My review of Champion of the Barrio: The Legacy of Coach Buryl Baty (Texas A&M University Press) by R. Gaines Baty was published in the Texas football special edition of Lone Star Literary Life! From the review:Champion of the Barrio is part gentle pleasure in the sweet details from the diary of Coach Baty’s wife when she was a teenager, stories of the high-schooler Baty when they built campfires in locker rooms to keep warm, and traveled to away games wearing coats and ties. The author’s depictions of the football games are exciting and suspenseful and it’s fun to read about names such as Bear Bryant, Tom Landry, and Frank Broyles before fame and fortune. Occasionally there is humor: “By the end of spring drills, these kids looked pretty good at times. But then, there were the other times.”
The other part of Champion is breathtaking ignorant ugliness— motel owners who wouldn’t let the Bears sleep in their rooms, café owners who wouldn’t let the Bears eat in their dining rooms, and schools that wouldn’t let them use their locker rooms or restrooms. And this: “Fifteen-yard penalty for speaking Spanish!”
Follow this link to read the entire review. Please and hank you!