Growing Up: Farm Life & Basketball in the 1940s & '50s

By Harold L. Schoen

Book Overview

An inspiring, "American-Dream" story of rising in economic and educational status from humble beginnings in a long-gone world of working with neighbors, radio entertainment, few telephones, unsupervised play, and sports just for fun.

Born in 1941 on a farm that had no electricity and was operated with workhorses, Hal Schoen was the oldest boy in a family of 13 children. He helped his parents and others in their neighborhood group to thresh wheat and oats and to butcher hogs among many other farm chores.

The farm was not just a site for work, but also a giant playground for us kids ... we had exclusive access to a large barnyard, fruit orchard, the barn and other farm buildings, and 135 acres of fields that included a small woods and creek.

(p. 47)

No one in his family had attended college and neither parent graduated from high school. Fortunately, Hal obtained a provisional basketball scholarship from legendary University of Dayton coach Tom Blackburn. After some tough personal challenges and some lucky breaks, he became a starting forward then team captain for the Flyers before earning his bachelor's degree.

When the team returned after winning the 1962 National Invitation Tournament], ...Mom, Dad, and a carload of siblings were in the crowd at the Dayton airport. After ten days in New York City competing in Madison Square Garden, I was struck the moment I saw them by the vast difference between the world I had just left and that of my childhood.

(p. 178)

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1542501857
• ISBN13: 9781542501859
• Release Date: January 2017
• Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
• Length: 224 Pages
• Weight: 0.65 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 5.5" x 8.5"