"Our Boys: A Perfect Season on the Plains with the Smith Center Redmen" by Joe Drape

The genesis of this tale can find its origin in a typical football season with an atypical football game.  It was then the Smith Center Redmen scored 72 points in the first quarter of a game.  This was a feat never before accomplished, and it grabbed national attention – including the attention of New York Times sportswriter Joe Drape, who traveled to the small Midwestern town for the story.

What he discovers is a story beyond that mere single quarter of football.  Those seventy-two points was more than just a fluke that dropped onto a hapless Kansas team one football Friday night.  There was a football program in place established on character-building as opposed to grossing a litany of wins. 

And interestingly enough, while the community of Smith Center was building character within their boys, their boys were winning games – a lot of games.  Every game played for the prior four seasons.  Four consecutive state championships.    Four consecutive perfect seasons.  The longest winning streak in the nation.  How?  What was going on in Smith Center Kansas?  Drape decided to move his family there for a season to find out.  The result is this wonderful book. 

From my own perspective as a true cynic towards the worlds of sports since the era of strikes and lockouts and free agency galore, I appreciated the integrity of the game being returned to its true roots.  Drape’s writing infuses substance into the game by telling the story of the people along with the town in which they reside.  He even is able to develop a bit of suspense into the outcome of the games (though ‘perfect season’ rests squarely on the book’s cover) granting accessibility to even the most lethargic of football fans.  This is a story for all who see value in the Midwestern way of life.  Read it today, and then share it with your big-city friends.