Description
Book SynopsisIn the 1966 NCAA basketball championship game, an all-white University of Kentucky team was beaten by the all black team from Texas Western College. The game helped destroy stereotypes about black athletes. Filled with revealing anecdotes,
The Baron and the Bear is the story of two passionate coaches and the teams they led through the ups and downs of a college basketball season.
Trade Review"An easy and enjoyable read and one the reader won't be able to put down."—Felix F. Chávez,
El Paso Times"This is a book that should be read by sports fans, especially those who enjoy college basketball. . . . It is difficult to tell a familiar story and make it new, yet Snell accomplishes this very task."—Tony Calandrillo,
Sport in American History“
The Baron and the Bear answers the question, ‘What was Adolph Rupp really like?’ It captures Rupp and Rupp’s Runts as never before. It also demolishes the contention that Rupp was a racist. It’s about time.”—Coach Joe B. Hall, Rupp’s assistant and successor at the University of Kentucky, winner of the NCAA basketball championship in 1978
“My grandmother used to say, if you want to change the world, wait for a door to open a crack and then kick it down.
The Baron and the Bear challenges conventional wisdom about coaches Adolph Rupp and Don Haskins and gives a good strong kick to a door that needed kicking.”—Nolan Richardson, Hall of Fame basketball coach for the University of Arkansas, winner of the NCAA championship in 1994
“As David Snell makes clear, Texas Western’s historic win over Kentucky was both polarizing and transforming. It forced people to confront their stereotypes and biases, accelerating the momentum of the civil rights movement.”—Peter Dreier, professor of political science at Occidental College and author of
The One Hundred Greatest Americans of the Twentieth Century: A Social Justice Hall of FameTable of ContentsForeword
Prologue
1. A Drop of Water
2. “No Good, Even If It Goes!”
3. A New Direction
4. Brothers against the Bastard
5. The True Religion
6. The Big Change
7. A Synchronized Leap
8. Finding His Team
9. He Didn’t Recruit; He Chose
10. Never Gave It a Thought
11. Intensity, Thy Name Is Adolph
12. The Haskins Way
13. “Quite Improbable”
14. The Games Were the Break
15. Seeing Things I Really Like
16. Things That I Can’t
17. Give Iowa a Try
18. Neutral-Court Advantage
19. The Break from Hell
20. “The Secret of Basketball”
21. Togo Time
22. Clyde and the Commodores
23. They Could Be Very Good
24. The Naked Truth
25. Working Hard and Hardly Working
26. Tennessee Two-Step
27. Seattle Surprise
28. The Mountain Man and Cazzie
29. Time and Overtime
30. Larry Conley’s Ass
31. The Runnin’ Utes
32. The Real Championship Game
33. The Smart Money
34. And Then There Was David
35. An Unreal Thing
36. A Matter of Pride
37. He Changed Basketball
Epilogue
Where Are They Now?
Acknowledgments
Appendix: 1965–66 Team Rosters and Season Results
Index
