Roger Ebert Has Basketball in Her Blood
The book begins in the town of Frankfort, Kentucky, where Emilee Ebert lives with her family. Her father is the head basketball coach of the Frankfort High Wildcats, a team that has won countless games.
While watching her father coach, Ebert dribbles a basketball and becomes the ultimate gym rat. The book’s themes are universal – love, family, and sports are all interwoven.
Emilee Ebert’s career as a basketball player
A three-time member of the Big 12 Commissioner’s Honor Roll, Emilee Ebert signed with Kansas State to play women’s basketball after committing to Missouri State. Ebert’s basketball career was legendary at Frankfort, where she was named the school’s all-time leading scorer and a four-time Kansas Basketball Coaches Association nominee. She also played track and volleyball for the school.
A three-year scholarship to play at Kansas State University has helped her develop a solid basketball career. As a freshman, Ebert averaged five points, four rebounds, three assists, and one steal per game. In her senior season, she averaged 12 points and eight rebounds per game. Ebert shot 77 percent from the free-throw line and was a three-point threat. Her first career points came against UIW on 12/3 and UTRGV on 12/28.
Her relationship with fellow film critic Gene Siskel
Roger Ebert’s symbiotic relationship with fellow film critic Gene Siskel has continued to influence film criticism for years. Siskel, who died in 1999 of complications from brain cancer, and Ebert, who died at age 70 of multiple cancers, both have a profound influence on the world of film. Their work is widely recognized on the internet, where clippings from their shows are regularly embedded on forums. When the pandemic swept the nation, the number of Siskel and Ebert episodes uploaded to the internet increased dramatically.
In the early 1970s, Roger Ebert wrote the screenplay for the movie Beyond the Valley of the Dolls, a campy B-movie starring busty women. It was a disaster, but Ebert received $15,000 for his script, and the film was panned by critics. After Siskel died in 1999, Roger Ebert continued to host the show. Siskel’s guest list included Martin Scorsese, Janet Maslin, Peter Bogdanovich, Todd McCarthy, Lisa Schwarzbaum, and Elvis Mitchell. After Siskel’s death, Roger Ebert took over the show, and the show continued to be popular.
Her struggle with cancer
This revealing documentary takes you back to the early days of Roger Ebert’s life. A faithful member of the National Society of Film Critics, Ebert remained active in the community for years. A struggle with cancer and basketball, and a battle with loneliness, drew Ebert into a rekindling relationship with the NSFC. The film is also a nostalgic trip down the rabbit hole.
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James had hoped to film Roger Ebert in his element. He attended film screenings, wrote reviews, and held court with his friends. But in December 2012, Ebert was hospitalized with a mysterious hip fracture, which was later linked to relapsed cancer. His doctors gave him six to 16 months to live, but the recurrence forced him to end his life earlier than expected. After he suffered the fracture, he told James that he no longer wanted to participate in basketball.