Acting with stars in ‘Any Given Sunday’ was ‘dream come true’ for Alabama A&M coach

Alabama A&M football coach Connell Maynor has vivid memories of the sports drama Any Given Sunday, which will celebrate its 25th anniversary later this year. He should: He’s the person behind Jamie Foxx’s character Willie Beamen’s football scenes.

Years before Maynor became coach of the Alabama A&M Bulldogs, he was Foxx’s stunt double in the film.

“Any Given Sunday was a dream come true,” Maynor said. “It was so many stars with LL Cool J, Bill Bellamy, Jamie Foxx, Oliver Stone, Cameron Diaz, Jim Brown and Ricky Watters. It was just so many stars and Al Pacino, of course, but they never made me feel like I was lesser than.”

In 1998, Jay Gruden became the coach of the Arena Football League’s Orlando Predators. He brought in Maynor, who had been a quarterback for the AFL’s Tampa Bay Storm following a standout career at Winston-Salem State and North Carolina A&T, to be the backup for Predators quarterback Pat O’Hara. With the help of O’Hara and Maynor, the Predators went on to win the ArenaBowl later that year.

O’Hara portrayed a quarterback for the fictitious Louisiana Cougars in The Waterboy, with sports action producer Mark Ellis. For Any Given Sunday, Ellis’ next cinematic endeavor, he again enlisted the help of O’Hara, who portrayed an injured second-string quarterback in the film.

“Ellis said to me, ‘I need a stunt double for Jamie Foxx,’ and I told him, ‘I got him,’ ” O’Hara said. “ ‘My backup Connell is the perfect guy.’ ”

Maynor flew to Miami to begin filming, but to his surprise when he arrived, there were 25 other quarterbacks at the audition. The casting director told him that they were looking for “a Black quarterback who could be mobile, run and throw to do the football scenes for Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs,” Maynor said.

In an interview earlier this year, Bellamy revealed the role was originally meant for Combs. Foxx had previously explained in a separate interview that he had earned the part by creating the song “My Name is Willie Beaman” with a music video inspired by then-Dallas Cowboys cornerback Deion Sanders. Foxx’s physical investment in the character convinced director Oliver Stone that he could transfer his talents from television to movies.

Maynor ultimately was offered the role of Foxx’s stunt double and began filming at the Orange Bowl stadium. 

When Ellis cast Maynor, the football actors practiced scenes outside of actual filming. Maynor received $250 per day as Foxx’s stunt double and the others received $125 per day during the monthlong practice period.

Once filming began, Maynor received $500 per day. On some days, his role met the membership requirements of the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, which made him eligible for a higher payday.

As Foxx’s stunt double, Maynor performed dives and executed a scene where his helmet gets knocked off. The producers also wanted him to perform a stunt that included a flip over the goal line, but he couldn’t because he was still actively playing arena football.

“My arena football job was paying me $100,000, so I definitely wanted to be careful,” Maynor said. “I was scared that I would possibly injure my shoulder or my neck and that would stop me from returning to play. Everything else, I wasn’t too worried about because they were natural hits that happen in a football game. I told that guy I was doing the stunt with to just not drive my shoulder into the ground and we’d be just fine.”

Maynor bonded with many of the celebrities on set, playing pickup basketball with Foxx and Bellamy on some days and golfing with NFL legends Lawrence Taylor and Jim Brown on others.

“They were just like my brothers. I was just another guy on set,” Maynor said. “They never acted famous. It was just pure camaraderie. It was just so unreal how nice and friendly they were to me. I’ll always have lifelong memories of the whole thing.”

Bellamy, Foxx, LL Cool J and Maynor also enjoyed watching what was playing in theaters around Miami. The theater attendants would rope off the top three rows for the group, and they would enter through the back door.

“When we would walk across the concessions sometimes to get to our theater, Jamie would walk first, then LL, then Bill,” Maynor said. “When we would walk across, everyone would start hollering and screaming their names. I always would get a kick out of coming behind them and telling people, ‘No autographs.’ Sometimes I would act like they’re screaming for me, too.”

When there was downtime on set, Maynor would play catch with actor Al Pacino. He remembers Pacino needing to put on his sport coat before they started so he would to remain stylish at all times.

Maynor and Bellamy have maintained a friendship since the filming, with occasional outings when Bellamy has comedy shows scheduled near Maynor. Earlier this year, Bellamy invited Maynor to a show in Huntsville, Alabama, with backstage passes. The morning of the show, they shot hoops like old times.

Alabama A&M offensive coordinator Duane Taylor played under Maynor from 2000 to 2003 while Maynor was the quarterbacks coach at Fayetteville State. While they were preparing for the 2000 season, Maynor’s second film, Remember the Titans, was released. In the film, he was the stunt double for actor Craig Kirkwood, who portrayed Jerry “Rev” Harris. Maynor also played safety in some scenes. (Hint: Look for No. 29 in the film.)

“I was always super-excited about him acting,” Taylor said. “That’s my coach! To see what I thought was Jamie Foxx in Any Given Sunday making all these great throws but really it’s Coach Maynor was a proud moment. There’s another scene where they are in the locker room and you can see Coach’s face, and I get excited about that, too.”

When Maynor coaches his quarterbacks, he has a habit of patting the football. Taylor said that when he watched both movies, he noticed Maynor making the same motion.

“The part I really remember of Coach being on the big screen was that anytime he came to practice he never tried to big-time us,” Taylor said. “He gave us his best every day, and you would never even know that he knows Jamie Foxx or any of those other guys.”

Remember the Titans did not show Maynor’s face because he was 30 years old at the time, and the movie focuses on a high school team. Maynor’s second filming experience differed in other ways from his first, he said.

“The Titans set was more strict than Any Given Sunday,” Maynor said. “I only saw Denzel [Washington] when he would come out to film, but since I am in the movie as well, I wasn’t going to run up to him and ask for an autograph and a photo.”

While acting as a football player, Maynor was still an active athlete in real life. His arena football career, which lasted 13 years, included four ArenaBowl titles.

After Fayetteville State, Maynor continued his relationship with coaching at historically Black universities by returning to Winston-Salem State in 2010 to be the program’s coach, followed by a four-year coaching stint at Hampton University. He took over Alabama A&M’s program in 2018.

“HBCU football is a lifestyle,” Taylor said. “For many of us, we’re first-generation students, and for 61% of us, we grew up in a single-family household. Our coaches are our mentors and educators. To see Black men that look like you, walk like you and act like you is a beautiful thing.”

Last season, the Bulldogs finished 5-6. Maynor believes most of their games were determined by only a few plays and that circumstances will change this season.

After having a pro football career, getting a glimpse of the big screen and preserving the cornerstones of HBCU football, Maynor is not afraid of what is to come.

“Everything has worked out perfectly for me,” Maynor said. “I’ve always believed that everything happens for a reason because I am a man of God and my steps are ordered.”