Desc: Going Out a Champion, the Coach Joe Ellis Story: Directed by Cathy Durant. With Wendell Kinney. In 2005, Coach Joe Ellis made sports headlines when his Surry County, Virginia, Boys Basketball team won the first State Championship. Unfortunately he lost his battle with colon cancer 8 weeks later. "Going Out a Champion," the Coach Joe Ellis Story is a Cathy Irby Durant film, based on the novel written by Doris M. Ellis. A host of Hollywood a-list stars will be cast in this much anticipated film. Coming to theaters in 2015.