Lute!: The Seasons of My Life [Hardcover]

Lute Olson (Author), David Fisher (Author), John Wooden (Foreword)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 3, 2006

"It was love at first sight. . . . One day I picked up a basketball, and it never let me go."

For fifty seasons Lute Olson has been teaching young athletes the skills of basketball---and life. Starting as a high school coach, he worked his way to the top of the basketball world, winning more than a thousand games, a national championship, and a world championship, producing some of the NBA's biggest stars, and eventually being enshrined in the basketball Hall of Fame.

This is the story of his upbringing in Mayville, North Dakota, where he learned his famous work ethic and survival skills; the telling of the eighteen years it took to finally coach for a major college team; the fond memories of coaching famed players as well as the stories of bitter losses and breathtaking wins. This is his story, from recruiting in the dangerous projects of big cities and the vast farmlands of the Midwest, to finally winning an NCAA championship. It's the inside-the-locker-room story of many extraordinary emotional moments that will live forever in basketball lore. "Lute! Lute! Lute!" The cheer by which the Arizona fans greet their coach before each game is the story of a man with a lifelong passion for a game. This book will take the reader inside the incredibly popular world of collegiate basketball, as seen through the eyes of a giant of the sport.

But his is far more than a basketball story. Lute's partner for forty-seven years in building championship programs was his high school sweetheart, Bobbi, whose blueberry pancakes became as widely known in the basketball world as his own full head of white hair. While Lute was the taciturn coach, she became the player's mother-away-from-home. America got to meet her as she fought her way courtside through cheering fans after Lute's Arizona team had earned a trip to the Final Four, and on national television he swept her off her feet and the two of them whirled round and round in joy. It is a love story of a couple who together built a sports legend. Lute and Bobbi Olson were a team. The Arizona community loved her almost as much as he did---traditionally at the beginning of each game the Wildcat band greeted them with a cheer. Their almost half-century love affair ended with Bobbi's death from cancer. Lute explores how he dealt with her death, and how he moved forward to find a new love.

This is the chronicle of one American boy's dream to become a great basketball coach---his achievements, his coaching strategies, and the wins and losses he faced as boy, man, and coach, but always with one constant in his life: the game of basketball. This is the story of fifty seasons in the life of Lute Olson.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Early in his eighth decade of life, Lute Olson is still the face of basketball at the University of Arizona. Over the last 20 years, he has turned the once-moribund program into a perennial member of the nation's top 10. For a straitlaced gent of Scandinavian ancestry, this is a pretty spicy memoir. It features details of Olson's three love affairs: the first with basketball, the second with his late wife of 50 years, Bobbi, and the third with his second wife, Chris. Basketball fans will enjoy the cycles of playing-recruiting-playing as Olson constructs his teams, first at Iowa and then at Arizona. Olson soft-pedals his contributions to on, court success, deferring much to his assistants and to Bobbi, who acted as recruiting assistant, den mother to lonely kids away from home, and therapist to a certain mercurial basketball coach. Olson injects a sly sense of humor into this unusually thoughtful sports autobiography--the life of a successful basketball coach and an intelligent man, well told. Wes Lukowsky
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

About the Author

LUTE OLSON, a native of Mayville, North Dakota, has been a college head coach the last thirty years. He has won more than eight hundred games while coaching at Long Beach City College, Long Beach State, the University of Iowa, and the University of Arizona. In 1997, Olson led the Arizona Wildcats to the NCAA championship and in 1988, 1994, 1997, and 2001 to the Final Four. His twenty-six NCAA Tournament appearances are the second most among active coaches, and his forty-five NCAA wins are also the second most among active coaches and tied for fourth all-time. As head coach at Iowa, Olson led the Hawkeyes to the 1979 Big Ten championship and five consecutive trips to the NCAA Tournament. He was named national Coach of the Year in 1988 and 1990. In addition, Olson was the gold medal--winning coach of the 1986 World Championship teams, the latter of which was the United States' last major international win with collegiate players making up the roster. In 2002 he was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame.
 
DAVID FISHER has collaborated on more than a dozen New York Times bestsellers. Among his bestselling sports books are It's Only a Game and Keep It Simple with Hall of Fame quarterback and broadcaster Terry Bradshaw.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 336 pages
• Publisher: Thomas Dunne Books; First Edition edition (October 3, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312354339
• ISBN-13: 978-0312354336
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.4 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,161,513 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great for basketball fans and especially Cats fans, November 14, 2006

By 

Brian Goodner - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Lute!: The Seasons of My Life (Hardcover)

It really is an interesting book about Lute's years. It sometimes is a bit disjointed and jumps between years, but from the standpoint of getting his viewpoint on all of the games I remember watching over the years was definitely captivating. He talks about how he barely missed out on such recruits as Kevin Johnson and Reggie Miller, and also discusses how his team should have beat Magic's MSU team that ended up winning it all. It is also nice to read about Bobbi, and how she was so close to all the players, and how, once, when she was sick and they were trapped in Budapest, Robert Sarver (current Phoenix Suns owner) flew out there to help them out in a time of need.

I recommend this book to any college or pro basketball fan, but especially to those that are Arizona alum.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Olson's biography is a good read for basketball fans, December 18, 2006

By 

Steve Emerine (Tucson, AZ United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Lute!: The Seasons of My Life (Hardcover)

Even Tucsonans who thought they knew everything about their long-time University of Arizona basketball coach will learn some interesting things from this autobiography. In it, Lute Olson shares his thoughts as he offers behind-the-scenes looks into on-court events and his personal life during his 70+ years. His modesty grabs you almost immediately. His tolerance for journalists, players, coaches and officials who fell short of his standards becomes apparent as he recounts scores of incidents in his career. I was an assistant city editor at the Arizona Daily Star in 1985 when its sports department rushed into print with a libelous and untrue story on Olson that caused him to consider looking elsewhere. I was assigned to take over sports and right the ship. We had been dead wrong, and we said so. Fortunately for us and the University of Arizona, Olson finally forgave our error and decided to stay. This book deals with the incident more charitably than we deserved. His decision to stay at Arizona for more than 20 years after that was right for the UA and for him. He went on to win a national championship and election to basketball's Hall of Fame. If you're a fan, a current or former player, a one-time coach or just a lover of good stories, this book is for you. It's about a poor kid who worked hard, married his school sweetheart and did pretty well for himself and his family. He suffered three terrible losses in his life but rebounded each time. Lute Olson is worthy of a Hall Fame both inside and outside of basketball.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A great success story, January 17, 2007

By 

My Opinion "For What It's Worth" (La Canada, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Lute!: The Seasons of My Life (Hardcover)

You don't have to be an avid basketball fan to enjoy this book and appreciate the life of a good person. Like many of us, Lute Olson and his wife Bobbie, his high school sweetheart, start on life's journey, upon graduating from college. Starting with very little money, but with a love for basketball, a strong work ethic and moral values, Lute and Bobbie earn a very successful life together.

My first exposure to Lute Olson was when my daughter attended University of Arizona from 1983 to 1988. These were the formative years for Lute at U of A when he was building the Wildcat program. Everyone on campus was in love with the team...Steeve Kerrrr, Sean Elliot and others. I still remember a photo of the team in black tie titled, A Class Act.

Shortly after my daughter's graduation I had the pleasure of briefly meeting Lute Olson in 1990 at the Long Beach Arena during the initial rounds of the NCAA tournament while attending a U of A booster rally. I introduced myself and my wife to Lute and explained that my wife and I really enjoyed the program, but that the real reason I was at the arena was to watch my alma mater, Loyola Marymount University, compete. I fully expected Coach Olson to make some sort of macho remark about a small-time program being lucky. I couldn't have been more wrong. Instead, he was very complimentary of the program that Paul Westhead had put together in a short period of time. He was very gracious and friendly. This experience only seemed to validate the person I began to know and understand while reading the book.

The story Lute tells is also about two love stories. The first is about his life with his first wife Bobbie, who tragically dies of cancer after 47 years of marriage. Bobbie was his lover and best friend who was a major part of his professional coaching career. A few years after Bobbie's death, Lute meets Christine, a divorcee with three sons, who is twenty-three years younger. They eventually marry, but not without a lot of difficulty while they attempt to merge two families together.

It's a wonderful story about a good man. A must read. Lute, if you happen to read this review, thank you for sharing your life with us. I wish the very best.