Producers of a movie about the late Greenville football coach Jeremy Williams and his wife, Jennifer, and his 13-year battle with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) have hired a scriptwriter. They hope to begin filming by spring 2023.
The scriptwriter is South Carolina native Julia Fowler, who just finished writing the Netflix comedy “Country Comfort.” She also is the creator of the Southern Women Channel on YouTube.
“This story is far greater than fiction,” said Fowler, who has an aunt with ALS. “I am moved to tears often while contemplating my approach to this screenplay because Jeremy and Jennifer are so inspirational.”
Williams, diagnosed in 2007, coached for four seasons with ALS, also called Lou Gehrig’s disease. He was named the National High School Football Association’s Coach of the Year after the 2009 season, when he led Greenville, a small school in West Georgia, to an 11-1 record and region title while struggling to walk and communicate and sometimes breathe.
The movie, to be filmed in Williams’ hometown of Columbus and called “Tenacious,” will be based on the 2014 book, “Tenacious: How God Used a Terminal Diagnosis to Turn a Family and Football Team into Champions,” written by Jeremy and Jennifer. Williams passed away March 13 at age 50.
“This film will serve to offer many great redeeming qualities,” said Steven Camp, the movie’s executive producer. “It will serve world awareness for ALS. It will serve to show how a family united a community with faith, love, courage and humor. And, most importantly, this story will serve to show how through all of the adversity they were facing, coach Jeremy Williams and his family never, ever gave up on their faith in God.”
About the Author
