‘You Gotta Believe’ Movie Tells of Fort Worth Realtor’s Little League Run to the World Series

Sometimes real estate and filmmaking cross paths in the most unexpected ways. Like, say, you are listing a movie star’s home. But in the case of Fort Worth Compass agent Robby Lebus, the Realtor is part of the inspiration for a film from a time in his youth that kids only dream of.

It was the spring of 2002. Robby Lebus and Robert Ratliff’s mothers signed them both up for the spring season of Little League baseball at the legendary Westside Little League. Robert’s dad, Bobby, was an active parent volunteer at Westside, a Fort Worth baseball institution started in 1955, open to any Fort Worth kid age 4 through 12 who wants to simply play baseball. The plan was to spend the summer playing baseball.

The kids had no inkling how that baseball season would change their lives.

Summer of 2002 was the year the Fort Worth Westside All-Stars baseball team made history with Robby, Robert, and all their teammates. They fought their way through district, sectionals, state, and regional finals — about 23 games — for a shot at the Little League World Series in Williamsport, Pennsylvania. The team ended up playing the longest Little League game in World Series series history — 11 innings!

Westside Baseball Made Fort Worth Proud

If your kid has ever played any sports, you get how important national championships can be. Now crank that up to a globally recognized level of excellence at the tender age of 11 or 12. News of their move to the World Series quickly captivated Fort Worthians who were beyond psyched to have a team of local kids splashed all over ESPN and thrust into the national spotlight. Fort Worth supported them from one end to another; the kids became overnight heroes.

“We learned a lot that summer, being young and in that spotlight,” says Lebus. “We were in Fort Worth, almost a month in Waco, then off to Pennsylvania.”

They were not quite the underdogs the movie makes them out to be, but the competition was fierce. One kid’s dad kept pumping them with determination and grit despite the fact he was battling a terminal disease. That was Bobby Ratcliff.

YOU GOTTA BELIEVE is a film based on the story of this team’s transformational journey to a place in the Little League record books. It’s also the story of an ailing father who knows it’s literally his last chance on earth to do something really big and inspire his kids to greatness — as he always said, “You Gotta Believe.” 

The film opens today, August 30 in Fort Worth with an all-star cast of Dallas-born Luke Wilson, Greg Kinnear, Sarah Gadon. Lew Temple, Etienne Kellici, Molly Parker, Patrick Renna and Michael Cash.

Directed by Ty Roberts, the movie was produced and financed under Austin-based Santa Rita Film Co., which also produced the film “12 Mighty Orphans.”  

That 2002 Little League World Series game was so inspiring, it ran on ESPN as an “Instant Classic” every summer.

The team did not win, but they fought hard with Bobby Ratliff always inspiring and pushing them on. He relished watching his son play at first base, says the team’s former coach Jon Kelly, now a partner at a Fort Worth law firm.

“They had to grow up fast, signing autographs at the Fort Worth Elks Lodge … representing their team and community,” Kelly told the Fort Worth Press. “That is all part of winning.”

It was Kelly who was first approached by Santa Rita to create the movie. Then he reached out to the team.

“Coach Kelly called me in 2019 about the movie,” says Robert Ratliff, Bobby’s son, who like the other boys now has a family and a job. Ratliff works in the insurance industry with the CAC Group.

Most of the boys still live in Fort Worth, Kelly said, and he stays in touch, all successful young men.

The Westside team dedicated the entire journey to Bobby Ratliff.

Robert’s father, Bobby, had been diagnosed with terminal melanoma and made a personal choice to watch and support the team that summer, even if it meant delaying his life-saving treatments.

“I think one reason he stayed alive and battled it as much as he did, as hard as he did, was because of us playing baseball,” says Robert of his dad. “It gave him purpose.”

Robert says his father didn’t even play baseball. He played football as a kid and swam. Professionally, Bobby Ratliff was a landman in the oil and gas industry.

“I know he chose to travel and watch us play versus doing the treatments and if he was here, he’d do it all again,” says Robert. 

The team rallied for Bobby Ratliff, played their hearts out for him, said Coach Kelly. Ratliff died of cancer the following year. In 2007, Ratliff’s family started a 501c foundation, “You Gotta Believe” that sends kids to sports camps in Texas and Mississippi, to continue their dad’s legacy.

Luke Wilson Plays Bobby

His personal battle with cancer, his relationship with his son, family, and the team create the heartfelt inner plot of “You Gotta Believe,” with the team’s heroic efforts to win wrapped around it. Luke Wilson stars as Bobby, Coach Kelly is portrayed by Greg Kinnear.

Kelly reminisced nostalgic about the summer of 2002 in a recent interview.

“Back then, the fields were nothing like they are today,” Kelly told the Fort Worth Press. “We had wooden bleachers and no shade, so the parents braved the scorching Texas heat to support their kids.”

The seats have since been upgraded, but not much else. Parents still have to sit back and sweat, as Bobby Ratliff did every day that season.

And as Coach Kelly tells the story, the path to Williamsport was not easy. The pressure of elimination made each pitch have to be perfect — precise, professional. That’s good cinema, he says.

“They faced elimination in seven games throughout the district and sectional tournaments,” Coach Kelly said, “the team’s resilience saw them through each nerve-racking inning.”

One magical moment, Coach Kelly said, was a grand slam by one of the team’s 11-year-olds during the sectional tournament. He said he can’t remember exactly who hit the game-winning homer — because the moment was chaotic.

That hitter was Robby Lebus! And that hit helped take the team to the state tournament.

Little League World Series starts with kids just playing ball in hundreds of towns across the world. After the spring seasons, all star teams are picked. Those teams play to clear district, sectionals, then state and regional tournaments. The state and regional tournaments for the Westside kids were in Waco.

And that’s where the competition got tough: the Sugar Land team from outside Houston, considered “East Texas,” gave Westside a run for their money, which is why Coach Kelly called them “that damn East Texas team.” But Westside beat them to be one of eight of the U.S. teams to play in Pennsylvania, long considered the home state of baseball.

Grit, a little luck, and Bobby Ratliff Saying, “You gotta believe”: It’s Little League World Series!

Games on: US Little League teams faced each other for a US Champion, followed by the international Little League teams for an international champion. Those two champions would play for the title of World Champion.

Westside beat Webb City Little League out of Webb City, Missouri, and Waipio Little League from Waipio, Hawaii, to advance to the elimination games.

In the quarterfinals, Westside lost 2-1 to Valley Sports American Little League out of Louisville, Kentucky, in an 11-inning thriller.

“You Gotta Believe” is the story of America’s Little League program, the influence, discipline, and confidence it gives boys, and one team’s journey to coming within a hair’s breath of winning. But it is also the story of incredible Fort Worth spirit and the universal support the city gave these boys.

“It was a very special time,” says Lebus, who now sells Fort Worth real estate with Compass to the kids he grew up with and the many newcomers who are discovering the treasures of living in Fort Worth, recently recognized as one of the fastest growing cities in Texas, booting out Austin.

“It was a story of relationships that defined our summer journey and how we bonded together to get there,” he says.

And for the rest of his life, says Lebus, he will always remember “you gotta believe” from Bobby Ratliff.

“We said it 10,000 times that summer!”

“It’s been so great to see God’s work,” says Bobby’s son, Robert, “and how this movie will inspire and touch people. My dad literally fought through cancer to see us keep on winning.”

But it was Fort Worth, both say, that nurtured and celebrated the success of the team.

“Fort Worth was so, so proud of us,” says Robby.