One Small Town, One Crazy Coach

By Mike Roos,

Book cover of One Small Town, One Crazy Coach: The Ireland Spuds and the 1963 Indiana High School Basketball Season

Book description

In the summer of 1962, the peripatetic and irrepressible Pete Gill was hired on a whim to coach basketball at tiny Ireland High School. There he would accomplish, against enormous odds, one of the great small-town feats in Indiana basketball history. With no starters taller than 5'10", few wins were…

When you buy books, we may earn a commission that helps keep our lights on (or join the rebellion as a member).

Why read it?

1 author picked One Small Town, One Crazy Coach as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Mike Roos did a great job telling this true story of Indiana high school basketball. Roos’s father was the high school principal that hired that crazy coach referenced in the title. He used extensive interviews and years of rewrites to recreate meetings, locker room pep talks, and dialogue. Not only is this a good story, but Roos showed readers what is wonderful about creative nonfiction. It reads like a novel, but it’s genuine nonfiction.

From Matthew's list on more than just sports books.

Want books like One Small Town, One Crazy Coach?

Our community of 12,000+ authors has personally recommended 87 books like One Small Town, One Crazy Coach.

Browse books like One Small Town, One Crazy Coach

Book cover of One Shot at Forever: A Small Town, an Unlikely Coach, and a Magical Baseball Season
Book cover of Summer of '49
Book cover of Go Up for Glory

Share your top 3 reads of 2024!

And get a beautiful page showing off your 3 favorite reads.

1,586

readers submitted
so far, will you?

5 book lists we think you will like!

Interested in Indiana, college basketball, and basketball?

Indiana 39 books
Basketball 55 books