Customer Reviews

The Junction Boys: How Ten Days in Hell with Bear Bryant Forged a Championship Team

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I heard about this book on sports radio in NY. Mike Francessa claimed it was one of the best books he had read and I second that remark. I am not a avid reader of books but finished this one in 2 days. If you are a sports enthusiast don't miss this epic story of the legendary Paul "Bear" Bryant. How one man created a championship program by running his new team into the ground, seeing who wished to remain standing with him on the sidelines of Texas A&M. The book shows how the strength of a coach and the courage of just a few players can overcome all odds. Jim Dent takes you to Junction, Texas and to the campus of A&M with these brave players. This book will not disappoint and it will open your eyes to what the true meaning of competition and rivalries are all about. There are so many inspiring stories that it will leave you with a lasting impression on what hard work can do for not only a team, but individuals who give their all for that team! From now on I'm rooting for the Aggies!

This book, gives a wonderful insight not only into how Coach Bryant forged a championship team, but also into how he forged his own greatest coaching years.

Although the 10 days at Junction were brutal (the squeamish and soft-hearted should find another book to read)the results produced a group of players and men who were and remain both tough and successful.

The 10 days also made Coach Bryant aware that he'd probably gone too far. His practices at Texas A&M and Alabama remained as tough and demanding as any ever were in college football. But "Junction" was never repeated.

Before there was Joe Paterno or Bobby Bowden or Lou Holtz, there was the incomparable Bear Bryant. Kids today act as if today's coaches are insufferable, or unbearable to work under, but most kids never knew Bear Bryant or even heard of the fabled coach.

Dent retells the tale of how 111 boys went into the Texas backwoods, and how only 35 survived. When you finish this book, it's hard to believe what the boys had to put up through, and why some of them even stayed around. Although the yarn of Junction is covered through only a few chapters, it's important to know how the Texas A&M program came from the ashes before Bryant to a respected and fear team after Junction.

From this book you'll learn the meaning of perseverance, dedication and hard work. You'll never complain about how hard something is until you've been put through Junction. A town during the mid 50's that was in drought and just about desolate.

Then you'll learn about who Bear Bryant is. A man who didn't know the meaning of quit. Who knew hard work and the will to win. If you thought Lombardi or a Parcells or even a Bobby Knight was incorrigible, then you never met Bear Bryant. If you want to pick up a great book on everything described above, then the Junction Boys is the place to start.

Though worshipful of football coach and icon Bear Bryant, the author exposes a vile, shameful side to the well-beloved coach. Inheriting a Texas A & M football program in steep decline, Coach Bryant bussed his 110 players to the west Texas town of Junction for pre-season practice in August,1954 without having scouted the fields and team barracks his team would use for two weeks. When Bryant, his coaches and his players arrived in Junction, they stumbled across playing fields of cactus, essentially desert without grass. Junction, Texas had not received more than a scattering of rain for about five years and the terain looked it. Bryant worked his boys long and hard in the 100+ degree heat and allowed no water breaks. By the time the team embarked back to the university, the Aggies had dwindled to 35 players. Each night of the nightmare saw groups of players turn their backs on their scholarships, and in many cases their futures, escaping the torture camp which was Bryant's Junction. Sadly, many of the boys were in similar straights as Dennis Goehring, who stuck it out. Goehring's family had lost their ranch due to the six year west Texas drought. For Goehring, leaving Junction would have amounted to destitution. Goehring toughed it out. As did Jack Pardee, a future professional star as a player and coach. But even Pardee, tough as nails and an oil roughneck at 15 years of age to support his struggling family, collapsed and fainted on the practice field at Junction. Billy Schoeder collapsed as well and was kicked by Bryant as Schroeder lay helpless and unconcsious. Schroeder was taken to a doctor just in time to save his life from heat stroke and would never be the same physically. This whipped team would win only one game in 1954. But for an opening game trouncing, the Aggies played doggedly throughout the season. A national title would await in 1956 for Jack Pardee, Gene Stallings, Heisman trophy winner John David Crow (who, as a freshman in 1954, did not attend Junction) and the Aggies. Today, in reflection, it is easy to agree that what Bryant did to his players at Junction was appalling. He even agreed. Yet it must be said that Bryant formed a great team at Junction. More importantly, almost every boy who stuck it out at Junction became very successful in later life. Yet, at what cost? It is fascinating that two Junction survivors, Hall and Huddleston, refused to attend a 25th Junction anniversary party that included the legendary Bryant. The two believed that the 75 boys who had staggered away from Junction in dejection in August, 1954 should have been included in any sort of Junction party. The author is weak in several areas. He shows little analytical ability. None of the assistant coaches seem to have been interviewed. Details are filled in by only a small group of players, a great weakness in Dent's research. Also, Dent revels pointlessly in the telling of the joyful experiences of several Aggies at the LaGrange Chicken Ranch, made famous nationally since by musicals and a song by the rock band ZZ Top. Dent also is mistaken if he thinks Bob Wills sang "Faded Love" or any other of his band's songs. Wills was a musician and an arranger, but never sang with his musical outfit. He limited himself to making quirky comments during the songs, sometimes cajoling his singer and band.

Bear Bryant was a master at getting the most out of the men that played for him, and this story is the standard by which the rest of his life was lived. Compassion overwhelms you as you read this book. You feel compelled to cheer on the survivors no matter what they undertook, for they simply went through hell for ten days in Junction, TX with the devil himself conducting drills. They had more heart in them than the whole National Football League has in them today. By today's standards, Coach would have been considered cruel and insensitive. Yet he managed to have so many successful years at coaching because he knew how and with whom he could build a team. He knew who had character and he knew who had heart. This book I highly recommend for the humor, for the drama and for the all of the characters of the Fightin' Texas Aggie Football Team of 1954.

Not only a riveting account of the fabled ten days in hell, but also of the seasons that followed. The writing is a little uneven; the narrative tends to jump from player to player rather abruptly, which is a bit jarring to the reader. Even with this small fault, the book is a compelling read. This is college football at its absolute gutsiest. Warning: The descriptions of what the Junction boys endured are so graphic that the book should have an "Explicit Violence" sticker on it. Not for the squeamish!

This is the best book I have ever read. The heart and determination of the men who survived Junction was and still is truly amazing. Every football player on any level should read this book. Injuries such as "turf toe" would never be heard of again.

If you're a sports fan looking for a powerful story, look no further. This is one of those books you read very slow at the end to prolong the entertainment.

The Junction Boys is a magical story that takes you back to an era of truth and accountability. A highly descriptive telling that entrances the reader throughout the whole book. This book is much more than a story about college football. It is story about life.

I loved every page of this book. I couldn't put it down; I couldn't wait to get home from school and read it. I learned so much about Texas A&M and Bear Bryant from this book. I definatley reccomend this book to any football fan that enjoys reading. Jim Dent really scored a touchdown with this book!