The Miracle of St. Anthony: A Season With Coach Bob Hurley and Basketball's Most Improbable Dynasty

New York, London, et al.: Gotham Books/Published by Penguin Group (USA), Inc., 2005. 1st Printing: Febuary 2005. Hardcover. Very Good/No Jacket. 8vo or 8° (Medium Octavo): 7¾" x 9¾" tall. 382 pp. Solidly bound copy with minimal external wear, crisp pages and clean text. No dust jacket. Synopsis: In a city mired in endless decay, where the youth suffer through all the horrors of urban blight, hope comes in a most unassuming form: a tiny brick schoolhouse run by two Felician nuns where a singular basketball genius takes teenagers from the mean streets of Jersey City and turns them into champions on the hardcourt. Coach Bob Hurley had been working miracles at St. Anthony High School for over thirty years, winning state and national championships and offering his players rescue from their surroundings through college scholarships, when he met his most dysfunctional team yet. In The Miracle of St. Anthony Adrian Wojnarowski follows Hurley through a gripping and heartrending season as he struggles to lead a troubled team to glory through his unparalleled understanding of the game and his ceaseless determination to see no more children lost to these streets. Acclaim for The Miracle of St. Anthony: "It takes two ingredients to make a book special: a great story and a great storyteller. The Miracle of St. Anthony has both. Bob Hurley is a remarkable coach; Adrian Wojnarowski is his equal as a writer, says John Feinstein. It takes you through this miracle season where this high school basketball team didn't have the greatest talent but somehow came out on top...[Coach Hurley] is dedicated to these city kids and helping them overcome the obstacles that the city can offer. A lot of his lessons are not about basketball, but about life, and doing things the right way." Bill Raferty, The Wall Street Journal.