Seeing how Kenny Chesney is one of the biggest country music stars out there, you would assume he grew up idolizing the likes of Hank Williams or Willie Nelson.
But it turns out the kid who lived right outside Knoxville, Tenn., worshipped a gridiron god instead.
In turn, Chesney has produced and narrated the ESPN documentary The Color Orange: The Condredge Holloway Story, profiling the first black quarterback at a Southeast Conference School, in this case the University of Tennessee.
"As a kid...I didn't see black or white," Chesney says of his fascination with Holloway. "I only saw an orange jersey with the number 7 on it and that's all that mattered to me."
This is Chesney's second production for ESPN, his first being the football documentary Boys of Fall, and it comes right along with him being named Tennessean of the Year by the Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame for "demonstrating strong character and high profile leadership" to young athletes and his fellow musicians.
"It's not every day you get to make a film about someone you look up to," the four-time CMA Entertainer of the Year says. "As a kid, what we had was Tennessee football and we wrapped our arms around it. And that's where my heroes were formed. That's where I learned how to dream; that's where I learned how to love sports like I do. And Condredge Holloway was that person."
The Color Orange: The Condredge Holloway Story premieres Feb. 20 at 8 p.m. on ESPN.