The Dandy Dons: Bill Russell, K. C. Jones, Phil Woolpert, and One of College Basketball's Greatest and Most Innovative Teams

by Johnson, James W.

• ISBN13: 9780803218772
• ISBN10: 080321877X
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2009-06-01
• Publisher: Univ of Nebraska Pr

Summary

In the mid-1950s three unrecruited black basketball players, coached by a white former prison guard who had never before coached a college team, led a small Jesuit university in San Francisco to two national titles.The Dandy Donsdescribes for the first time how the unprecedented accomplishment of the Dons, led by coach Phil Woolpert and future hall-of-famers Bill Russell and K. C. Jones, paved the way for black talent in major college basketball and transformed the sport. James W. Johnson traces the backgrounds of the coach and players, chronicles the heart-stopping games on the road to the championships, and details the Dons' novel techniques: a more vertical game, more central defense, and intimidation as part of game strategy. He also gives a textured picture of life on an integrated basketball team amid a culture of racism and Jim Crow in mid-twentieth-century America.

Author Biography

James W. Johnson is an emeritus professor of journalism at the University of Arizona in Tucson and the author of several books, including The Wow Boys: A Coach, a Team, and a Turning Point in College Football, available in a Bison Books edition.

Table of Contents

Preface: The Changing Game	p. ix
Acknowledgments	p. xix
Introduction	p. xxi
Russell's Coming of Age	p. 1
A Road Trip to Discovery	p. 9
On Catholic Schools and Race	p. 15
Another Surprise Recruit	p. 23
A School He'd Never Heard Of	p. 29
Roommates and Friends Forever	p. 35
Time to Produce	p. 45
A Disappointing Season	p. 61
An Unlikely Coach	p. 71
A Surprising Move	p. 83
The Trail to the Title	p. 103
Russell Brings about Rule Changes	p. 121
The Machine Rolls On	p. 129
Into the Deep South	p. 137
Holiday Travel and the Stall	p. 145
Two in a Row	p. 161
A New Sport for Russell	p. 175
The Aftermath	p. 181
Epilogue	p. 193
Notes	p. 205
Bibliography	p. 237
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