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9 sports books for holiday reading and giving

If you like variety, these 2017 sports releases offer an abundance of that.

8. ‘Dust Bowl Girls: The Inspiring Story of the Team That Barnstormed Its Way to Basketball Glory’ by Lydia Reeder

  • By Ross Atkin

Today it’s hard to imagine a team like the Oklahoma Presbyterian College women’s basketball squad flying under the radar. But this Amateur Athletic Union championship contingent basically needed to be discovered in the pages of the “Dust Bowl Girls” to shine light on the fascinating group of country gals who brought athletic glory to a little-known college during the drought and financial depression of the early 1930s. The author, Lydia Reeder, was inspired to learn the story of the team her great-uncle coached.

Here’s an excerpt from Dust Bowl Girls:

“Sixteen-year-old Lucille Thurman opened her eyes at 2:55 a.m., five minutes before her clock was set to jangle. In the dark, she reached over and pushed the button to deactivate the alarm. For five delicious minutes, she lay in bed, closing her eyes and pulling the wool blanket up to her ears. She hated getting up when it was cold. Precisely at 3 a.m., other alarm clocks went off in a symphony that echoed through the fourth floor of Graham-Jackson Hall. 

“Time for basketball practice.

“Climbing out of bed, Lucille pulled on a thick wool robe, and gave her roommate, Coral Worley, a nudge. When she still wouldn’t open her eyes, Lucille flung the covers off Coral, who moaned, ‘It’s freezing.’

“But it wasn’t that cold. Life in the dorms [at Oklahoma Presbyterian College] was luxurious compared to home. Both girls had grown up on farms in western Oklahoma.”

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Mark Sappenfield
Editor

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