Like nearly everyone Wednesday night at the Acadiana Center for the Arts, Dean Church was anxious to learn what "Lights Out In Blackham" is all about.

Oh, he knows the story.

As was the case with all of Beryl Shipley’s former players who got a sneak peek of the still-being-produced documentary — well more than a dozen, from all parts of the country, joined a couple hundred other viewers for the fundraising-tribute — Church knew the man.

The former All-American knows what Shipley stood for.

He knows what the late coach was all about — despite his fall from grace in the early 1970s, when the NCAA shut down his program for two years due to a litany of recruiting and rules violations.

"He’s finally getting the recognition he really deserves," Church said of Shipley, who was responsible for integrating black players into the program of a university — then USL — whose administration did not take kindly to the coach’s progressive ways. "He’s a very special person, one of a kind, and I think everybody’s starting to realize that now."

But before passing judgment on "Lights Out In Blackham," Church added before taking his seat, "I need to see the film."

Local independent filmmaker Douglas Domingue bills his work as "the first chance for people to get a large look into the Shipley era, in-depth."

Started earlier this year, and expected to be submitted for consideration from worldwide film festivals including Sundance and Tribeca by next August, the documentary is delivered first-person, with Shipley’s saga told by former players, longtime assistant coach Tom Cox and Shipley himself.

"One of the things the players always commented about, with a lot of the controversy and the investigation, was "You’re the first person to ever ask me,’" said Domingue, a UL graduate. "So fans of the film are going to be able to get their perspective, and it’s not going to be filtered through me or a newspaper."

The list of voices heard includes those belonging to Bo Lamar, Freddie Saunders and Roy Ebron, all in attendance Wednesday.

"I just wish people could have appreciated (him) before he expired (last April), because he was ahead of his time," Saunders said. "The fact he was just doing the right thing made him ahead of his time. Everybody else had to catch up with him."

"I think that’s what the film will do," added Lamar, another of Shipley’s All-Americans. "I think the film will let people know what his players, and people, felt about him."

Having the documentary distributed, All-American Ebron suggested, will go far toward telling a tale several have written about but not everyone knows.

"This is the tip of the iceberg," said Ebron, back in Lafayette for the first time since Shipley’s death.

"If people understand, and realize what he was, and what we were trying to do at that particular time, then you’ll understand," Ebron added. "But it has to be put in your head, over and over again, before you’ll believe it — because things were different then."

Very different.

Before Shipley took on the task, one which culminated in his downfall as a college coach and a longtime separation from the school, black players had not yet been integrated into Deep South schools like then-USL.

But during his 16 seasons in charge in Lafayette, 15 of them winning ones, and especially during the program’s heyday from 1970 until 1973, when the various violations eventually led to NCAA sanctions, Shipley righted wrongs.

In time, Domingue hopes, a wider audience than just those in Louisiana may understand that.

After watching three five-minute clips from the documentary, plus a three-minute trailer that soon will be sent to interested production companies including ESPN, Saunders and Church both walked away convinced of that.

"It (the documentary) will recapture the energy, and the enthusiasm that was here in the community before, while all of that was going on," Saunders said. "Because during that time, Shipley had a personal battle with social injustice — and, at the same time — brought together a community that was not even aware that was going on.

"There is proof evidence that the adversaries he dealt with were not honest. They didn’t do the right thing. "» It was an injustice to the community, and it was an injustice to Beryl."

Church concurs.

"I think, at least from my perspective, everybody got the impression — and the right impression — that when Coach Shipley starts something, he’s a man of his word," he said before exiting the theater.

"He’ll never give up on a subject, and — right or wrong — he’s gonna go follow through with it," Church added. "That’s right he did until he passed away. He believed in what he was doing, and he stuck with it."

Athletic Network Footnote:

Click here for the Beryl Shipley Tribute Gala.