ESPN has announced six new 30 for 30 sports documentaries that will air starting this October, reported Indiewire.
The premiere of the series on Tuesday, October 1 will feature Eddie Aikau, “legendary Hawaiian big wave surfer, pioneering lifeguard and ultimately doomed crew member of the Polynesian voyaging canoe Hokule’a,” according to ESPN.
The following week’s episode entitled “Free Spirits”, “tells the colorful story of the Spirits of St. Louis–an entertaining and at times controversial team featuring stars like Marvin “Bad News” Barnes and James “Fly” Williams with an upstart sportscaster named Bob Costas calling the play-by-play, ESPN noted.
The third episode of next season’s 30 for 30 will tell the story of boxers Sugar Ray Leonard and Roberto Duran, during their five months fighting each other in 1980. ESPN described the episode by saying, “[the episode] unveils for the first time what really happened, going behind the scenes of these two showdowns with the help of boxing experts, family members and the two fighters themselves.”
Episodes four, five and six will feature stories including the New York Islanders hockey team scandal, tennis star Jimmy Connors and the infamous Tonya Harding/Nancy Kerrigan clubbing incident.
These new 30 for 30 documentaries feature a number of different directors, including Sam George, Daniel H. Forer, Eric Drath, Kevin Connolly, Brian Koppelman, David Levien and Nanette Burstein, according to Indiewire.
The first episode will air at 8 p.m. On October 1.