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Sep 22, 2016 Web Exclusive By Frank Valish

Basketball lovers of a certain age will always remember Muggsy Bogues, the 5’3” point guard who was more than a foot shorter than most players yet played with grit, pluck, determination, and marvelous skill. The Boys of Dunbar tells the story of the 1981-82 Dunbar Poets, Bogues’ high school team from impoverished East Baltimore that went undefeated and spawned several future NBA talents.

Those Poets, which included future NBA players Reggie Lewis, David Wingate, Reggie Williams, and Bogues, was the best in the nation, a team of kids from the inner city who overcame an environment filled with drugs and crime to reach ultimate heights. Danois’ tale provides background on each of the team’s members, as well as disciplinarian taskmaster coach Bob Wade, and follows the team’s undefeated season, chronicling each win.

Yes, The Boys of Dunbar is a book about high school basketball. But it is much more than that. If one has patience to wade through the stats and game recollections, one will find that The Boys of Dunbar is a book about survival, a book about perseverance, a story about hard work and overcoming obstacles. Bogues is central to the tale, the story of the shortest player to ever play a tall man’s game at the highest level. The courage, leadership, and drive are remarkable, and The Boys of Dunbar chronicles it from its beginning. (www.simonandschuster.com)

Author rating: 7/10