March Madness Shout-Out to Richie Jordan, 1960s-Era Michigan High-School Basketball Star

As March Madness descends upon the land and basketball fans settle into their annual rituals of tournament bracketology, attending games or watching them on screens large and small, and betting on winners and losers, Janson Media takes a look back at a simpler time when basketball was just a game and not a business. A time when players were just players and not global brands. In the early 1960s, back when Bill Russell, Will Chamberlain, Bob Cousy Elgin Baylor were the reigning legends of professional basketball, in a small town in Michigan, a small Jewish kid was becoming a legend in his own right.

Jordanville: The Story of a Big-Time Small-Town Legend is the inspiring story of Richie Jordan, a small kid who did big things on and off the basketball court for his small town in Michigan in early 1960s America. Only 5'7" tall and Jewish, Jordan taught himself to dunk, and overcame bigotry to draw thousands of hoop fans to his high school games. For fans of basketball, Americana, modern Jewish history, and everyday hometown heroes.

Hal Schram, the legendary sportswriter for the Detroit Free Press who covered Michigan high school basketball for nearly 40 years, named Richie Jordan the greatest basketball player in Michigan high school history. Writing for the Holland Sentinel newspaper, Dan D'Addona emphasized how incredible this was. "Schram chose Jordan over Michigan high school basketball greats Magic Johnson, Dave DeBusshere, Rudy Tomjanovich and Campy Russell," said D'Addona.

Read more about Richie Jordan here, and the unforgettable Michigan State Tournament game between Fennville and Bridgman High Schools in 1965, when Jordan scored 60 points in a losing cause.

Jordanville (1 x 26 minutes) was produced by filmmakers Anne Colton and John Mooy. The short documentary film airs nationwide on U.S. public television stations, and is now available to purchase for $4.99 (HD) or $2.99 (SD), or free to subscribers, on Amazon Prime Video.