By Theo Tate
GRANITE CITY, Ill. — The 1940 Granite City Warriors boys basketball team poses after winning the state championship.
For over 30 years, Arthur Sarkissian has been a successful Hollywood producer, making 17 motion pictures, including three in the “Rush Hour” series starring Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker.
Now, he’s setting his sights on producing “Men of Granite,” a film about the 1940 Granite City boys basketball team winning a state championship.
“It’s not so much about sports, although I love basketball very much, but it’s about the challenges that anyone faces in any particular field,” Sarkissian said. “It’s a challenge that I connect with these kids. They had nothing and didn’t give up and I like that.”
The motion picture will be based on the 2007 book written by Dan Manoyan, a former longtime sportswriter from Milwaukee.