Recently Granger High School students, staff and community took part in a backto- school commercial for Academy Sports + Outdoors.
Filmed in the classrooms and on the football field, the process wasn’t as glamorous as many had anticipated. The shoot took long hours and a lot of repetition.
“I’ve never seen anything like it. I didn’t know what it all encompassed, what it took to make a commercial. It was pretty crazy,” said GHS Athletic Director Gaston McDorman.
McDorman said he expected maybe one truck and a small crew, but the reality was much different. McDorman wasn’t exactly sure how many people showed up, but “it felt like hundreds of people here… and everybody had their own specific job, and I had no idea what those jobs were,” he said.
As athletic director, McDorman became the de facto point of contact for the commercial. The crew wanted to film a mock game, but “we’re in the athletic world and they’re in a completely different kind of medium,” McDorman said.
McDorman called it a “blending of two worlds.”
“We were trying to figure out what they wanted. The crew asked things of us that wouldn’t happen in a football game, that’s not really how that works. We were just trying to come together and figure out what they wanted and needed,” McDorman said.
“It was an awesome opportunity to see our community and athletes come together to provide a glimpse into what small town Friday night lights in Texas is for the Academy Sports + Outdoors television commercial,” said Stephen Brosch, superintendent of Granger Independent School District.
Scenes of a football game were filmed with a packed stadium of more than 500 community members and students. A wardrobe crew outfitted the students and football players, which McDorman said was weird, seeing them in different school colors and uniforms.
“The production crew was super grateful for the performance and for the community involvement they witnessed,” Brosch said.
Currently, no official air date for the commercial is set, although the school was told “around the first week of July.”
In August, Granger will open its new high school and sports complex built with a $44 million bond update passed in May 2022. The school will be two stories with 14 classrooms to accommodate 375 students, including a media center, computer lab, science lab and vet tech classroom.
The athletic facility will include a new football stadium and field house with locker rooms, restrooms and concessions. The football, baseball and softball fields will be both grass and turf and the stadium will feature equipment and space for track and field sports, such as an eight-lane track, discus and shotput cage, pole jump and high jump.
The current high school, built more than 100 years ago in 1924, will be used as administration offices.
