rehashing my last golf round – but earlier this year, I got an unexpected mental tap.
You need to do this.
There was a story to be told, and I needed to be the one to tell it.
Didn’t know how I was going to pull it off and obviously had no real experience in taking on this project of this size, but I didn’t dismiss it for one simple reason.
I was never going to get this opportunity again. There was no second chance.
By the end of that exercise session, I had already started to chart it out. And I haven’t stopped since.
To me, the greatest part of being a “creative” – if you are one, you’ll understand this – is turning nothing into something. The only material you need is your own imagination. No floorplans, no roadmaps, no ChatGPT.
It’s all on you.
But it was now or never for this opportunity, and I couldn’t let it pass me by.
In 1976, I was part of the Jesuit (now Loyola) football team that won the state championship with a 14-0 record. (For more than a decade after that year, we were the last local team to win a title.) This football season marks the 50th anniversary of that season and, as we did 10 years ago and 20 years ago, we would have a get-together at a home football game and reminisce.
But this was 50 years and that number was too significant to just do something ordinary. What if I was able to put together a documentary of that season? As it turned out, there was no reason I couldn’t do it, other than a ticking clock.
I had access to some amazing old footage (12 of the 14 games) that had survived five decades in a plastic bin. Our team was incredibly close, so getting in touch with teammates would be a breeze. Though I hadn’t done anything this large in scope, I had produced a few small documentaries (10-15 minutes), so it wasn’t as if I was a complete rookie.
Most importantly, I knew that I would regret not producing this documentary for years to come.
Once I opened the mental vault, the ideas came pouring in. And though it wasn’t planned this way, the first step in this whole process came in a high school coaches’ office at St. Charles Catholic.
The coaches of the two teams we played in the semifinals (Lutcher’s Frank Monica) and finals (Winnfield’s Larry Dauterive) just so happened to live in the same city – LaPlace. That’s when I knew that the puzzle pieces were already in place.
They met me on an April day and did separate interviews, giving their fascinating perspective on what I was like on the other sideline in December 1976. These are two retired coaches who have not lost a step. I could have listened to them for hours. (As an aside, both coaches visited our team after the game to congratulate us personally.)
When I drove away that day, that’s when I knew this was going to work. I went to Dallas, I went to Ruston, I went to Monroe. I spent a sweltering June morning at Stokes-Walker Stadium in Winnfield and played catch with the quarterback of the opposing team as we talked about the impact that championship game had on both of our lives.
I contacted teammates in Tennessee, Arizona, South Carolina and many others. Not a single roadblock. Everything fell into place.
As any creative will tell you, especially on a major project, the finished product doesn’t usually turn out exactly as planned. I had a mental framework of what I thought this documentary would look like, but it kept growing in scope as new and better ideas kept coming up.
My teammates have been my biggest supporters as this process continued, which was zero surprise to me. I was blessed in 1976 and in 2026 to have a special group with which to share the journey.
Perfection ’76 will premiere Saturday night as we celebrate the end of this special two-day weekend. Originally, I charted out a plan to make the documentary 80 minutes. Yeah, right. It wrapped at 108 minutes.
I just couldn’t help myself.
I’ve been part of a lot of large creative projects and for most of them, you get to a point in which you just want it to be over with, finished and put behind you. Sometimes you grow to dislike your own creation. That is not the case here.
I hope those of you who watch will like it, but I can promise you this: No matter how much you enjoy it, it doesn’t come close to the enjoyment I got from making it.
Contact JJ at johnjamesmarshall@yahoo.com
(Send JJ a message for more information about attending the premiere or how to obtain a DVD copy.)