Adam Torres and Michael Hopwood discuss “Living Legends 66-0.”
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Show Notes:
New film alert! In this episode, Adam Torres and Michael Hopwood, Founder and CEO at Living Legends 66-0 LLC, explore Michael’s new film, “Living Legends 66-0.”
About Michael Hopwood
Michael Hopwood is an accomplished business owner and educator with extensive leadership experience in the public school system. He brings a strong track record in key areas such as school operations, safety management, crisis response, and instructional design, along with deep involvement in the Safe Passage Collaborative and emergency preparedness initiatives.
Michael is also highly skilled in computing, coaching, and education technology, making him a versatile asset in both academic and operational settings. His expertise extends beyond education into the realms of nonprofit collaboration, event management, and website design, where he leverages his entrepreneurial spirit to support community-focused initiatives.
A dedicated lifelong learner, Michael holds degrees from Arizona State University, National University, and The Word of God International University, reflecting his commitment to continuous growth and impactful leadership.
Full Unedited Transcript
Hey, I’d like to welcome you to another episode of Mission Matters. My name is Adam Torres, and if you’d like to apply to be a guest on the show, just head on over to mission matters.com and click on Be Our Guest to Apply. All right, so today my guest is Michael Hopwood, and he’s founder and CEO over at Living Legends 66 oh LLC.
Michael, welcome to the show. Thank you. Thank for having me. I’m pleased to be here. All right, Michael, so we got a lot to talk about today. I definitely want to get into your film. I understand that it is currently streaming on Amazon Prime. It’s called living Legend 66. Oh. Let’s just dive right in.
Like, how do you want me to tee up the documentary? Where do you wanna start with this? Well, I’d like to start with a little background about myself ’cause that kind of explains how the documentary came about. Mm-hmm. Let’s do it. I attended Compton High School, where was a student body president and captain of the basketball team.
My senior year Compton of people don’t know, is located in the south of Los Angeles. I won’t say South Central, but south. Mm-hmm. South of Los Angeles in the watch area. I was a captain of the basketball team. My senior year, my coach, bill Armstrong. He for the most legendary coaching figures in California high school sports history he appeared with a record 14 lead championships and won 12 state championships, six CIF Southern section championships and two national championships.
I was fortunate to be on that team that set a record of 32 victories without a loss and the first national championship team. The following year, the players went on to win an additional 30 games for total of 62 games. With the winning streak ending the a four more victories at the beginning of the 71 season.
So we set a record for the most victories without a loss in the history, and that’s insane. 66. Yeah, that’s insane. Number 66, victories with a loss. And that record still stands today, almost 55 years later. Oh. Wow. After I retired, I spent several years as a educator. I taught math and the.
The LA Unified school districts and, and I was an administrator Mm. Co. High school administrator. And then I went on to be in a leadership role in the district as operations coordinator and a superintendent. See, I retired from the district. I having played professional basketball. In Europe. I toured the country with athletes in action prior to that, so I, had a pretty profound and pro phenomenal career.
I’ve done some things that a lot of people probably wouldn’t have. Mm-hmm. Very few people can say that they rose to the level that I did. In education and also served as an elected official a union of representative and also an ordained minister. Wow. So , the intersection of sports and, education and religion is kind of encompasses my, whole background.
And after I retired the. California Astic Federation. They did a 100 year celebration honoring the most in influential athletes and individuals in in the 100 year of sports in California. And fortunately not one of. My players were commemorated. Some of who went on to play professional basketball, some of them who played for the US Olympic teams and our team that set those two records.
I mean, set, that record of 66 and oh, when I say two, because we were, we were back to back undefeated. State and national champions while going 66 and oh, we were not mentioned, we were not included in the 100th year and all century team historic list of the state’s legacy of outstanding student athletes.
So once I retired. I, decided that, you know, if you don’t toot your own horn, nobody knows you in the hand. Yeah. So I just, you know, , if I didn’t tell the story, we didn’t tell the story, it wouldn’t be told. And we didn’t want our accomplishments to be buried. We were an all black basketball team with a white head coach who in the middle of the.
Sixties who played in the sixties, in the middle of the Watts riots and the wow. Social unrest. And, , you know, we went through quite a bit on the way to winning and setting those records and championships. It, it wasn’t all it wasn’t all just, championships and celebrations. We sacrificed a lot to win those championships.
We played in hostile environments, you know, buses getting rocked and worse and, you know, horrific calls from the referees. And when we played. On the road. There was people that in signs, you know, that shouted racial slurs and, you know it was a turbulent time. I remember one event, I don’t want to give the whole story away, but I remember one.
Mm-hmm. One event in which we went to a restaurant and, Ventura during the summer game, and they refused. They took coach’s order, they refused to serve us, the players. Hmm. And Coach Armstrong told them that they weren’t gonna serve us. Then he refused service and he let us out of the restaurant and with assistant coaches and drove us around until we found somebody that would serve us.
And you know you that was taught us a lesson that. You know, just because you fall on tough times and you get knocked down, you don’t have to stay there. Mm-hmm. You can get up and keep fighting for what you believe in, you know, on the court. You, you go back, you practice harder, you train longer, you come back stronger.
I learned, you know, when that carried me through, when I played professionally. In Europe, I would, rather than driving home or riding my bicycle, I have to jog back after practice. I jog to practice, jog after practice. Mm. You know, I always put in time in the weight room, even the off season because, you know, fatigue makes calories of us all.
So I, mm-hmm. You know, you have to be prepared and you have to, be able to. Withstand the challenges on the court as well as off the court. And I never wanted my opponent to see me tired. I never wanted to have to bend over and hold my pants at the free throw line, like, you know , I’m too tired to, compete.
So I always made sure that. I was in better condition, better con, physical condition than anybody on the court. And our coaches prepared us the same way. So, you know, that’s why I’m excited to tell you about my documentary film. Mm. You know, members of the film, Byron Scott, James you know , in the film you’ll see DeMar, who’s also an all star by got to play with the Lakers and.
And hall of Famer and, you know, , a number of, individuals that I think the public would be interesting in hearing from. I’m gonna pause ’cause I don’t, you know, I could talk forever about my is see. I’m, no, no, no. All good stuff. And and I’m, I’m curious, so what was it like putting this documentary together?
To, go back and like, go through the, , you know, produce and like go through the archives and all this. Even just seeing, I’m guessing old game footage of yourself or old, like pictures. Like what was that like going through all of that? It was fun because it allowed me a chance to go back and contact, you know, old friends and old players like Paul Westfall.
I remember I didn’t have a. Complete copy of the game. We played CIF then when we won the championships and we played Paul in the quarter finals, his team, my senior year on the way to the starting the record, and I contacted Paul at the time, he was assistant coach with I believe it was the Nets, New York Nets, and , he actually had a copy of a full copy of the game.
And this was some. You know, 40 years later. Wow. Wow. So I was surprised that he even had the copy of the film and Paula Paul, we didn’t play on the same team, but his team played everywhere in our Compton Invitational tournament basketball tournament. And so we became really good friends. You know, I would go into the locker room and say hi to him before the game started and, after the games and, you know, he would play against us in the summer leagues and what have you, and.
You know, so , we were really good friends when I contacted him. He came out to have lunch with me and he said, you know, Mike, this is my only copy, the only one I have, but I’m gonna give it to you. And let you make a copy of it. And, you know, that was really, really uplifting to me. ’cause for him to do something that I know how I would feel about if I was, that was the only copy of the game and final, the CF on way to the record, I’d be, I would be.
Letting that leave my hand, but Paul didn’t think twice about it. So, you know, acquiring game film was a challenge. I was able to locate some for my assistant coach, Jim Newman. He had kept copies of some of our game films, which. I was really, really fortunate ’cause his wife found, found them in a, in a location where he couldn’t remember, didn’t even remember where they were.
Hmm. And naturally those, the films were in eight millimeter. I had to have them transferred over to, digital format MP four. So that could be used in the editing of, the film. Mm. And I was also fortunate to find some of those films actually, in which back then, you know, they really didn’t start filming game our game in color until just, just before we, we left college, we left high school, so, Hmm.
My senior year. That was, that was, that was, so, that was one of the challenges. Hmm. So one of the things that that we’re known for at Mission Matters and one of my personal goals is to encourage others to take part in their story and to share their story and to be part of documenting you know, their history.
And whether that’s through creating a podcast, whether that’s through writing a book, whether that’s in this case, in, the case of yourself, like an important story that you wanted to tell and you didn’t want history to forget. So in the course of, you know, making a documentary film of like an amazing record that hasn’t been broken what would you say to others that are out there considering sharing their story in any medium, but just maybe haven’t like, gone to the extent of like, getting it done?
What, what kind of advice would you give them? Oh, , well, I would like to, to think that people need to be believe in themselves and no matter what, if you have a dream, you need to, you, you need to follow it. Life is full of choices. You know, starting when you wake up each day, you know, you can choose to open your eyes and live, or you can choose to just lay there and die.
If you choose life, then you need to make the most of it. You know, I believe that I’m God’s greatest miracle because no tools are exactly likes, you know, so are you and everyone else in the world. That means we are powerful and we can do. Powerful things, you know, face the world and live inspired knowing, you know, that we are fearfully and wonderfully made.
You know, my advice to others you know, education is so much a part of my life. And, and I believe that education as a form of service, first and foremost, no matter what we do, just for, I think people should remember that whatever their, their goal is, . Providing service to others should be foundational.
So telling your story and, what. You went through to accomplish those goals and sharing them and help, you know, helping someone else. When one person climbs, you know, the others are lifted up. So, you know, I, think that should always be a part of people’s service. And no matter what you’re doing, you know, you can always be, you know, of service to someone and you can be help educate people. WEB de wrote of all the civil rights for which the world has struggled and fought for 5,000 years, the right to learn is undoubtedly the most fundamental. And you’re passing on knowledge whether it’s a book, whether it’s a film, whether it’s a poem.
Mm-hmm. You know I believe that education in any form is the great equalizer for the less fortunate. The underprivileged and the underrepresented because knowledge is currency and the more knowledge you have and the more you become a reservoir of that knowledge, you know, whether it’s in the, no matter what the more valuable you are.
And you don’t have to go looking for. Support or partners or job, you know, people will come and find you. So, mm. You know, you know, just, just stay on the course. You know? You know, the road of life is always changing. You know, you change your course, you change your destiny, so, mm-hmm.
You know, choose your worlds wisely. Speak truth to power. Be honest, ethical, frank, and fearless, and strive for greatness, you know? Yeah. And don’t despise small beginnings along the way. Hmm. So, Michael, if there were, and I’m sure there’s many, and I understand, and I definitely want people to come check, go check out this film.
So Living Legend 66, oh, if there were a takeaway or a lesson or a, you know, a central theme that you hope that the audience walks away with, what would that be? That your circumstances don’t define who you are. You should always strive to be better than, you know, strive for greatness.
Don’t let the circumstances define you. And this film is based upon the lives of these hidden figures who achieve so much in despite , in the face of great opposition. And. You know, if, you believe in yourself, if you stay true to your values, and if those values are correct, you will come out okay.
On the other side. Amazing. And Michael, how can people follow up? How can they learn more? How can they watch the film? I. They can follow us on our Facebook page, living Legend 66 dash zero. And in the, in the sports terminology, the 66 dash zero means 66 and oh. Mm-hmm. So I just want to throw that in there.
’cause a lot of times you’ll hear me say 66 and oh, but that’s, oh yeah. What the title about. You can follow us on Facebook. The film is currently streaming on Amazon Prime and anytime it streams on a new channel, it will be also shown there. And also on Im db, which is you know, reservoir for films and books.
And so you can pretty much find us anywhere. They just Google Living Legends 66 dash zero. They’ll find us. Perfect and for everybody watching this. So, you know we’ll definitely put some links in the show notes, so you can just click on ’em and head right on over and check out the film. And speaking of the audience, if this is your first time with Mission Matters and you haven’t done it yet, hit that subscribe or follow button.
This is a daily show each and every day, or bringing you new content, new ideas, and hopefully new inspiration to help you along the way in your journey as well. So again, hit that subscribe or follow button. And Michael, thanks again for coming on the show.