From the Publisher
Point Guard is a great book for anyone who loves basketball and March Madness. I was very impressed by what a great job the cover designer did designing the dust jacket. Most of all this book is fun to read because it gives the reader a slice of life the way it really was way back in the fifties. This novel is more than the story of how a poor young man from a broken midwestern home struggles to become a starting guard on a varsity basketball team, although his character was well developed. The character of the coach is a gripping story also. At 27 years, the Ashland basketball coach was a college grad who earned 12 varsity letters: four in gymnastics, four in wrestling, and four in basketball. He then went into the Marines during the Korean War and became a DI and coach for the Marine Corps basketball team.
For me the way this team came together was striking and the description of the basketball games was better than reading the sports pages. I highly recommend this book to everyone who loves the sport of basketball.
On a personal note, Dennis Bast, one of the Panther's forwards was diagnosed two years after graduating (in 1959) with MS. That is the reason I am working as the Coordinator for the Boulder, Colorado MS 5K Walk. I am working to help raise funds to support the research to find a cure for MS. Oh, by the way, I'm both the Publisher and the Author of this fine novel.
From the Author
I interviewed 18 people to get the true story before I began writing my fiction novel.
Point Guard was inspired by true events. It was set in the 1950s and tells the story of my Brother Gary's glory days playing high school basketball for the Ashland Panthers. There were only 19 kids in my Brother's high school graduation ceremony.
I researched all the team's games and scoring records through the Illinios Historical Library. Although their team was from a sleepy little farm community, they played offense at a fierce pace, and were arguably, stronger on defense than offense. They were noticed across the state when they won 20 games in a row, were undefeated at home for two years and buried one team by scoring 114 points on that team's home court.
My first thought was to write this book as a tribute to my Brother and his team and give it to him as a surprise. Unfortunately, Gary died of prostate cancer two years ago while I was in the middle of my research, interviews, and writing the first draft. (The finshed book is the fifth complete revision.) After Gary's funeral I renewed my efforts to interview everybody and complete the book. Gary never knew I was writing it for him.
If you read Point Guard, and you like it, I hope you will tell everybody you know to get a copy because you can help me make this book a real success.
