About the Blog Starting at the Finish Line: The Coach Buehler Story, a documentary about longtime track coach Al Buehler, is being filmed on campus. Students in an advanced film-production seminar have an unusual opportunity to get a firsthand look at professional filmmaking. As part of the class, they students are attending shoots, creating marketing plans for the film in conjunction with students from the Fuqua School of Business, and talking to film professionals around the country.
Students wrote about the class, the filming of the documentary, and more. In the lead-up to the campus showing of a rough cut of the film on September 25, we'll be sharing their reflections. The class was taught by Amy E. Unell ’03, former producer at The Today Show.
The blog is produced in collaboration with
About the Film
This short documentary tells the story of Coach Al Buehler, who taught at Duke University for 45 years and trained multiple Olympians in his job as track-and-field coach. At the height of segregation, Buehler was friends with the track coach at the historically black North Carolina Central University, and the two teams traveled together to competitions in the South. He was at the 1972 Olympics in Munich when eleven Israeli athletes and a coach were taken hostage and eventually murdered. Buehler revisits his front seat to history on and off campus, while former students reflect on his impact on their lives.
Executive Producers: Grant Hill ’94, Amy E. Unell ’03