When Dos Pueblos High School football player Brad Ebner went down with a neck injury last season, only his closest friends and family ever thought he’d walk again. But just two weeks ago, Ebner was featured in The Independent taking some of his first steps toward the rest of his life, making everyone realize the end of Ebner’s story is far from being written. Of course, the medical costs are still mounting, so this Sunday, April 22 at the Riviera Theatre, some of his friends are putting on a fundraiser to help Ebner’s family cope.
The attraction will be UCSB alum Rick GreenÂ-wald’s excellent film Quantum Hoops, a documentary about the CalTech basketball team that’s considered the losing-est team in college basketball history. It’s a perfect match, for just as Ebner’s making a comeback from his bad break, the CalTech team is stocked with players whose lives only exploded into success after their seasons were over: Former CalTech Beavers are now groundbreaking chemical engineers, poker champions, Disneyland developers, and the like.
Confirmed GreenÂ-wald, “I have yet to have someone tell me a former CalTech player failed miserably.”
So how’d Ebner get tapped to show the film? Apparently, a family friend, Christine Oliver, saw the film at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival, where it premiered. Her son Nathaniel’s idea was to show the film as a fundraiser for Ebner, so Christine called Greenwald and inquired about costs.
“I’ll do this for free,” replied an excited GreenÂ-wald. “To think that this film was important enough to be shown at a fundraiser-heck yeah, I’ll come. I’m really excited about being asked to do this.”
Oh yeah-there’s another surprise ending in this whole drama. But you’ve got to go see the film to figure that one out.
Quantum Hoops screens as a fundraiser for Brad Ebner on Sunday, April 22, at 11 a.m., Riviera Theatre, 2044 Alameda Padre Serra,
965-9720, $15 minimum donation.