Our Boys: A Perfect Season on the Plains with the Smith Center Redmen [Hardcover]

Joe Drape (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 18, 2009

An inspiring portrait of the extraordinary high-school football team whose quest for perfection sustains its hometown in the heartland

The football team in Smith Center, Kansas, has won sixty-seven games in a row, the nation’s longest high-school winning streak. They have done so by embracing a philosophy of life taught by their legendary coach, Roger Barta: “Respect each other, then learn to love each other and together we are champions.”

But as they embarked on a quest for a fifth consecutive title in the fall of 2008, they faced a potentially destabilizing transition: the greatest senior class in school history had graduated, and Barta was contemplating retirement after three decades on the sidelines.

In Smith Center—population: 1,931—this changing of the guard was seismic. Hours removed from the nearest city, the town revolves around “our boys” in a way that goes to the heart of what America’s heartland is today.

Joe Drape, a Kansas City native and an award-winning sportswriter for The New York Times, moved his family to Smith Center to discover what makes the team and the town an inspiration even to those who live hundreds of miles away. His stories of the coaches, players, and parents reveal a community fighting to hold on to a way of life that is rich in value, even as its economic fortunes decline.

Drape’s moving portrait of Coach Barta and the impressive young men of Smith Center is sure to take its place among the more memorable American sports stories of recent years. 

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Although Drape traveled to the Midwest to chronicle a record-setting high school football season, the tale he spins ends up being one that transcends athletics, a story of adolescence and smalltown life. Smith Center, Kans., is a sleepy locale 90 miles from the nearest McDonald's, a place with more windmills than people. But it's also home to Kansas's biggest football powerhouse, a team that entered the fall of 2008 with 56 straight victories and four consecutive championships. From the opening practice to the Redmen's final game, Drape flawlessly paints a picture of how Smith Center achieves perfection year after year. More importantly, he delves into the individual stories on the team: the tough but kindhearted coach who built a dynasty from nothing; the sure-fire college prospect; and the assistant coach's son, trying to live up to his father's legacy. All the while, Drape details the friendships he develops away from the field with the parents and other townspeople, and the mutual joy they bring the Redmen. With a clear sensitivity toward the difficulties facing the Smith Center players, along with more than a dash of humor, Drape gives the reader a team worth rooting for. (Aug.)
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Review

"Our Boys is about far more than football. It’s an inspiring story about how a coach and a community are building young men with the simple values of love, patience, and hard work. This is a great book."—Joe Paterno, head football coach, Pennsylvania State University

"If you want to turn away from the high-voltage auctioneer babble that surrounds big-time, big-money sport, take this trip to Smith Center, Kansas, with Joe Drape. This is organic stuff, a fat and healthy slice of unadulterated American life. Simply terrific."—Leigh Montville, author of The Big Bam and At the Altar of Speed

"Our Boys delves into the heart of America in a manner that reminds me of The Last Picture Show and Friday Night Lights. Joe Drape crafts a terrific tale that will make you laugh, cry, and think. This is a story about small-town America that will make you shout."—Jim Dent, author of Twelve Mighty Orphans and The Junction Boys

"Joe Drape tells the remarkable story of the Smith Center Redmen, not only their success in winning football games, but also in swelling pride for a community and building character in young men. He shows that Roger Barta and the people in Smith Center are winners in every sense of the word."—Bob Stoops, head coach, University of Oklahoma

"Joe Drape has caught something deep and beautiful in Our Boys. It is true to the reality of life on the plains, much more than another football story."—David Maraniss, author of When Pride Still Mattered: A Life of Vince Lombardi

"A great read for all, but even more so for big-city readers to get a taste of the quality of life and genuine caring of this small community and its revered teacher, mentor, and coach – Roger Barta. It is not so much a story about football but about the true meaning of midwestern values, family life, and the spirit of small town Kansas and its special people. I couldn’t put it down."—Bill Snyder, head coach, Kansas State University

"A feel-good story of youthful drive, great coaching and the value of unflagging communal support."—Kirkus Reviews

"The tale [Drape] spins ends up being one that transcends athletics, a story of adolescence and smalltown life. . . . From the opening practice to the Redmen’s final game, Drape flawlessly paints a picture of how Smith Center achieves perfection year after year. . . . Drape gives the reader a team worth rooting for."—Publishers Weekly

“‘Hoosiers’ on a football field.”—New York Post

“The most improbable, unabashed love story I've read in years.”—Minneapolis Star Tribune

“A compelling story expertly told.”—Pat Forde, ESPN.com

                                         

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Times Books (August 18, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0805088903
• ISBN-13: 978-0805088908
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.6 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (72 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #102,638 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I've covered everything from earthquakes to political conventions, Olympics to college championships. But returning to high school in the heart of America with my wife and 3-year-old son to write "Our Boys: A Perfect Season on the Plains with the Smith Center Redmen has been my most rewarding experience. I made friends for life and "Our Boys" became a New York Times Bestseller. Check out www.joedrape.com for more about Smith Center and the Redmen. About me: I am a Kansas City native, a graduate of Southern Methodist University and reporter for The New York Times. I previously worked for The Dallas Morning News and The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. When I'm not in Kansas, I live with my wife and son in New York City.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars One of the Best Sports Stories in American History, July 23, 2009

By 

Christopher J. Martin (Alexandria, VA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Our Boys: A Perfect Season on the Plains with the Smith Center Redmen (Hardcover)

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Our Boys is an amazing tale about the high school football team from tiny Smith Center, Kansas. As of the 2000 census, the town had just 1,931 people with most of them living in town or near it on family farms. Despite having such a small town to draw athletes from, the Smith Center High School Redmen football team prior to the 2008 season had won four consecutive Kansas 2A titles and boasted a record winning streak of over 50 games.

Joe Drape, a reporter for the New York Times, a Kansas native, originally discovered the Redmen and Smith Center after the team set a high school scoring record, scoring 72 points in one quarter. Drape moved his entire family to Smith Center at the beginning of the 2008 season in order to chronicle the Redmen's drive for their fifth straight 2A state football title and their pursuit of the all-time winning streak record of 66 wins in a row. This book is the result.

The book's over 250 pages, and I read it in a single day. That's how good this story is, and how much I as a reader cared about Head Coach Roger Barta, his assistants, the players, and everybody else in the town of Smith Center that Drape writes about.

This isn't "just a sports book," although the game action described by Drape is very well done. The point of the book, and according to Coach Barta, is it's not about the wins and losses, one just needs to focus on getting better each day. That's a good life lesson for all of us. Barta knows that his players aren't going to go on to play in the NFL, (although one of his former players already has) he wants to make them better people while they're playing football and having fun. He also teaches his players about the value of hard work, which is, I have no doubt, why, as Drape writes, so many of his players go on to have successful careers at whatever they choose to do in bigger cities.

After I finished the book, I found myself using the Internet to find out more information on all of the team's seniors. That's how good Drape is at writing about this team and the players on it. As a reader, I really cared about the players by the end of the book. I really hope every one of them is successful in what they chose to do after high school.

Drape also does a great job at writing about the community of Smith Center, and how the high school is such a big part of that community. He also portrays why small town life is so wonderful to so many people, because everybody cares about everybody else. Everybody in Smith Center cares about the players, and not just because they're football players and won games, but because they're the town's kids. There's a tendency, I think, from many people to think kids like the ones Drape writes about are "too perfect" but Drape does touch on their mistakes and misjudgments at times. They're definitely real kids, just ones with the mindset that they want to do the right thing off the field, and win in sports with class and dignity. That's a real good antidote to those of us who live in major metropolitan areas and see so much on the news about kids who don't do the right thing.

Drape also writes about his personal experiences in Smith Center, especially about how his young son Jack immediately took to the town, its people, and especially the football team. I'm originally from Nebraska, and some of Drape's writing about being surprised at how much e-mail, texting, social network web sites, and other technology has permeated the teenage culture in middle America I had to laugh at. Middle America isn't the Moon, the kids there in many ways are no different than the kids in New York City, Boston or any big city in America. I had to laugh when Drape writes about being shocked by this, it's a good description of how our society has preconceived notions about different areas of the country. I give Drape credit for being bold, and secure, enough to include that in his book. He's also quite complementary of the town in general, writing in at least two places about how good the food is, and how he couldn't get meals that good for those prices in New York City. He doesn't overlook the shortfalls and problems of the town though, noting that it's losing population and the vast majority of the people still living in Smith Center won't be alive 20-25 years, or even less, from now. Drape doesn't go as far as he could have though in writing at least a little bit about the decline of small towns in Middle America, which I find profoundly saddening.

As a historian, I wish he'd written about more of the town's history though. Drape doesn't even mention that silent film star Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle was born in Smith Center. He quotes NFL linebacker Mark Simoneau who played for Barta, but he doesn't even mention, much less quote, former NFL special teams standout Steve Tasker, who's also from Smith Center.

This story from Coach Barta on down to his players and the community shows, as another reviewer wrote, what is right about America.

Unfortunately, I can't lavish the same praise for the book's editing and that's what keeps this book from being five star material. I counted no less than a dozen errors of spelling, grammar, punctuation and facts in the book. Most of the errors were simply due to bad, or lazy, editing by the publisher. I really hope they're all corrected before publication because they mar an otherwise outstanding book. Drape also gets his facts wrong on a couple of occasions. He writes about an assistant coach who joined the staff in 1990 as being the newest assistant on Coach Barta's staff, when on the same page just a few paragraphs before he wrote about another staff member who he says joined the Smith Center coaching staff in 1993 immediately after graduation from the school. Drape also makes a statement about a player being good at "Mario Kart on the XBox." Sorry Joe, Mario Kart isn't on the XBox and never has been. Your editor should have caught that.

If the errors weren't there, or are corrected before publication, this book has the potential to be another Friday Night Lights. I can say without reservation that I'm now a Smith Center Redmen fan and I think anyone else who reads this book will be too. It's a feel good story that you won't be able to put down.

Go Redmen!

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Absolute Gem!!!, July 3, 2009

By 

Michael DENNISUK "cc coach" (trenton, michigan USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Our Boys: A Perfect Season on the Plains with the Smith Center Redmen (Hardcover)

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This is one of the best books I have read on high school sports since reading "Friday Night Lights" 20 years ago. The author, Joe Drape, moves his wife and son Jack to Smith Center, Kansas to follow the exploits of the town's high school football team. The Smith Center Redmen are riding a 4 year winning streak that has culminated in 4 state titles. In 2008 they are seeking to continue the streak and break the state record.

This is an amazing story about love, family, commitment, small town America and football. I have been around high school sports and young people most of my adult life. We are often blinded by mega sports stars,free agent contracts, performance enhancing drugs and professional extravaganzas. The pure essence of sport is embodied in the high school athlete who sacrifices and works hard for the benefit of the lessons learned.

Mr. Drape gets it absolutely right. Coach Barta and his staff impart life wisdom to the group of remarkable young men you will come to love as you read this book. This book is an ABSOLUTE GEM!!!

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars It takes a community to raise a child..., July 17, 2009

By 

Jason Whitt "Whittmeister" (Southwest Mich., United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Our Boys: A Perfect Season on the Plains with the Smith Center Redmen (Hardcover)

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The best service I can do for "Our Boys" is to say that, despite the photo on the cover, this is not a sports book so much as it is a book about the power of community, family and the inherent rewards of hard work.

Joe Drape's first hand account tells the true story of one high school football team's run for history in the small, rural Kansas town of Smith Center. At first blush it would be easy to dismiss this book as yet another "Hoosiers" tale with helmets and cleats. But readers will find that "Our Boys" isn't just a story about a group of kids striving to do what no one (including themselves) thought they could. This book is about something much bigger than "winning the big game".

The Smith Center Redmen were known throughout Kansas and the country for their incredible winning streak that had spanned 4 seasons and counting. Pressure was mounting to eclipse the win record held by another school. "Our Boys" allows us to be a fly on the wall to observe that journey, a journey taken by the entire town.

Joe Drape integrates himself and his family into the community and indeed becomes a part of it. And while a fair share of the book is about what takes place in the games, the vast majority of the book is instead devoted in great detail to the people of Smith Center. Those who built it up and continue to keep it alive and breathing. These are simple but smart farm folk with old fashioned values. They still teach "yes sir" and "yes ma'am". Yes, their kids go to school and play ball, but also tend their farms along side their parents.

At its' core, Our Boys, and in fact the entire town, illustrate that the unprecedented success of the Smith Center football program is more a by-product of the values they instill in their children rather than the end goal. Coach Barta, his assistants, the townspeople and local business all join together in one common goal. That is to teach their children that success is "to strive to get a little bit better every day".

There is no question that sports fans will love this book. But a love of sports is far from a prerequisite because this is not a story about wins and losses. It's a story about the things we don't hear enough about these days, a story about what is right in America.