See 'Killer Bees' Doc at the Center in Bridgehampton
Filmmaking brothers and creators of the red-hot Killer Bees documentary, Orson and Benjamin Cummings, know all about the Bridgehampton Killer Bees basketball team’s legacy and the its close relationship to the small but tight-knit community from which it hails.
They will be screening and discussing their film at the Bridgehampton Child Care & Recreational Center (BHCCRC), aka The Center, 551 Sag Harbor Turnpike, on Saturday, January 27 at 5 p.m.
The Bridgehampton High School Killer Bees basketball teams have nine state Class D basketball championships under their belt—a fairly impressive number when considering that this most diminutive of schools has fewer than 200 kids in K-12. Some years ago, coaches struggled to find enough players to field a team and had to reach down to the eighth grade for varsity players.
Over the years, however, basketball has reigned supreme in the Hive—as the school’s tiny vintage gymnasium (and cafeteria) is affectionately known—where state championships began accumulating in the late 1970s.
The Cummings brothers were students at the High School until eighth grade and they remember watching upperclassman Carl Johnson, the Bees’ star player, lead the team to its first trio of state championships in 1978, 1979 and 1980. Bridgehampton racked up more championships in the 1980s and then again in the 1990s after Johnson returned to the school in 1991, this time as head coach of the Killer Bees.
Now screened at the Hamptons International Film Festival and championed by stars such as Shaquille O’Neal, the Cummings’ documentary is a window into the history of the Killer Bees team, the community and the racial and economic challenges in the area.
Take this opportunity to see Killer Bees and talk to the filmmakers! RSVP to [email protected] or calling 631-537-0616.