Hank Aaron

Director Mike Tollin's 1995 television documentary Hank Aaron: Chasing the Dream was a paean to the legendary baseball player, celebrating his life with archival film footage, photographs, re-creations of events, and present-day interviews. The documentary positioned Aaron as a major player in the American civil rights movement, the seeds of which were planted as early as the 1940s, and which came to fruition in the 1970s, at the end of Aaron's career. Some critics questioned the filmmaker's decision not to include Aaron as a narrator or even as an interviewee; Tollin chose instead to create a mystique about the athlete. Nonetheless, Chasing the Dream received a 1996 Academy Award nomination. The documentary aired on TBS on April 12, 1995, four days after the 20-year anniversary of Aaron's home run title.