Creston Coleman called up some YouTube videos of the Illinois state basketball finals from the 1980s one night when he was living in Texas five or so years ago.
The former Manual High School standout who played for the state champions as the Rams won four straight Class AA titles (1994-97) thought he knew everything about Manual basketball. Coleman woke up the next morning and realized he had a lot to learn about his alma mater.
He had to get right with his Rams history so he decided to do a documentary
CRESTON COLEMAN
“Shun Williams!” Coleman exclaimed. “Who is that? If I don’t know him, how is anybody going to know him?”
Williams, of course, started as a junior on a Manual team that placed third in 1986, and his senior year the Rams were ranked No. 1 in the state. The lanky forward was one of the building blocks that helped establish the program’s legacy.
“Orange and Black: Beneath the Numbers” premiered June 21 at Richwoods High School as part of an all-class reunion weekend.
“This is a hybrid film,” Coleman explained. “I’m telling the story, but it’s also a retirement story — like a jersey retirement, recognition for Manual.
The Rams have an Illinois High School Association-record 17 state boys basketball trophies — five state championships overall — and have made the state finals 24 times.
“It’s not just basketball-related,” Coleman said. “It’s all Manual. Old Manual is just as relevant as today. … A lot of things have happened in that gym, but the outside is totally different — a total roller-coaster.
“Peoria is going to look like a gold mine, despite what you’ve heard — like it’s the worst place to live if you’re Black. That’s not the case in this story.”
Distribution plans for the film are still in development. Coleman says the documentary covers the first state title
in 1930 to the fourth-place finish the Rams recorded in the 2025 Class 2A state finals.
It’s a story that gets harder and harder to tell as some of the stars are now gone, what with legendary coaches Dick Van Scyoc and Wayne McClain also in Hoops Heaven.
“Beating the odds,” Coleman concluded. “Proving the stories wrong. It goes back before the ’90s. We walked on their shoulders.”