Jerry Summers
The University of the South that sits on 13,000 acres on the Cumberland Plateau off interstate I-24 a few miles from Monteagle between Nashville and Chattanooga is “unrivaled” in many aspects other than just football.
Yet it is this award winning video documentary, “Unrivaled: Sewanee 1899” and the following written book with the same title complete with colorful photos, drawings, and historical commentary, that attracts the curious football and non-gridiron fans to the highly ranked liberal arts universities’ complex birth and development into todays unique campus setting.
Retired Alabama attorney, Norman Jetmundesen Jr., and his co-producer and director, David Crews, (both from Sewanee class of 1976) in 2022 released a 110 minute video that told the story of the 1899 football team that earned a record of 12 wins with no losses and made the now famous 2,500 mile trip by steam locomotive across the South to win the first 12 game undefeated season.
In 2024 this remarkable visual production was followed by a 176 page hard copy treatise also authored by Norman and co-author and graphic designer, Karin Dupree Fecteau.
With a list of dignitaries endorsing both works including famous football coaches Johnny Majors (Tennessee), Nick Saban (Alabama), and Vince Dooley (Georgia) author and historian, Jon Meachan plus several others, both works have enjoyed wide recognition.
The unique story of the 1899 Iron Men team goes far beyond the football drama. The effect that said trip and the Sewanee experience had on the young men and the resulting success that they achieved in life after Sewanee is a tribute to their determination and part of the lessons in life learned during the season but also from their tenure on what is known as the Domain.
As of January 2025, the story of the team in two versions has earned awards and accolades at the Knoxville Film Festival, Southeastern Regional Emmy, Hollywood Gold Awards, Cobb International Film Festival and several other including American Writing Awards, Literary Global Book Awards and the Literary Titan.
The normal media outlets included at www.sewanee1899.org can direct any interested viewer or reader to various sources to obtain copies of either or both subjects.
(Sewanee alumni supporters can show their interest by visiting “ways to give.sewanee.edu”. The historical trip will be well worth your endeavor.)