If he had not fouled out, maybe Washington State University’s center, James McKean, might have held Lew Alcindor (now Kareem Abdul-Jabbar) to only forty points. It was 1967, a transition year for college athletics in a dramatic time for those coming ofage. In this memoir set in the 1950s and 1960s, McKean revisits his years growing up in a family dedicated to sports and the outdoors, his playing basketball at Washington State University (for coaches Marv Harshman and Jud Heathcote), and his fashioning a life during and after basketball.
Driven by the energy and spirit of athletics, the language in Home Stand lights up McKean’s wonderfully eclectic work—the aunt who won a bronze medal in the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, his last run as a misguided drag racer, his playing basketball for a washing machine factory in Bologna, Italy, or against the prisoners in Walla Walla State Penitentiary—all seen in the context of turbulent times. Needless to say, Lew Alcindor scored his points and UCLA won, which they did every game that season. What James McKean took home was five fouls and a good story.
Home Stand delivers a lyrical, thoughtful reflection of what it is to be an athlete—inside as well as outside the game—and how one man’s love of basketball evolved into a love of poetry, "good turns of speech," writing, and teaching.
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"Home Stand is...rare achievement...sports memoir...where ball becomes thought, becomes poetry itself in all its wit and force." -- —Robin Magowan, author of Tour de France, Memoirs of a Minotaur,and Kings of the Road.
About the Author
James McKean was born and raised in the Seattle-Tacoma area. As an undergraduate, he played basketball for the Washington State University Cougars, starting at center from 1965 to 1968 in what was then the PAC 8 conference. At the University of Iowa, he completed an MFA and a Ph.D. in English. McKean's collection of essays, Home Stand, won a Pushcart Prize for D/Altered. He has published two collections of poetry: Headlong (New Writer Award from Great Lakes Colleges Association) and Tree of Heaven (Iowa Poetry Award). McKean now teaches creative writing and American literature at Mount Mercy College in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
About sports, life and being bigger than most people,
By Charles Ashbacher (Marion, Iowa United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER) (VINE VOICE) (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)
This review is from: Home Stand: Growing Up in Sports (Hardcover)
At six foot nine or six foot ten, both figures are given in this book; the author was too tall for most occupations and too short to be an NBA center. Therefore, after a reasonably successful college career at Washington State University and a mediocre one as a professional player in Europe, McKean became a writer and a poet. In this book, he writes about his life and while his involvement in sports is the main theme, many other features of life are included.
The high point of his college career was when WSU played the mighty UCLA Bruins led by Lew Alcindor (Kareem Abdul-Jabbar). As someone who watched Alcindor play in college, I can appreciate McKean's comments on how dominant Alcindor was. To simulate that dominance, in practice players would have three-foot long sticks taped to their arms or stand on chairs so that they could block shots. By far, my favorite stories were about former college basketball coach Jud Heathcote. Heathcote was the long-time coach of the Michigan State Spartans and so I have watched him coach many times. Heathcote is an in your face coach and McKean describes the time when he nearly punched Jud while Jud was emphatically making a point. Supposedly, a player once decked Jud, whose response was to get up and tell the player, "that's the most spirit you have shown all day." Despite their differences, when McKean asked Jud for tickets to a game in Iowa City, Jud was more than willing to comply, as long as "he didn't root for those other SOB's." The Vietnam War is also an integral part of the story. Like all young men in the mid-sixties, McKean faced the prospect of being drafted and being shipped to Vietnam. He was fortunate that his height immediately disqualified him. Like nearly every young man of that era, one of his shorter friends did not share his good fortune, as he was blown to pieces by a land mine. Being a large man, McKean also faced some unusual prejudice. Some men considered his size to be an affront and felt the need to attack him and once a police officer dismissed an assault because "McKean was so much bigger than the assailant." I enjoyed this book, McKean is an excellent storyteller and his material is interesting. So many sports books are interesting because they are of the tell-all form. This one is interesting because the tale is well told.
4.0 out of 5 stars
Great writing, great stories,
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This review is from: Home Stand: Growing Up in Sports (Hardcover)
Jim Mckean writes prose like a poet, which of course he is. His stories are meant to be chewed on and savored. This is just simply a wonderful book, both touching and riveting. Fishing, basketball, fathers and sons, growing up, growing old - in a perfect world a whole lot of people would read and enjoy Home Stand. Every chapter was a treasure, his juxtaposition of his friend fighting in Vietnam with his playing against Lew Alcindor is incredibly poignant. He even had me interested in fishing and drag racing when I really am not in my life. Cannot recommend a memoir any higher than I can this one.(I only give it a 4 just because I rarely give 5's, but this one is darn close!)
5.0 out of 5 stars
Sports and so much more,
This review is from: Home Stand: Growing Up in Sports (Hardcover)
As an avid reader of sports books, a fan of WSU basketball, a native of the Palouse country in eastern Washington/Northern Idaho, and familiar with Jim McKean the player, I was quickly drawn to this book.
Little did I know that it would be so much more than sports, and I mean that in a good way. Perhaps the sub-title, "Growing Up in Sports" is a bit misleading, though it is appropriate. This book is about sports, but mostly about growing up, and in turn looking back on a life well-lived. McKean, a polished poet, is quite the stylist as an essayist. His words flow oh so smoothly. His insights are tremendous. Whether talking about basketball, visiting an injuried Vietnam War veteran classmate, returning to Italy, growing up in Tacoma, playing for a volatile, yet loveable assistant coach, McKean doesn't miss a beat here. Certainly one of the best books I've ever read.
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