Synopses & Reviews
Imagine a boy, five feet tall and one hundred pounds, who wants to play high school basketball. Now imagine that he was blind until the age of six and that hes the first black student to attend his suburban school. And there you have Michael Thompson in 1965 in San Bruno, California. He played at the school where a young English teacher was coaching “lightweight basketball,” a competition for smaller players that has since disappeared. The team that Coach John Christgau put together came to be called the Whiz Kids for the way they rocketed up and down the court, led by Michael and invariably winning.
Michael and the Whiz Kids tells the story of the teams 1968 championship season. It is a tale of cliffhanger games and players as outsized in character as they are short in stature, from the wild-haired, bespectacled “Professor” to the well-traveled Latvian dubbed “Suitcase” to the quiet and tenacious “Salt,” as in “of the earth.” But it is also a tale of the time—of counterculture, suburbia, integration, and racial brawls erupting on the court. In Christgaus deft telling, it is an absorbing, often comic story of coming of age, for coach and Whiz Kids alike.
Review
“An absolutely great read, not just for basketball fans. John Christgau puts us back in the 1960s. We are there when the ‘Whiz Kids and the sharpshooting Michael win the championship as basketball and the world are changing.”—Seymour Smith, retired sportswriter of the Baltimore Sun Booklist
Review
“John Christgau, a master of capturing in detail a certain time and place, has done it again. His vivid recounting of a memorable high school basketball season in a suburb of San Francisco during the tumultuous late-1960s is riveting and ranks among his very finest works.”—John Horgan, columnist, San Mateo County Times Seymour Smith
Review
"This brief book is on a smaller canvas than those of many similar underdog stories, but the quality of its writing elevates its magnitude."—Mark Levine, Booklist Mark Levine
Review
"As a narrative of an American high school united by basketball and torn apart by the times, Marantz hits a nothing-but-net three-pointer."and#8212;Karl Helicher, ForeWord
Review
"Marantz presents an ultimately compelling snapshot of an eraand#8212;and a cityand#8212;in the throes of social upheaval."and#8212;Kirkus
Review
"Marantz . . . paints an entirely credible picture of the times, placing that infamous Omaha week in the historical context of an infamous year." and#8212;Michael Kelly, Omaha World-Herald
Review
"Marantz's narrative will touch readers far beyond Omaha."and#8212;Alan Moores, Booklist
Review
"Through it all, this talented team reeled off a string of victories, in a way trying to will its way through the bubbling tensions and bring the community together as sports often do. Sometimes, life gets in the way."and#8212;Jerry Milani, The Ultimate Fan
Review
"Despite the grim prognosis of the Rhythm Boys' community, Marantz presents a halcyon moment when these five extraordinary highschool athletes made anything seem possible at Omaha Central."and#8212;Amy Helene Forss, Great Plains Quarterly
Review
and#8220;Four decades after George Wallace ignited a race riot in Omaha, Steve Marantz goes home to tell the story of a high school basketball team and its tragic star. A heartbreaking look inside the lives of white and black students fighting and falling in love as they grow up amid historic upheaval.and#8221;and#8212;Ian Thomsen, columnist and feature writer for Sports Illustrated
Review
"The wheel, the printing press, the light bulb, the airplane, the space ship, the jump shotand#8212;the progress of man can be measured by leaps into the void. This fascinating look at the athletes who changed basketball by jumping into the air and creating, when such a thing was taboo, is about sport and competition, but most of all it is about what Christgau describes as and#8216;the spirit of originality.and#8217; I couldnand#8217;t put it down."and#8212;Rick Telander
Synopsis
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.and#160;and#160;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 vise of history. The Rhythm Boys of Omaha Central tells 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.
Synopsis
Before the jump shot, basketball was an earth-bound game. In fact, inventor James Naismith did not originally intend for players to move with the ball. The inspired invention of the dribble first put the ball handler in motion. The jump shot then took the action upward. But where, when, and how did the jump shot originate?and#160;Everybody interested in basketball knows the answer to that question. Unfortunately, everybody knows a different answer. John Christgau delves into basketballand#8217;s evolution, following the supposed inventors of the jump shot to the games in which they first took to the air. He discovers that a number of pioneer players, independently but from the same inspired possibility, can each claim credit for inventing the jump shot.
About the Author
Steve Marantz is an Omaha Central graduate and the author of Sorcery at Caesars: Sugar Rayand#8217;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 Buffettand#8217;s three children and runs the not-for-profit Sherwood Foundation.