9781524731861

1524731862

9781524731878 (ebook)

"From the author of the best-selling The Butler--an emotional, inspiring story of two teams from a poor, black, segregated high school in Ohio, who, in the midst of the racial turbulence of 1968/1969, win the Ohio state baseball and basketball championships in the same year. 1968 and 1969: Martin Luther King Jr. and Bobby Kennedy are assassinated. Race relations are frayed like never before. Cities are aflame as demonstrations and riots proliferate. But in Columbus, Ohio, the Tigers of segregated East High School win the baseball and basketball championships, defeating bigger, richer, whiter teams across the state. Now, Wil Haygood gives us a spirited and stirring account of this improbable triumph and takes us deep into the personal lives of these local heroes: Robert Wright, power forward, whose father was a murderer; Kenny Mizelle, the Tigers' second baseman, who grew up under the false impression that his father had died; Eddie 'Rat' Ratleff, the star of both teams, who would play for the 1972 U.S. Olympic basketball team. We meet Jack Gibbs, the first black principal at East High; Bob Hart, the white basketball coach, determined to fight against the injustices he saw inflicting his team; the hometown fans who followed the Tigers to stadiums across the state. And, just as important, Haygood puts the Tigers' story in the context of the racially charged late 1960s. The result is both an inspiring sports story and a singularly illuminating social history"-- Provided by publisher.

The inspiring story of baseball and basketball teams from a poor, black, segregated high school in Ohio, who win the Ohio state baseball and basketball championships in the same year. 1968-1969. Across the US, race relations are frayed; race riots proliferate. But in Columbus, Ohio, the Tigers of segregated East High School win the baseball and basketball championships, defeating bigger, richer, whiter teams across the state. Haygood takes us into the personal lives of the local heroes, and puts the Tigers' story in the context of the racially charged late 1960s. The result is both an inspiring sports story and a singularly illuminating social history. -- adapted from publisher info

1968-1969 : a city divided, a nation torn apart, and a magical season of healing

City divided, a nation torn apart, and a magical season of healing

Prologue: 1968, Reverend King passed this way

Down to the river

Eddie Rat meets the Afro-wearing Bo-Pete

The house that Jack built

Momentum

Keeping food in the pantry

So many dreams in the segregated city

Panthers and Tigers, oh my

The church where Martin Luther King Jr. preached

St. John Arena

The ballad of Jackie Robinson

Twilight at Harley Field

Robert Duncan and Richard Nixon's America

The catcher in the storm

Ghosts of the blue birds

Off into the world

Blood in Ohio

Sins laid bare

Epilogue: Still standing.

East High School (Columbus, Ohio) > History.

Basketball > Ohio > Columbus > History.

Baseball > Ohio > Columbus > History.

Columbus (Ohio) > Race relations > History.

Columbus (Ohio) > Biography.

Ohio > Columbus.