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A number of Mooseheart students and staff members featured in the filming of "The Express." Many of them portrayed teammates of Floyd Little. Standing from left are Mooseheart athletic director Mark Johnson, Mooseheart family teacher Jack Dixon, Don Niersbach, Jacob Stryker, Mike Caprood, Chris Barnard, Anthony Coleman, Jake Stegman, Eric Wallace, Reid Clifton, Blake Mason and Robert Picker. Dustin Cox is seated.
The local media came out to cover the shooting of "The Express. Reid Clifton (No. 11) Chris Barnard and Eric Wallace (No. 7) talk with Daily Herald photographer Laura Stoecker during a break in the shooting.
Some of the Mooseheart students portrayed the opposition, including real-life Mooseheart quarterback Chris Morones (No. 39), who talks with (from left) Mooseheart students Don Niersbach, Robert Picker and Mooseheart family teacher Jack Dixon during a break in shooting.
Dennis Quaid arrives at the Mooseheart football field in preparation for shooting of "The Express." Quaid portrays legendary Syracuse coach Ben Schwartzwalder.
Rob Brown, who portrays Ernie Davis in "The Express" speaks with Mooseheart Executive Director Scott Hart prior to his involvement in shooting.
Rob Brown and Dennis Quaid, as Ernie Davis and Ben Schwartzwalder, watch on-field action during a scene from the motion picture "The Express." In the foreground is Mooseheart student Katie Morones.
Mooseheart students Tori Bates (plaid jacket) and Jasmin Barnes sit with an unnamed extra during filming of "The Express." A number of Mooseheart students and staff secured roles as extras in the movie.
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Mooseheart hosted the production company for "The Express" on Wednesday, April 26.
The movie, currently scheduled for a 2009 release, tells the story of Ernie Davis, the first African-American Heisman Trophy winner. Davis played at Syracuse and was then drafted by the Washington Redskins, who traded him to the Cleveland Browns. The Browns intended to pair Davis in the backfield with fellow Syracuse standout Jim Brown.
But Davis was diagnosed with leukemia and never played in the National Football League. Davis graduated from Syracuse in 1961 and died in 1963 when he was just 23 years old.
Rob Brown plays Davis in the movie while veteran Hollywood actor Dennis Quaid portrays Syracuse football coach Ben Schwartzwalder.
Three Mooseheart locations were used in the filming. Most of the action centered on the football stadium, which was made to portray Bowen Field in New Haven, Conn. In the scenes shot at Mooseheart, leukemia-striken Davis and Schwartzwalder scout a high school star named Floyd Little. Little eventually went to Syracuse and starred in the NFL.
For the stadium shooting, close to 50 extras came from the Mooseheart campus, including a number of football players. Other students and family teachers portrayed fans in the crowd. Mooseheart Athletic Director was an assistant coach for one of the football teams.
Other movie shooting took place near Pennsylvania Home, which is the home to Mooseheart high school boys. A third location was the gravel road near the farm in the northwestern corner of the Mooseheart property.
The Express is the third movie to be have scenes shot at Mooseheart. The first was "Coach of the Year," a 1980 ABC made-for-TV production which starred Robert Conrad as a wheelchair-bound fictional former Chicago Bear who ended up coaching a football team at the Illinois Youth Center in St. Charles.
Mooseheart again hosted Hollywood in 1989, when it represented a military base in scenes of "The Package," which starred Gene Hackman in a crime thriller set mostly in Germany and the Soviet Union.
Mooseheart Child City & School is a 1,000-acre community and school for children and teens in need of a secure home, located just south of Batavia, IL, between Illinois Route 31 and Randall Road.
Founded in 1913, Mooseheart is supported completely through private donations - the great majority of which come from the 1.1 million men and women of the Moose fraternal organization, in more than 1,900 Lodges and 1,600 Chapters located throughout the U.S., Canada, Great Britain and Bermuda. Moose International headquarters is located on the Mooseheart campus.
Since its founding, Mooseheart has operated a complete, accredited kindergarten-through-high-school academic program, plus art, music, vocational training and interscholastic sports. It is an extremely nurturing and student-tailored program, with an average student-teacher ratio of 12-1.
Mooseheart students who complete their studies with a 3.0 GPA or better (4.0=A) are eligible for up to five years of annually renewable scholarship funding, covering tuition, room and board in an amount comparable to that required for an in-state student at an Illinois public university.
Mooseheart is currently home to nearly 250 students, ranging in age from preschoolers to high school seniors. Applications for admission to Mooseheart are considered from any family whose children are, for whatever reason, lacking a stable home environment. Mooseheart boasts its own U.S. Post Office and a fully functioning branch of Fifth Third Bank. In addition to Mooseheart, Moose International also supports Moosehaven, a 70-acre retirement community near Jacksonville, FL founded in 1922; and conducts more than $90 million worth of community service programs annually. Founded in 1888, the Moose organization has long offered its members an opportunity to do good for others while celebrating life, with family, social, and sporting activities. For more information on the Moose organization, visit the websites at www.Mooseintl.org and www.Mooseheart.org or call 630-966-2229.
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