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(KSL News) -- What can you do and how far can you go with $7,000? A few years back three friends here in Utah decided to find out, and ended up 4800 miles away at the basketball hall of fame.
That journey has inspired a movie, a book, and now a broadway musical. In 1997 Filmmaker Dan Austin, his brother Jared, and their friend Clint set off on a three-month journey that would take them from Los Angeles, California all the way to Springfield, Massachusetts, home of the NBA Hall of Fame. In tow was a basketball signed by some of the heroes they met, people who went out of their way to lend a hand, people who represented the best humanity has to offer.
Dan Austin, Filmmaker/Author: "Big city, small town, people were just amazing."
"True Fans": “On behalf of the basketball hall of fame, I’m happy to say this will go on display and become a prized part of our collection.”
Now, that signed ball sits in the Hall of Fame for all to see as a tribute to the ultimate fan, or as Austin says, to humanity.
One of the reasons Austin wanted to make the pilgrimage was to make a film about the journey. Little did he know what that film would turn in to. The book, True Fans, was just released last month and now it's being made into a broadway musical.
Dan Austin, Author, "True Fans": "We were so broke, so to think that eight years later someone would pump tens of thousands of dollars into a musical about this very spartan sort of trip is just inconceivable.”
Tonight, Dan Austin finishes his true fans trilogy with the debut of his film True Fans Forever. It premiers tonight at Kingsbury Hall at 7pm. Admission is $7 or free if you ride your bike. There will be several local musicians like Cherie Call performing as well.
