{"product_id":"the-dandy-dons-1","title":"The Dandy Dons","description":"\u003cdiv\u003eIn the mid-1950s three unrecruited black basketball players, coached by a white former prison guard who had never before coached a college team, led a small Jesuit university in San Francisco to two national titles. \u003ci\u003eThe Dandy Dons\u003c\/i\u003e describes for the first time how the unprecedented accomplishment of the Dons, led by coach Phil Woolpert and future hall-of-famers Bill Russell and K. C. Jones, paved the way for black talent in major college basketball and transformed the sport.\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cdiv\u003eJames W. Johnson traces the backgrounds of the coach and players, chronicles the heart-stopping games on the road to the championships, and details the Dons’ novel techniques: a more vertical game, more central defense, and intimidation as part of game strategy. He also gives a textured picture of life on an integrated basketball team amid a culture of racism and Jim Crow in mid-twentieth-century America.\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"James W. Johnson","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43572767850678,"sku":"9780803224445","price":15.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0251\/4980\/0541\/files\/9780803224445_ff9bdac4-2487-43ca-a9b5-ef3dcbe80be3.jpg?v=1726580670","url":"https:\/\/combined-academic.myshopify.com\/products\/the-dandy-dons-1","provider":"Combined Academic Publishers - Mare Nostrum Group","version":"1.0","type":"link"}