Michael Vick has opened up to the maker of a new documentary about his rise, fall and second act.
The former Virginia Tech and NFL quarterback is the subject of the latest edition of ESPN’s “30 for 30” documentary series. Part I of “Vick” aired on Jan. 30 and Part II will air from 9-11 p.m. on Feb. 6.
The first part traces Vick’s rise from his Newport News roots to stardom at Virginia Tech to becoming one of the faces of the NFL. The second part deals with his conviction and imprisonment for dogfighting and his return to the NFL.
“It’s such a multifaceted, fascinating story that reaches into so many other things besides just football,” director and producer Stanley Nelson said of his documentary in a phone interview on Jan. 29.
Vick, 39, sat for three interviews with Nelson.
“He was, I thought, very forthright,” Nelson said.
Nelson has done many PBS documentaries about civil rights and African American history, including one on the Freedom Riders and one on the murder of Emmett Till. In the Vick documentary, he interviewed journalists and critics to give context to the ups and downs of Vick’s life, including his football success and his dogfighting sentence.
“That was one of the reasons why I was attracted to the documentary, because we were able to talk about other things besides just football, besides just the dogs,” Nelson, 68, said. “It goes into so many other things - race, the criminal justice system.
“It’s a complicated story, and that’s what makes it an interesting story.
“The film is about … Newport News. It’s about black quarterbacks and the denial of a chance for so many black quarterbacks for generations. It’s about the criminal justice system and how communities look at what happened very differently. It’s about the resurrection of Mike Vick.”
Nelson has won five Primetime Emmy Awards for his work, as well as a lifetime achievement Emmy. He has also won a number of Peabody Awards. In 2013, he received the National Medal in the Humanities from President Barack Obama.
“I really wanted to do a project with ESPN,” Nelson said. “I’m a sports lover.”
Nelson and the other producers also interviewed Vick’s mother and aunt. Nelson did not mind that he was unable to pin down an interview with Michael’s younger brother, former Tech QB Marcus Vick.
“It’s almost like you kind of have to tell his story, too, if you talked to Marcus,” Nelson said. “That would have taken us sideways.”
Former Virginia Tech offensive coordinator Rickey Bustle and Vick’s ex-Tech teammate Corey Moore were also interviewed. Former Hokies coach Frank Beamer was not interviewed; Nelson said there was a scheduling issue.
They also interviewed Vick’s former NFL coaches, two of his fellow Bad Newz Kennels defendants and law-enforcement officials, among many others.
The documentary begins with Vick recalling how he cried in his cell after turning himself in at a Northern Neck jail to await sentencing.
“But I brought that on myself,” Vick said in the documentary.
Vick grew up in Newport News. He said in the documentary that the motto there was “Ball, jail or die.”
Vick recalled picking Virginia Tech over Syracuse because it was closer to home.
“I never wanted to leave (Newport News),” he said in the documentary. “It was like … I was forced to go to college.”
Vick said he was “ready to quit” during his first month at Tech in 1998 as he tried to adjust to getting up early, “obeying commands” and having white coaches.
“I almost quit college. It’s something I never told coach Beamer,” Vick said in the documentary. “I missed my mom. I missed the hood.”
Vick said he tried to get back to Newport News as often as he could while he was at Tech so he could be a mentor to his brother. He said he used his Pell Grant check to help take care of his family.
One of his childhood friends, Quanis Phillips, eventually moved in with him in Blacksburg, although Phillips was not a Tech student. Phillips, who was interviewed for the documentary, later became one of Vick’s fellow Bad Newz Kennels owners and was also convicted for the dogfighting operation.
“You don’t get to that point and just cut people off,” Vick said in the documentary.
After initially struggling to learn Tech’s offense, Vick won the starting quarterback job as a redshirt freshman in 1999.
“I was feeling like one of those quarterbacks that wasn’t smart enough,” Vick said. “One day, … it all clicked.”
The documentary depicts the success Vick had with his arm and his legs for the Hokies, including his electrifying performance in the national championship game at the end of the 1999 season.
“I was the top player in the country but had zero dollars in my pocket, and my family still lived in the hood,” Vick said in the documentary. “So I felt that pressure.”
Vick’s aunt Tina Vick said in the documentary that the concessions at Tech football games improved from hamburgers and hot dogs to turkey legs and cotton candy over the years.
“He transformed that place,” she said.
After the 2000 season, Vick announced he would leave Tech and enter the NFL Draft. The documentary shows footage of Vick’s press conference in Newport News, with Beamer smiling and applauding the announcement.
But Vick’s aunt insisted in the documentary that Beamer was so sad that “he was crying really bad.”
The Atlanta Falcons made Vick the first black quarterback to ever be chosen with the No. 1 overall pick in the NFL Draft.
“I realized I had changed history for black quarterbacks,” Vick said in the documentary. “I’d be part of black history forever.”
He earned millions, not only from the Falcons but also from endorsements.
“I was supporting everyone in my family, … five or six of my friends,” said Vick, who would file for bankruptcy years later. “But I had more than enough money to do it.
“I just never felt like I could be a guy with $10 million in the bank and everyone around me struggling.”
But his wife, Kijafa Vick, said in the documentary that Vick “had a lot of rotten apples around him.”
In Part II of the documentary, Vick shared that he was exposed to dogfighting at a young age.
“We would see the older guys dogfighting,” Vick said. “Cops would roll past (and not stop it).”
In 2001, then-Newport News acquaintance and future co-defendant Tony Taylor brought Vick to a few dogfights.
“It sparked the interest for me,” Vick said.
The dogfighting operation took place on the property of the house Vick had bought in Surry, Virginia.
“The feeling of, ‘Was it right or wrong?’ never really existed … because I (had) seen it so much,” Vick said in the documentary.
In the documentary, Vick owned up to his role.
“I spent enough time out there to know what was going on,” he said. “Enough time out there where I could have always put a stop to it. But I was really, really competitive and I loved dogs.
“I looked at it as, ‘This is my deal. This is what I do outside of football.’
“Of course, I wish it was golf.”
After pleading guilty for his role in the operation, Vick was sentenced in 2007 to 23 months in prison. The documentary shows how white and black people often had different reactions to the length of the sentence.
“White people see it as kind of a dog issue,” Nelson said. “In a lot of ways, African Americans saw it as a criminal justice issue.”
Vick, who was released from federal prison in 2009 after serving 18 months, had a successful NFL comeback with the Philadelphia Eagles. He also began making speeches against animal cruelty.
Vick, who retired from the NFL after the 2015 season, is now an NFL commentator for Fox.
The documentary concludes by crediting Vick for revolutionizing the quarterback position, pointing to current dual-threat QBs such as Lamar Jackson and Patrick Mahomes.
“The way I ran around made them dream and made them want to emulate that,” Vick said in the film. “I’m like, ‘Man, I did something right.’ ”
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