For the first time, Perry Wallace speaks publicly about Strong Inside. http://www.tennessean.com/story/sports/columnist/mike-organ/2014/08/10/book-describes-perry-wallace-struggles/13835561/ ... [Continue Reading]
Some Backstory to a Cool Picture
As a high school senior, Perry Wallace was driven up to Louisville, Ky., by a Cardinals booster living in Nashville to watch U of L’s star players Butch Beard and Wes Unseld. I describe the scene in the book, and Perry shared this photo of his ... [Continue Reading]
Strong Inside Featured on WNSR
Strong Inside was the focus of the full-hour of WNSR's Saturday morning show devoted to Vanderbilt sports. Host Tim Scott and two of his interns led a conversation in which we touched on everything from the civil rights activities in Nashville during ... [Continue Reading]
Advance Review Copies On Their Way
It has been an exciting week in the progress of the book as the Advance Review Copies (ARCs) arrived at Vanderbilt University Press. The ARCs are now on their way to book reviewers and long-lead media around the country. For the last eight years, the ... [Continue Reading]
The Day Stokely Carmichael Dined at Vandy
Throwback Thursday to April 8, 1967, when Black Power activist Stokely Carmichael ate lunch with some unlikely companions -- a group of mostly frat boys and sorority girls at Vanderbilt University. Carmichael was in town to speak at Vanderbilt’s ... [Continue Reading]
Separate But Equalized
Saturday, May 17 marked the 60th anniversary of the famed 1954 Brown v. Board of Education case that upended “separate but equal” schools. Perry Wallace entered elementary school in the fall of that year, 1954, and attended segregated schools in ... [Continue Reading]
From Darkness to Light
Immediately adjacent to the offices of Vanderbilt University Press is a large parking lot, part of which used to be the land where the University Church of Christ was located. On the recommendation of Clyde Lee, perhaps the most beloved basketball ... [Continue Reading]
Farewell, Dr. Jack
Sad to hear of the passing of the great NBA coach Dr. Jack Ramsay. A Perry Wallace connection: It was Dr. Jack and the 76ers who drafted Perry out of Vanderbilt. When it became obvious Wallace would not make a roster loaded with veterans, Ramsay set ... [Continue Reading]
The Past is Never Dead
“The past is never dead. It's not even past.” – William Faulkner The Faulkner phrase was on my mind this morning as I sat down to eat breakfast with my three-year-old daughter. As she munched happily away, I snuck a glance at the newspaper and ... [Continue Reading]
Was the Dunk Banned to Thwart Perry Wallace?
While most basketball historians solely "credit" the NCAA's banning of the dunk in the late 1960s to the emergence of Lew Alcindor (Kareem Abdul Jabbar) at UCLA, an argument can be made that Perry Wallace at Vanderbilt had quite a bit to do with the ... [Continue Reading]