The Rhythm Boys of Omaha Central

by Marantz, Steve; Buffett, Susie

• ISBN13: 9780803234345
• ISBN10: 0803234341
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2011-03-01
• Publisher: Bison Books

Summary

In the spring of 1968, the Omaha Central High School basketball team made history with its first all-black starting lineup. Their nickname, the Rhythm Boys, captured who they were and what they did on the court. Led by star center Dwaine Dillard, the Rhythm Boys were a shoo-in to win the state championship. But something happened on their way to glory. In early March, segregationist George Wallace, in a third-party presidential bid, made a campaign stop in Omaha. By the time he left town, Dillard was in jail, his coach was caught between angry political factions, and the city teetered on the edge of racial violence. So began the Nebraska state high school basketball tournament the next day, caught in the vice of history.The Rhythm Boys of Omaha Centraltells a true story about high school basketball, black awakening and rebellion, and innocence lost in a watershed year. The drama of civil rights in 1968 plays out in this riveting social history of sports, politics, race, and popular culture in the American heartland.

Author Biography

Steve Marantz is an Omaha Central graduate and the author of Sorcery at Caesars: Sugar Ray's Marvelous Fight. A researcher for ESPN Content Development and E:60, and a coeditor of sportsmediaguide.com, he formerly covered sports, government, and politics for the Kansas City Star, the Boston Globe, and the Boston Herald. Susie Buffett, a 1971 graduate of Omaha Central, is the eldest of Warren Buffett's three children and runs the not-for-profit Sherwood Foundation.

Table of Contents

Foreword	p. ix
Prologue	p. xv
First Bell	p. 1
Tears of a Clown	p. 19
Summer of '67	p. 35
Just Their Imagination	p. 53
So Glad They Made It	p. 73
Get on Board	p. 89
Jupiter Aligns	p. 103
ôA Mongrel Unitö	p. 123
Wallace for President	p. 141
Darkness, Darkness	p. 161
The Broken Hearted	p. 175
Last Bell	p. 195
Their Beat Goes On	p. 213
Postscript	p. 219
Acknowledgments	p. 229
Index	p. 235
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.