Former Auburn Montgomery coach Bill Elder will speak about his new book All Guts and No Glory on Thursday, June 7, at 6:30 p.m., in the Auburn University Montgomery Library (West Room, 10th floor). This is an inspiring first-person account of his experiences desegregating a college basketball team in north Alabama, which esteemed historian Wayne Flynt and author Clifton Taulbert respectively call “compelling testimony.” Light refreshments will be served.
Bill Elder has a dramatic story to tell. Picture this: a predominantly white junior college on Sand Mountain, Alabama, in the early 1970s; a directive to integrate the basketball team; faculty, staff, and administration which, by and large, did not support this endeavor; and a community known for its segregationist violence and KKK activity. This is the situation into which young Elder, a future inductee into the NAIA Basketball Coaches’ Hall of Fame, cautiously brought several black players. He and his team faced the threats and occasional violence, but did so bravely ‚Äî and went on to win games, sending a positive message of acceptance and unity to the entire sports community across the state.
Please join Bill Elder and NewSouth Books in celebrating publication of All Guts and No Glory on this special occasion.
All Guts and No Glory is available from NewSouth Books, Amazon.com, or your favorite local or online book retailer.