Customer Reviews

The Thin Thirty

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I enjoyed reading Shannon Ragland's The Thin Thirty. I was one of the UK players who experienced a great deal of what Shannon chronicles, Reading the book, it feels as if he must have been there at the time. His attention to detail, in his interviews, puts the reader in the exact situation we were in, in 1962.
The biggest question, that can never be answered, is what would have happened if Blanton Collier had remained the head coach at UK? Or if Coach Bradshaw had chosen to use a different set of tactics, instead of "Total Football?" So many careers were ruined, as well as relations with the University--not to mention those who chose never to play again.

Alas, we are left to wonder why it took so long for these times and events to come to the public's attention. All of us were traumatized, some more than others. Nevertheless, I think the reader will receive a total and truly accurate account of those times.......Bob Kosid (a.k.a. The Canadian)

This is a story that needed to be told after 45 years on the shelf, so to speak, and Shannon you did a wonderful job telling it. I met and married my husband, a Thin Thirty man, shortly after he graduated from UK and I sort of feel like I went through it with him. I've met and spent time with several of the guy's and so many of the people, places and events aren't new to me. Vince said Shannon painted a great verbal picture of the events leading up to and including that unbelivable year, 1962. It was a bittersweet read for me, one fraught with intense emotion on all levels! Shannon, I wish you great success with your book and hope that it is taken in the vain you meant it to be taken in! It was a courageous undertaking and you met the challenge like a hero !!
Susan Semary

The Thin Thirty is one of the top five sports books I have ever read.
After being buried in the minds of so many people for 45 years, this story has finally been told. The research Shannon did for this book was truly outstanding!

Every football (or sports) fan in America needs to read this book, not only for the remarkable story of the 1962 University of Kentucky football team but also for the historical connotations he describes. It is a fascinating yet disturbing step back in time.

Shannon's book takes one back to when the team members were in high school being recruited, to the fateful 1962 season and on to where each player is now.

It is a hard book to put down once one starts to read it.
Buy it today...you will forever have a new perspective on college football.
It is an amazing story that you will not soon forget.
-- Jack D. Powers, Lexington, KY

Having been a product of southern football in the early 60s (a successful HS program, though, not college), I recognize many of the brutalization tactics employeed by Bradshaw and his staff. So traumatized by practices were we that we looked upon actual games as fun times off. No wonder we did so well and our opponents hated to play us. No comment about the fixing allegation, as I've no knowledge of that. But, the gay sex thing rang true, also. It's hard today to realize just how naive young men were in that age. That robust, hetero young men could have partaken in such without any stigma says a lot about how far we've come in the politization of all things sexual in the last half of the 20th century.

As to the artifact itself (the book). This is one of the worst production jobs I've ever seen. Was there no editor or proof-reader available? Grammatical mistakes and typos abound. And the binding did not survive a first reading. Even opening the book flat on my lap loosened the pages, so poorly were they glued in.

But, the information in this book is a vital link to a time gone forever, and should be part of any historical survey of college football in the south. Not for everyone, but a must read for anyone wondering how football came to be a religion in the south.

Who among the male sports fans reading this has not at some time subscribed to the Bear Bryant/Vince Lombardi school of coaching, or thinking? We have all done it.

It goes something like this:

Part One - Be tough on the kids, break em down physically and mentally.
Part Two - Build them back up as a team, encourage them, reward them.

Ever wondered what would happen if Part One was overdone, and Part Two was ignored?

Well, that's exactly what occurred at Kentucky University in 1962, and that is what The Thin Thirty is about.

The book gets its name from the fact that in the winter of 1961 KU had 88 men out for football, but after the brutality of the "conditioning program," spring practice, and finally fall practice, when the first game rolled around in 1962 only 30 players were left on the team.

The "thin" part of the title refers to the fact that among the 30 survivors most had gone from hefty guys down to scrawny, thin, weakened young men.

And the abuse did not stop there. Scholarship players who quit because of the insanity and physical abuse (wait till you read about the coach that slugged a player, knocked a tooth out and then demanded he continue with no interruption) were badgered into signing a waiver giving up their scholarships - a clear violation of the scholarship contract.

This is about a coaching staff and supportive administration that ran amok. And more importantly it is about dozens of young men who were forced to choose to endure the label of quitter for finally throwing in the towel on the KU version of the Bataan Death March.

Richly researched and told in a vivid style of writing, this is a book about what was nothing less than a concentration camp masquerading as a football program. And the stories of how the survivors eventually built solid lives for themselves in spite of the experience will bring tears to your eyes.

Bryant and Lombardi were masters. But they remembered Part Two of their formula. The "Bryant wannabees" at KU in 1962 forgot Part Two and became sadists in classic Lord Of The Flies fashion.

There is a message there for all of us.

PS This book deserved to be printed and distributed by a large publisher. Instead it seems to have been printed by a vanity press - so be prepared for some typos and errors in grammar - but don't let that put you off - this is a great book and we hope to hear more from this author.

I played for Bradshaw 65'-69'. The book was accurate but the indoor conditioning and tough style of coaching continued through till his departure in 69'.

Unbelievable story of a Ky football program out of control. The research and documentation is unbelievable. The story hooked me and made me a true blue believer in the story as told by the author.

When I saw the picture on the cover of "The Thin Thirty" I saw a familiar face with a very familiar look on his face. I played the college game under Coach Bradshaw at Troy University from 1979-1983 with 83 being his last year as a college coach. I will confess that Coach Bradshaw was the single toughest man I have ever met in my life. He was brutal when it came to conditioning, never allowing water breaks amid five hours practices twice daily in the wire grass of south Alabama during the hottest time in recorded history, 1980 and 1981, it being as hot as 117 degrees and us in full contact for hours on end. When I read some of the comments by the players of the Kentucky team described in "The Thin Thirty", I am transported back to my days at Troy. I was not one of his favorites, but I think maybe he had none looking back on it. I spoke to Coach Bradshaw prior to his death when he was relegated to a nursing home, many years after my playing days were over. Our last conversation was about his regrets. The top regret was losing his wife, the second was how he treated his players over the years, at Troy and at Kentucky. I'll never forget him.

I have written a book called "The Train Ride" about the loss of a friend, but a good bit of Coach Bradshaw's tyranny is described there. It is spooky (the best word I can use)how the Kentucky players descriptions match the memories I have of my time playing the college game. The man might never know the influence he had on so many and I say thank you to Mr. Ragland.

The five stars are only valid if you are a UK fan and know the history of the Thin Thirty. It was a great book as I knew a lot of people mentioned.
If you don't know the people and the history of that era then this book might not be for you.

Anyone who is a college football fan should read this book. Very well written with a storyline you won't read about anywhere else.