Full Description
In the mid-1950s three unrecruited black basketball players, coached by a white former prison guard who had never before coached a college team, led a small Jesuit university in San Francisco to two national titles. The Dandy Dons describes for the first time how the unprecedented accomplishment of the Dons, led by coach Phil Woolpert and future hall-of-famers Bill Russell and K. C. Jones, paved the way for black talent in major college basketball and transformed the sport.
James W. Johnson traces the backgrounds of the coach and players, chronicles the heart-stopping games on the road to the championships, and details the Dons' novel techniques: a more vertical game, more central defense, and intimidation as part of game strategy. He also gives a textured picture of life on an integrated basketball team amid a culture of racism and Jim Crow in mid-twentieth-century America.
Contents
Preface: The Changing Game 000 Acknowledgments 000 Introduction 000 1. Russell's Coming of Age 000 2. A Road Trip to Discovery 000 3. On Catholic Schools and Race 000 4. Another Surprise Recruit 000 5. A School He'd Never Heard Of 000 6. Roommates and Friends Forever 000 7. Time to Produce 000 8. A Disappointing Season 000 9. An Unlikely Coach 000 10. A Surprising Move 000 11. The Trail to the Title 000 12. Russell Brings about Rule Changes 000 13. The Machine Rolls On 000 14. Into the Deep South 000 15. Holiday Travel and the Stall 000 16. Two in a Row 000 17. A New Sport for Russell 000 18. The Aftermath 000 19. Epilogue 000 Notes 000 Bibliography 000
