Download PDF Growing Up Farm Life Basketball in the 1940s s Harold L Schoen Hal Schoen H Schoen Books
Download As PDF : Growing Up Farm Life Basketball in the 1940s s Harold L Schoen Hal Schoen H Schoen Books
Memories of childhood in a farm family of 15 and the life-changing effects of getting a college basketball scholarship.
The American Dream; a 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 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 basketball scholarship from legendary University of Dayton coach Tom Blackburn.
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. 180)
Download PDF Growing Up Farm Life Basketball in the 1940s s Harold L Schoen Hal Schoen H Schoen Books
"First half of book is an interesting view of farm life and German-American culture. Unfortunately, the second half lapses into a detailed history of University of Dayton sports games and a good deal of bragging about the author's accomplishments. This book would have been greatly improved by a good editor."
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Growing Up Farm Life Basketball in the 1940s s Harold L Schoen Hal Schoen H Schoen Books Reviews :
Growing Up Farm Life Basketball in the 1940s s Harold L Schoen Hal Schoen H Schoen Books Reviews
- Harold L. (Hal) Schoen has written a delightful coming-of-age memoir, chock full of genuine humility and intimate glimpses of middle-American farm life as it existed in the mid-20th century. At first glance, Mr. Schoen (pronounced Shane), Professor Emeritus of Mathematics at the University of Iowa, and I have little in common. We are separated by 12 years of age and 12 inches of height. But I am an easy mark when it comes to reading books about (a) growing up rural, (b) a boy in love with sports and the APBA baseball simulation dice game, (c) college basketball and (d) overcoming feelings of inadequacy on the road to adulthood and was easily seduced by Schoen’s literary blurb.
Growing Up Farm Life and Basketball in the 1940s & ‘50s (not to be confused with Russell Baker’s 1982 autobiography, Growing Up) was released in 2017. It is a comfort food-kind of book, reminiscent of the typical noon meal served at the Schoen farm during threshing season. As the author remembers
“Fried chicken, beef and gravy, pork chops, or swiss steak were typical meats served for dinner accompanied by sliced tomatoes, mashed potatoes and gravy, corn and all sorts of garden vegetables, biscuits or bread with butter, jelly or jam, and, for dessert, pie, cake, or pudding.â€
Schoen, the 5th of 13 children, and eldest son, was witness to the transition from horse-drawn conveyances to mechanical ones for agricultural planting and harvesting, from radio to television as the primary source of in-home family entertainment and college basketball from a regional to national sport. The author is representative of thousands of farm kids who migrated to the city in the 20th century. He did skip a couple of generational steps – farm to factory worker and factory worker to factory shop foreman – proceeding directly from farm to university. For Schoen, the choice of university was a logical, familiar one The University of Dayton.
The transition from farm kid to college student/athlete was not without challenges. Schoen reflects “During the first several days of practice, about 25 players participated, including eight or ten ‘walk-ons’ along with the players on scholarships. I was intensely nervous during the first few practices, fearing Herbie (Dintamin, the freshman basketball coach) and my teammates would soon discover my presence there was a mistake. I wasn’t any good.â€
Well, he got better. From a scrub on the freshman team, Schoen became a varsity starter midway through his junior season. Dayton would win the National Invitation Tournament (NIT) in 1962; at the time the NIT was considered the equal of the NCAA tournament in terms of prestige.
Growing Up was a welcome respite from my usual diet of books laden with 21st century problems. I thank Mr. Schoen for taking me on a pleasurable trip down memory lane - unpaved with just enough room for a team of horses or that new International Harvester combine. - If you are looking for a summer read, this book is a treat! Hal grew up in the era just before my time, tough we are only a couple years apart in age. I delighted in standing tall and being just behind the allurement of kids a few years older. I loved hearing about the farm work, the Catholic-public school, the emerging sports culture. But more than all the hooks of familiarity I closed the book and had to congratulate Hal and his 12 siblings for rising from humble origins to outstanding accomplished individuals. Or was it that those of us from that farm stock are now just beginning to appreciate our genetics and environmental privileges.
- A good look at growing up in rural Ohio, what life was like away from "the big city". Great family values and individual drive
- Harold graduated from High School with me. Watched him play for the Dayton Flyers at UD. Told him after I read the book it was really interesting and reminded how much things have changed over our lifetime.
- This is a delightful and honest book about growing up on a farm in Ohio in the 40s and 50s, written with such clarity and humility. For me it was a wonderful trip down memory lane, and I'll pass it on to my grandchildren when they want to know how and where grandma grew up. I am so pleased that Harold Schoen wrote "Growing Up".
- I watched Hal as a small boy. I know the area well! He brought back a bucket of memories from a simpler time.
- First half of book is an interesting view of farm life and German-American culture. Unfortunately, the second half lapses into a detailed history of University of Dayton sports games and a good deal of bragging about the author's accomplishments. This book would have been greatly improved by a good editor.
- I thought it would be more about the farm life but mostly basketball
