Features
- Cover Type: Hard Cover with 287 pages
- Published by: St Martins Pr
- Edition: 1st Edition January 1991
- Written in: English
- ISBN 10 Number: 0312055382
- ISBN 13 Number: 978-0312055387
From Publishers Weekly
Chaney, basketball coach at Temple University, imparts to his players the lesson learned along his road out of a black Philadelphia ghetto: playing basketball is the stepstone to education and deliverance from poverty. This sports book weaves his teachings with a pedestrian journal of the Owls' 1989-1990 season, during which Chaney cajoles his players to make "smart" decisions both on the court and off. Although Wartenberg, correspondent for the Philadelphia Inquirer and
New York Times , is credited as the sole author, Chaney's hand is ever present. Hard questions about race and college sports are asked meekly and the murky area of recruiting is barely touched. In the end, a potentially fine story comes off as self-serving propaganda.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
Basketball writer Wartenberg spent the 1989-90 season following the Temple University Owls and their successful, eight-year coach, Chaney. The book's title reflects Chaney's philosophy in basketball and life. The coach emphasizes the human being within the player, insisting "winning is within you." Wartenberg's book is in much the same vein as John Feinstein's A Season on the Brink ( LJ 11/1/86). But Chaney and Indiana's Bob Knight are different men and coaches, and Wartenberg's narrative makes for a more positive story. Wartenberg uses many of Chaney's exact words, and the reader gets a feel for one of the game's most outspoken critics of the National Collegiate Athletic Association's controversial Proposition 48 (requiring a minimum SAT score for college admission), which Chaney believes has racist overtones. This is an important basketball book. Highly recommended.
- Boyd Childress, Auburn Univ. Lib., Ala.Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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