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The Hustle: One Team and Ten Lives in Black and White
The experiment was dreamed up by two fathers, one white, one black. What would happen, they wondered, if they mixed white players from an elite Seattle private school and black kids from the inner city on a basketball team? The team's season unfolded like a perfectly scripted sports The ragtag group of boys gelled together to win the league championship. The experiment was deemed a success.
But was it? How did crossing lines of class, race, and wealth affect the lives of these ten boys? Two decades later, Doug Merlino, who played on the team, returned to find his teammates. The result is a complex, gripping, and at times unsettling story. An instant classic of narrative nonfiction, The Hustle tells the stories of ten teammates set before a background of sweeping social and economic change, capturing the ways race, money, and opportunity shape our lives.
But was it? How did crossing lines of class, race, and wealth affect the lives of these ten boys? Two decades later, Doug Merlino, who played on the team, returned to find his teammates. The result is a complex, gripping, and at times unsettling story. An instant classic of narrative nonfiction, The Hustle tells the stories of ten teammates set before a background of sweeping social and economic change, capturing the ways race, money, and opportunity shape our lives.
320 pages, Paperback
First published December 21, 2010
19 people are currently reading
315 people want to read
About the author
Doug Merlino
3 books16 followersI’m a journalist and writer who has contributed to or worked at news organizations including Slate, Legal Affairs, Men’s Journal, Wired, the Seattle Times, the Budapest Business Journal and the PBS show Frontline/World. I received master’s degrees in journalism and international affairs from UC Berkeley. I live in New York City.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 64 reviews
April 12, 2011
The Hustle is one of those books that will linger in my heart and mind. Once started, I was mesmerized until the last page was read. The description said "The result is a complex, gripping, and, at times, unsettling story." In my opinion, this book far exceeded that. This is a book about far more than what happened to 10 boys on a basketball team.
Perhaps because of the author's journalistic background, there is a curious lack of condemnation in the book, even when describing difficult, heart-wrenching issues. This underlying respect for the reader's ability to evaluate the situation without being told what to think/feel was immensely appealing to me. Equally impressive was the masterly weaving of historical context throughout the book, creating a multi-layered story that provided the information necessary to understand the individual stories within the context of past and present. I learned a lot without ever feeling it was interfering with the story.
A heart-felt thank you to the author, Doug Merlino, and all the members of the team, for sharing their lives in such a deeply moving way.
*This book was provided free through the Goodreads First Reads program with the expectation of an honest review. My opinions are my own.
Perhaps because of the author's journalistic background, there is a curious lack of condemnation in the book, even when describing difficult, heart-wrenching issues. This underlying respect for the reader's ability to evaluate the situation without being told what to think/feel was immensely appealing to me. Equally impressive was the masterly weaving of historical context throughout the book, creating a multi-layered story that provided the information necessary to understand the individual stories within the context of past and present. I learned a lot without ever feeling it was interfering with the story.
A heart-felt thank you to the author, Doug Merlino, and all the members of the team, for sharing their lives in such a deeply moving way.
*This book was provided free through the Goodreads First Reads program with the expectation of an honest review. My opinions are my own.
February 25, 2013
I heard about this book through one of my high school classmates on Facebook. It intrigued me because I went to Garfield high school from 1986 to 1990, as did some of the people in the book. I knew some of them, not as friends, but I knew who they were. Lakeside was the main high school Merlino focused on, but he did mention Garfield and the surrounding area.
Merlino did a great job explaining the atmosphere in and around Garfield during the late 80s. I remember it as "two Garfields" like he said. I was in the "advanced" program, taking honors and AP classes, and I didn't have much exposure to the drug/gang culture even though it was right outside the doors of the school. I remember sitting in Biology class, looking out the windows to 23rd Avenue, and watching the activity at the crack house across the street. My friend witnessed the 1988 shooting Merlino referenced. I was one of the white kids who was bussed from North Seattle during the integration phase of the Seattle school district's history. In fact, I was one of the first.
In 1978, when I was in first grade, I wasn't allowed to go to my neighborhood school five blocks from my home. I was bussed down to Coleman Elementary, which is the big brick building that sits above the tunnel entrance to the 1-90 floating bridge (I think it's a museum now), about 45 minutes from my home. It was a scary experience at first, but after the first few weeks, I got used to it. I remember the huge exodus from Seattle when the integration program began. Over the summer before 1st grade, many of the families in my neighborhood and at church moved away to Bothell, Woodinville, Bellevue, Mountlake Terrace, Edmonds, and other surrounding suburbs to avoid having their children bussed to inner-city schools. After 1st grade, I was able to go back to my neighborhood school for the remainder of elementary school. I'm sure the drop in enrollment scared the school district and they stopped bussing the very young children to avoid losing more students. I went to the nearby middle school as well, but was bussed to Garfield instead of being able to go to Roosevelt, which was only 2 miles from my home.
It was interesting to read Merlino's account of how the Seattle school district struggled to make integration work, and ultimately abandoned the program. Now kids are allowed to go to any school in the district they choose, and most go to their neighborhood schools.
Of course, the book is about much more than the failed integration plan of the Seattle school district. It was very interesting to read about the lives of Merlino's team mates from the experimental basketball team. I thought he dealt fairly with the issues and was non-judgemental in his portrayal of his team mates' lives. I was amazed at how difficult the issues of integration truly are and am less surprised, after reading this book, that it has been such a struggle for schools to make it work.
Merlino did a great job explaining the atmosphere in and around Garfield during the late 80s. I remember it as "two Garfields" like he said. I was in the "advanced" program, taking honors and AP classes, and I didn't have much exposure to the drug/gang culture even though it was right outside the doors of the school. I remember sitting in Biology class, looking out the windows to 23rd Avenue, and watching the activity at the crack house across the street. My friend witnessed the 1988 shooting Merlino referenced. I was one of the white kids who was bussed from North Seattle during the integration phase of the Seattle school district's history. In fact, I was one of the first.
In 1978, when I was in first grade, I wasn't allowed to go to my neighborhood school five blocks from my home. I was bussed down to Coleman Elementary, which is the big brick building that sits above the tunnel entrance to the 1-90 floating bridge (I think it's a museum now), about 45 minutes from my home. It was a scary experience at first, but after the first few weeks, I got used to it. I remember the huge exodus from Seattle when the integration program began. Over the summer before 1st grade, many of the families in my neighborhood and at church moved away to Bothell, Woodinville, Bellevue, Mountlake Terrace, Edmonds, and other surrounding suburbs to avoid having their children bussed to inner-city schools. After 1st grade, I was able to go back to my neighborhood school for the remainder of elementary school. I'm sure the drop in enrollment scared the school district and they stopped bussing the very young children to avoid losing more students. I went to the nearby middle school as well, but was bussed to Garfield instead of being able to go to Roosevelt, which was only 2 miles from my home.
It was interesting to read Merlino's account of how the Seattle school district struggled to make integration work, and ultimately abandoned the program. Now kids are allowed to go to any school in the district they choose, and most go to their neighborhood schools.
Of course, the book is about much more than the failed integration plan of the Seattle school district. It was very interesting to read about the lives of Merlino's team mates from the experimental basketball team. I thought he dealt fairly with the issues and was non-judgemental in his portrayal of his team mates' lives. I was amazed at how difficult the issues of integration truly are and am less surprised, after reading this book, that it has been such a struggle for schools to make it work.
February 19, 2011
I won this book as a first-read giveaway.
This book was not what I expected. I thought this would be your stereotypical story of a group of boys brought together by some controversy (in this case race) to play some sports team (basketball) and no one thought they could do it but in the end they are champions. The end. Well, that story is only the first 80 pages of this book.
The rest of the book is devoted to the author, who was one of the players, going back and interviewing his teammates and finding out, not only what they remember about that season, but also what they've been doing since then. This book does not read like an interview though, it reads like a journalistic, non-fiction book.
After the story of the championship season, the author goes back through the lives of his teammates. But he doesn't just pick one person and tell their story; he picks things that happened in history (drugs of the 90s, religion, the school they went to), tells those events, and how ultimately they effected his teammates. I have to admit, that this style of writing, while more interesting and historical, was very confusing for me. I never quite grasped who was who and which teammate was which when the author would talk about them for a page, then move onto someone else and so on. Maybe it was just me, but I felt like I needed a picture of each player with a name and brief history somewhere to reference back to.
I found the last section of the book, which was about the schools, particularly interesting. I work in a school system and enjoyed hearing the history of the schools and how they have moved along through history, even up to 2 years ago!
Overall, while this book was not what I expected, it was well written. I think part of my expectation came from the book jacket description, which, in my opinion, played up the story of the boys, and not as much about the rest of the book. Good debut novel from a journalistic point of view.
This book was not what I expected. I thought this would be your stereotypical story of a group of boys brought together by some controversy (in this case race) to play some sports team (basketball) and no one thought they could do it but in the end they are champions. The end. Well, that story is only the first 80 pages of this book.
The rest of the book is devoted to the author, who was one of the players, going back and interviewing his teammates and finding out, not only what they remember about that season, but also what they've been doing since then. This book does not read like an interview though, it reads like a journalistic, non-fiction book.
After the story of the championship season, the author goes back through the lives of his teammates. But he doesn't just pick one person and tell their story; he picks things that happened in history (drugs of the 90s, religion, the school they went to), tells those events, and how ultimately they effected his teammates. I have to admit, that this style of writing, while more interesting and historical, was very confusing for me. I never quite grasped who was who and which teammate was which when the author would talk about them for a page, then move onto someone else and so on. Maybe it was just me, but I felt like I needed a picture of each player with a name and brief history somewhere to reference back to.
I found the last section of the book, which was about the schools, particularly interesting. I work in a school system and enjoyed hearing the history of the schools and how they have moved along through history, even up to 2 years ago!
Overall, while this book was not what I expected, it was well written. I think part of my expectation came from the book jacket description, which, in my opinion, played up the story of the boys, and not as much about the rest of the book. Good debut novel from a journalistic point of view.
November 20, 2011
Having known one of the subjects since his arrival at Seattle Prep, I was introduced to this book, and motivated to read it by my love for, one of its central characters. While my expectations were not at all low, they were limited by my anticipation of reading about both a dear friend and a place and era I, too, grew up in. While I got both of those things in droves while reading The Hustle, the unexpected enjoyment comes from just how much bigger a story was told here. Mr. Merlino does a masterful job painting a broader picture of both black and white experience over the past years. Not only since the subjects came together in '86, but farther back. As for the contemporary component, I often found myself wanting to object to some of the broad stokes being painted. After all, I came of age in the era and setting, yet the story and lessons were often not my own. But as I had to remind myself, as both white and on a lower tier of Prep's economic scale, I'm not really from either world described in the pages. Like the author, perhaps, I was both fascinated by and on the outside of both of them. The greatness of this book, I think, is that one need not have any of my own connection to its content in order to learn, grow or simply be engrossed by the various stories shared on its pages. Thank you, Doug.
May 15, 2015
The Hustle by Doug Merlino can be described in one word...great. The beginning of the book was about 10 young kids (7 black 3 white) that were almost like a project to see if inner city kids play and private school kids play could mesh and become champions. No one believed they could do it until they were cutting down the nets and were given the trophy. But that wasn't the most amazing part of the book, and don't let the inside cover of the book fool you because so much of this isn't about basketball, but the life after.It was how he went back and found his teammates. After seeing where these kids ended up and seeing where they started from truly showed it doesn't matter where you come from it's about how hard you work. Doug Merlino did a good job of telling how different of worlds they were living in socially and racially, but still came together to become friends and champions. He did a great job adding additional facts without getting off a topic. I would truly recommend this book to anyone who loves a great story about friends who rise and fall together but come back and re-form bonds.
May 19, 2011
This is a great book, and, if you grew up in Seattle - a must read. Busing to schools in the 80s? Check. Crack epidemic in the 80s? Check. Racial issues in Seattle and gentrification of the CD? Check check. The crazy thing is, I don't know this author but I have had encounters with two of the people he writes about in his book, while my brother Matt played ball at Prep with two of the guys on the team.
The only issue I had with the book was that he would latch on to so many different topics throughout the book. I found myself getting a little annoyed when he would go into such depth on a new topic, but by the time I had read several pages on this new topic, I found myself totally immersed. And, all the topics were very related to eachother, so it makes sense why he covered so much.
The only issue I had with the book was that he would latch on to so many different topics throughout the book. I found myself getting a little annoyed when he would go into such depth on a new topic, but by the time I had read several pages on this new topic, I found myself totally immersed. And, all the topics were very related to eachother, so it makes sense why he covered so much.
December 19, 2016
I can't remember where I heard about this book. None of my GR friends have it shelved, so it can't have been here. I got it from someone on Bookcrossing in a trade, so I must have had it on my wishlist at some point. In any event, the book delivered a much more interesting story than I expected. I thought this would be a sports team story about the underdog sports club that managed to go win a championship. But that was really just the first fifth of the book. The heart of this book is a reprise twenty years later when the author decides to track down all the members of the team and find out where their lives have taken them.
The book is a close examination of Seattle, but it has more universal appeal. Private elementary and secondary schools all over the country have struggled with what it means to foster diversity. As the author points out, the whole point of the school is to give an educational advantage to the students. This is what parents are paying for after all. So there is real tension in giving some of the limited number of seats available to anyone else because it does take spots from the wealthy whites who think of the school as their school. I was especially interested in the interviews the author did with some of the first African-American teachers at Lakeside (i.e., the private school that Bill Gates went to).
I really enjoyed reading the book and the author did a great job presenting the stories of the different team members without moralizing or judging.
The book is a close examination of Seattle, but it has more universal appeal. Private elementary and secondary schools all over the country have struggled with what it means to foster diversity. As the author points out, the whole point of the school is to give an educational advantage to the students. This is what parents are paying for after all. So there is real tension in giving some of the limited number of seats available to anyone else because it does take spots from the wealthy whites who think of the school as their school. I was especially interested in the interviews the author did with some of the first African-American teachers at Lakeside (i.e., the private school that Bill Gates went to).
I really enjoyed reading the book and the author did a great job presenting the stories of the different team members without moralizing or judging.
February 3, 2011
I received this book as part of GoodReads firstreads giveaway. I knew this book was going to be heavy, but I didn't realize it would be so dense. In addition to the story of his former teammates, Merlino includes a lot of information backing up his story. I learned about history of African Americans in Seattle, what a hedge fund is, the rise and fall of crack cocaine, issues of diversity in private school, integration in public schools.
While I had some trouble keeping track of all the characters, the story of these men, and their relationship with sports was compelling. I recommend this book for people who are interested in race relations, basketball, or Seattle history.
While I had some trouble keeping track of all the characters, the story of these men, and their relationship with sports was compelling. I recommend this book for people who are interested in race relations, basketball, or Seattle history.
November 1, 2022
An integrated AAU basketball team in 1980s Seattle that hustles to the State Championship is the basis for this little gem of a book. The team is a product of two men, 1 Black and 1 White, father and coach – 1 looking for what felt like both a competitive advantage coupled with the idea to help and 1 looking to provide a life advantage. White students came from the elite, suburban Lakeside School and Black students from Garfield High School/ Central District, a historically Black neighborhood. Let the games begin.
The book’s author was one of those White kids. He does a good job of giving the history of Seattle – specific to race relations - as a back drop. Seattle for all its claims of being non- discriminatory in governmental practice, we learn was just not the case in reality. Here we are in the 80s, Seattle is as segregated as ever. Worlds are not colliding when it comes to Black and White. That’s one thing the Team accomplished. Kids from different backgrounds learning and befriending each other, the love of basketball as the joiner. There’s all kinds of interesting observations the author reflects on as a kid, like when the team drops him off at his home. His beautiful, fancy home. Not once did the team, as a group, drop off one of the Black kids at their home in the Central District first.
After the team makes good, 1 father works his magic to get the Black kids into privileged schools around Seattle. On that front, the Coach was able to deliver what he hoped to accomplish, help enable a leg up for some of his players or so he thought. That’s where things get sad. Usually the only Black kid, travelling far to attend these elite schools and perhaps rocky home environments, the weight of it all proves too much for most. Decades go by and the author fills us in on how Seattle handled the crack epidemic, tech boom and subsequent gentrification, all which tie into how those kids raise up. When he eventually comes back, in the early 2000s to track down those Team members, it is a mixed bag of results.
The reader is left with a lot to think about. This being the author’s first book, I kinda felt it in the writing, some awkward subject leaps and clunky, but if Sociology is your bag, especially when it is in the PNW, it’s a very interesting, albeit sobering, read.
The book’s author was one of those White kids. He does a good job of giving the history of Seattle – specific to race relations - as a back drop. Seattle for all its claims of being non- discriminatory in governmental practice, we learn was just not the case in reality. Here we are in the 80s, Seattle is as segregated as ever. Worlds are not colliding when it comes to Black and White. That’s one thing the Team accomplished. Kids from different backgrounds learning and befriending each other, the love of basketball as the joiner. There’s all kinds of interesting observations the author reflects on as a kid, like when the team drops him off at his home. His beautiful, fancy home. Not once did the team, as a group, drop off one of the Black kids at their home in the Central District first.
After the team makes good, 1 father works his magic to get the Black kids into privileged schools around Seattle. On that front, the Coach was able to deliver what he hoped to accomplish, help enable a leg up for some of his players or so he thought. That’s where things get sad. Usually the only Black kid, travelling far to attend these elite schools and perhaps rocky home environments, the weight of it all proves too much for most. Decades go by and the author fills us in on how Seattle handled the crack epidemic, tech boom and subsequent gentrification, all which tie into how those kids raise up. When he eventually comes back, in the early 2000s to track down those Team members, it is a mixed bag of results.
The reader is left with a lot to think about. This being the author’s first book, I kinda felt it in the writing, some awkward subject leaps and clunky, but if Sociology is your bag, especially when it is in the PNW, it’s a very interesting, albeit sobering, read.
May 13, 2017
In the book The Hustle it's based on a diversified basketball team that struggled with problems throughout the whole book.The main character is the author Doug Merlino. Merlino is white compared to some of his black teammates. However this racial difference doesn't stop them from achieving a goal in the end. An through all the struggle the boys find a way to incorporate togetherness with also winning a couple games here and there.
I really enjoyed The Hustle.The book really makes you think in somebody else's perspective and you can already find enjoyment in that alone. Another reason i really enjoyed the book was because some of the experiences in the book it draws personal connections to me. For example I go to a predominantly white school and I've played basketball for some years now so some of the teams I've been on have always had a little bit of diversity towards them. So from that aspect it made me think of the book in a bigger spot already.
I would definitely recommend this book to somebody in high school. I say high school students because in the book the characters are teenagers. Then the reader would already have a connection with the book right out the bat. Another reason I would recommend this book is because the book it make you think out of your comfort zone. And this book could possibly advance your mind in another point of view.
I really enjoyed The Hustle.The book really makes you think in somebody else's perspective and you can already find enjoyment in that alone. Another reason i really enjoyed the book was because some of the experiences in the book it draws personal connections to me. For example I go to a predominantly white school and I've played basketball for some years now so some of the teams I've been on have always had a little bit of diversity towards them. So from that aspect it made me think of the book in a bigger spot already.
I would definitely recommend this book to somebody in high school. I say high school students because in the book the characters are teenagers. Then the reader would already have a connection with the book right out the bat. Another reason I would recommend this book is because the book it make you think out of your comfort zone. And this book could possibly advance your mind in another point of view.
August 14, 2017
An interesting story, but it didn't flow well in my opinion. Doug Merlino used the stories of the basketball players on his 1986 team to try to tell a deeper story, but I think he tried to tackle too many things. He talked about Seattle's history, race, politics, sports, welfare, economics, jobs, gentrification, religion, education, poverty, wealth, among other topics. It was interesting to have those issues looked at from a local perspective, but the look at the issues was thin. It felt like Merlino tried to use the teammates as the thread to weave together all these issues, but it still felt disjointed.
"Of course, all of us were already being socialized to operate in very different spheres."
"Life away from the playing field also rewards discipline and hard work, but the rules can be difficult to learn, unevenly applied, and sometimes totally contradictory...the transition out of sports can land on those who aren't prepared for it like a blind-side hit from a blitzing linebacker."
"Of course, all of us were already being socialized to operate in very different spheres."
"Life away from the playing field also rewards discipline and hard work, but the rules can be difficult to learn, unevenly applied, and sometimes totally contradictory...the transition out of sports can land on those who aren't prepared for it like a blind-side hit from a blitzing linebacker."
September 28, 2021
A book Denise Miller Mamaril shared and the moment I saw I knew I needed to read. The story is based on a basketball team of white kids and inner city kids pulled together which created a unique group in the 80’s, The coaches would use this as a way to get many of the kids to elite Seattle private schools - primarily Lakeside. The book is part history of black Seattle. It tackles a lot subjects - gentrification, education, elitism etc..He covers what happened to everyone after - what it is like to be a minority in an elite school eating nice food and then go home to dinner provided by food stamps. I found this a powerful book that is really tied to a small canvas, Seattle and in that way makes it more personal. I will remember the Lakeside chant, “It’s alright, it’s ok - you will work for us someday”
March 14, 2020
This wasn't a book I normally would have read but I'm glad I stuck with it and finished. Some parts hit close to home. I almost gave up multiple times. It is a first person look at the history of Seattle and the racial and economic inequalities that still exist to this day. We can and must do better.
May 19, 2022
A necessary discussion on race relations in Seattle. As a minority born in the PNW, it was nice to find a source on the history of racism here (yes, it exists) related to a game that held my heart for thirteen years, and to be able to define the frustration I suffered as an adolescent. Not boring whatsoever, but if you're looking for Coach Carter on paper, this isn't it.
November 8, 2017
A must-read for those interested in race and education, particularly in Seattle's Central District. I am grateful that Washington Middle School's Language Arts teachers include this in their 8th grade curriculum too.
December 25, 2017
The subject is an important piece of understanding Seattle’s history and segregation and how it plays out for different individuals. However, the book was all over the place and repeated itself constantly. It felt like reading a rough draft.
November 13, 2018
An interesting account, recalling one season of youth basketball and its legacy in the lives of the men since that season. It is an insightful commentary on race, privilege, diversity, and the value of a team.
August 23, 2020
If you are interested in local Black history and considering the impacts of institutional racism in Seattle, this book might be for you. While the writing can meander, I definitely learned a lot and have respect for Merlino's storytelling. This is a great book to share with a teen.
February 9, 2020
insight into Seattle’s race struggles over time, told through the story of a cross-cultural basketball team and where they are now
August 3, 2021
I’ll give five stars because I’m from Seattle. It traces a lot of my life. It’s not perfect, but really thoughtful.
October 9, 2025
Lot of important history and context about Seattle and Lakeside. Compelling close to home story
July 16, 2011
When he was fourteen years old, Mr. Merlino played on a fairly unique basketball team. Half of the players were white, from the prestigious Lakeside School, the elite Seattle private school which Bill Gates had attended. The other half were black, from Seattle's Central Area, a predominantly poor and African-American part of town. Of course, the team's experience wasn't just about basketball. It was about crossing barriers and expanding horizons. Despite being from extremely different backgrounds, the boys gelled as a team and went on to win the 1986 league championship. After that one season, the team disbanded and the players mostly went their separate ways, occasionally running into each other at games or on the streets of Seattle.
Then one summer day in 1991, Mr. Merlino picked up his Seattle Times to see the headline “What went wrong?” below the fold on the front page. Tyrell Johnson, one of his former teammates from that championship year, had been murdered and his body partially dismembered. As Mr. Merlino tried to piece together what had happened to his friend in the intervening five years, he became curious to know how the rest of the team had fared as well. Over several years he searched for and got reacquainted with his old teammates now in a wide variety of life paths including a King County prosecutor, an extremely successful hedge fund manager, a vintner, a health insurance broker, a Pentecostal preacher, a prospective longshoreman, two teachers, and a city auditor. He also discovered that almost all of the players from the Central Area had done at least brief stints dealing drugs, and several had a criminal record. None of the players from Lakeside had.
The team's organizers, one black and one white, each the father of a player on the team, worked to get their athletically talented players accepted into the elite private schools that had so much more to offer than the public schools, including a better chance of getting into college. The coaches were successful in placing several black students in these elite overwhelmingly white schools, only to discover that often the students needed more long-term support to navigate the truly foreign world they encountered. Many of the black players experienced poverty, family instability, and a lack of any positive support system. Some found structure through gangs which led them into drug-dealing, some found religion, others had family to lean on, several were transformed by becoming fathers. Granted, this is a small sample of individuals, but there was such a stark contrast between how much easier it was for the white kids who came from moneyed and privileged backgrounds to make the transition out of high school, into college and on into good-paying jobs, and the continual struggle it was for the black kids who were surrounded by drugs, poor role models, and constant financial hardship.
Mr. Merlino summed up his experience on the basketball court with this team succinctly: “We all had the same goal and our own set of tools for getting there. Everyone was, for the moment, equal to everyone else.” At the reunion scrimmage held more than two decades after their last game, another one of the players, Damian Joseph, reiterates “Everybody has problems...not just people who happen to be poor and black. It's not just us having the issues, it's everybody having the issues. It's just in a different area. So that's why the whole experience [of playing basketball together] works for everybody.”
For each of those teenage basketball players, the year they won the league championship was a bright spot in their memories, but not for the trophy. In fact, “the dominant memories were of joking around during the van rides” to and from games. During those times, they could be “just kids having fun and forgetting, temporarily, Lakeside, the Central Area, whatever individual ruts we were in at school and at home.” As Mr. Merlino concludes, “It was a vision of transformation, of our better selves.” A vision of unity that the sport of basketball enabled.
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Then one summer day in 1991, Mr. Merlino picked up his Seattle Times to see the headline “What went wrong?” below the fold on the front page. Tyrell Johnson, one of his former teammates from that championship year, had been murdered and his body partially dismembered. As Mr. Merlino tried to piece together what had happened to his friend in the intervening five years, he became curious to know how the rest of the team had fared as well. Over several years he searched for and got reacquainted with his old teammates now in a wide variety of life paths including a King County prosecutor, an extremely successful hedge fund manager, a vintner, a health insurance broker, a Pentecostal preacher, a prospective longshoreman, two teachers, and a city auditor. He also discovered that almost all of the players from the Central Area had done at least brief stints dealing drugs, and several had a criminal record. None of the players from Lakeside had.
The team's organizers, one black and one white, each the father of a player on the team, worked to get their athletically talented players accepted into the elite private schools that had so much more to offer than the public schools, including a better chance of getting into college. The coaches were successful in placing several black students in these elite overwhelmingly white schools, only to discover that often the students needed more long-term support to navigate the truly foreign world they encountered. Many of the black players experienced poverty, family instability, and a lack of any positive support system. Some found structure through gangs which led them into drug-dealing, some found religion, others had family to lean on, several were transformed by becoming fathers. Granted, this is a small sample of individuals, but there was such a stark contrast between how much easier it was for the white kids who came from moneyed and privileged backgrounds to make the transition out of high school, into college and on into good-paying jobs, and the continual struggle it was for the black kids who were surrounded by drugs, poor role models, and constant financial hardship.
Mr. Merlino summed up his experience on the basketball court with this team succinctly: “We all had the same goal and our own set of tools for getting there. Everyone was, for the moment, equal to everyone else.” At the reunion scrimmage held more than two decades after their last game, another one of the players, Damian Joseph, reiterates “Everybody has problems...not just people who happen to be poor and black. It's not just us having the issues, it's everybody having the issues. It's just in a different area. So that's why the whole experience [of playing basketball together] works for everybody.”
For each of those teenage basketball players, the year they won the league championship was a bright spot in their memories, but not for the trophy. In fact, “the dominant memories were of joking around during the van rides” to and from games. During those times, they could be “just kids having fun and forgetting, temporarily, Lakeside, the Central Area, whatever individual ruts we were in at school and at home.” As Mr. Merlino concludes, “It was a vision of transformation, of our better selves.” A vision of unity that the sport of basketball enabled.
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January 8, 2017
My bias should be clear: I grew up in Seattle, playing basketball At Miller Rec (black) and Seattle Prep (white), and I knew a few of these guys. I am a white guy who has been teaching at a majority brown school for almost 20 years. This book gives incisive insight into the racial divide in our country - anecdotes for all those in Trump's US who say that racism is dead. The chapter "Lakeside Revisited" made me rethink race: There is no easy answer and we have a long way to go.
August 11, 2011
I re-discovered the library this summer, thankfully, because during the re-discoverey process I stumbled upon The Hustle. I stopped by the library the day we left for our annual Tahoe trip with the intention of checking out a few Bill Bryson books. Our local Glen Park branch did not have any Bill Bryson, so I left the travel section, browsed through the new releases, and picked up The Hustle.
Point of clarification. Ever since I demolished the original Friday Night Lights book in 1991, the "A season with...." genre has become a staple of my reading habit. The best of the genre (Breaks of the Game, The Sweet Season) are testaments to my naive belief in the power of sports to reveal the best and worst of ourselves, and the ability of teams sports to bring people together. The Hustle breaks my top five of the genre and thankfully, avoids veering into the realm of cliche.
The Hustle tells the story of Merlino's Seattle area 8th grade AAU team. The team, the brainchild of a black coach, and a wealthy white man, was an experiment on bringing the elite white kids of Seattle's top prep school together with black kids from Seattle' notorious City Center. Merlino details their championship season, and then 20 years later, reconnects with the members of that team. Merlino bounces back and forth between the time spent with his teammates, with the racial history of Seattle and the Pacific Northwest. Including the history of race in Seattle was a difference maker, and really the key of the book. There is so much more to this book than just basketball, and I cannot rave about it enough!
This is a thoughtful, honest book about the power of sports, the transformation of the American economy, the life of AA in Seattle, and of course the bonds of teammates and friendship. Read it. Now.
Point of clarification. Ever since I demolished the original Friday Night Lights book in 1991, the "A season with...." genre has become a staple of my reading habit. The best of the genre (Breaks of the Game, The Sweet Season) are testaments to my naive belief in the power of sports to reveal the best and worst of ourselves, and the ability of teams sports to bring people together. The Hustle breaks my top five of the genre and thankfully, avoids veering into the realm of cliche.
The Hustle tells the story of Merlino's Seattle area 8th grade AAU team. The team, the brainchild of a black coach, and a wealthy white man, was an experiment on bringing the elite white kids of Seattle's top prep school together with black kids from Seattle' notorious City Center. Merlino details their championship season, and then 20 years later, reconnects with the members of that team. Merlino bounces back and forth between the time spent with his teammates, with the racial history of Seattle and the Pacific Northwest. Including the history of race in Seattle was a difference maker, and really the key of the book. There is so much more to this book than just basketball, and I cannot rave about it enough!
This is a thoughtful, honest book about the power of sports, the transformation of the American economy, the life of AA in Seattle, and of course the bonds of teammates and friendship. Read it. Now.
February 27, 2011
I received this book as part of the LibraryThing Early Reviewers program, requesting it because the description made me assume it would be akin to a novelization of the kind of movie that features a rag-tag group of youngsters who come together to form a winning athletic team and learn life lessons along the way, with the added bonus of checking in on them 20 years later and finding out how they turned out. However, the book is filled with many digressions about the history of Seattle, cocaine and crack, hedge funds, gentrification, the Pentecostal religion, the criminal justice system, the Seattle school system, and modern masculinity. While it's very informative to his story, and helps to round out the situations faced by himself and his teammates, these portions can seem sort of dry and irrelevant. The story shines when he relates the actual experiences of himself and his other subjects within this framework, and you can't help but wish he'd included more of these and less of the historical stuff. In each chapter, after Merlino has laid out the topic to be commented on, he includes a paragraph or two about how one or more of the guys dealt with the situation. Throughout, I found it difficult to keep track of which guys were which and how they had commented on an earlier topic, especially JT and Damien, as they were the most similar. A few more photographs would have been welcome, too.
All in all, though, if you approach the book as more of a sociological study of race relations in Seattle, with an emphasis on how they affect a specific group of individuals, you can certainly see that it delivers. For a debut author, who is extremely close to his subjects, the result is largely a success.
All in all, though, if you approach the book as more of a sociological study of race relations in Seattle, with an emphasis on how they affect a specific group of individuals, you can certainly see that it delivers. For a debut author, who is extremely close to his subjects, the result is largely a success.
February 14, 2011
I received this book through Goodreads' First Reads program. It's an interesting, thought-provoking book, and well worth reading. I do wish, however, that it was better organized.
Merlino provides a lot (sometimes too much) of local and national history to give context to the individual lives and struggles of the 10 boys (now men) who were part of an experimental integrated high school basketball team in Seattle in 1986. Sometimes these history-lesson interludes meld seamlessly with the more personal story of the team, but often they seem to interrupt or go on too long, making me itch to get back to the story of the team members. Perhaps alternating chapters between context and personal memoir would have worked better. Also, I had trouble keeping the team members straight sometimes--if each had had their own chapter I might have had an easier time remembering who was who.
That said, I generally enjoyed reading the book. I appreciated how Merlino tried to be as objective as possible in his depictions of his teammates and in his presentation of historical context, and that he doesn't offer any answers to the difficult questions of race relations in the U.S. Also, as a 10-year resident of Seattle's Central District (not far from where most of the black team members lived) I appreciated learning more about the history of my neighborhood. Even if you don't live in Seattle, I think you will get something out of reading "The Hustle."
Merlino provides a lot (sometimes too much) of local and national history to give context to the individual lives and struggles of the 10 boys (now men) who were part of an experimental integrated high school basketball team in Seattle in 1986. Sometimes these history-lesson interludes meld seamlessly with the more personal story of the team, but often they seem to interrupt or go on too long, making me itch to get back to the story of the team members. Perhaps alternating chapters between context and personal memoir would have worked better. Also, I had trouble keeping the team members straight sometimes--if each had had their own chapter I might have had an easier time remembering who was who.
That said, I generally enjoyed reading the book. I appreciated how Merlino tried to be as objective as possible in his depictions of his teammates and in his presentation of historical context, and that he doesn't offer any answers to the difficult questions of race relations in the U.S. Also, as a 10-year resident of Seattle's Central District (not far from where most of the black team members lived) I appreciated learning more about the history of my neighborhood. Even if you don't live in Seattle, I think you will get something out of reading "The Hustle."
June 5, 2015
Having a daughter in both the Seattle AAU basketball scene and a Seattle private high school student, I chose the book expecting a deeper Seattle based "Hoosieresque" feel good story of sports, kids, race.....etc. Instead The Hustle is a more troubling, yet accurately authentic exploration of the lives and society surrounding this great experiment of a mixed race AAU boys team in the 80's. Merlino's historical and sociological analysis intertwined with the examples of real lives helps provide context for how history shaped today's racial reality in Seattle. It also flies in the face of any myth that racism is a southern thing, instead it is a human thing that perpetuates itself in different manners and degrees. While not Hoosier's, The Hustle is in fact all the more rewarding, useful, and educational, particularly for Seattleites. There is particular focus on Lakeside and the honorable yet perhaps ham handed tackling of diversity years ago. It's a journey, still being tweaked as recently as last year with Steve Ballmer, A+ and Lakeside. http://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-n...
January 29, 2011
I received this book as part of a first-reads giveaway.
This book was so much more than what I expected it to be. I expected a simple inspirational sports story. It was inspirational in places, but I found The Hustle to be more complex than that. It was even heartbreaking at times. The author, Doug Merino reflects on the issues of race and class in Seattle and beyond. The book follows the lives of both white and black teammates on an interracial basketball team. As the author reconnects with and interviews his teammates throughout their lives, he considers how being on that team in 1986 influenced them up to the present day. Reading The Hustle was an eyeopening and educational experience while still being a compelling read. One of the reasons I enjoy reading so much is to experience new things and ideas that I may not have had much direct experience with. The Hustle really made me think, and overall I would say that its an outstanding book. I would recommend it not just to sports fans, but to anyone looking for a thought-provoking and moving experience.
This book was so much more than what I expected it to be. I expected a simple inspirational sports story. It was inspirational in places, but I found The Hustle to be more complex than that. It was even heartbreaking at times. The author, Doug Merino reflects on the issues of race and class in Seattle and beyond. The book follows the lives of both white and black teammates on an interracial basketball team. As the author reconnects with and interviews his teammates throughout their lives, he considers how being on that team in 1986 influenced them up to the present day. Reading The Hustle was an eyeopening and educational experience while still being a compelling read. One of the reasons I enjoy reading so much is to experience new things and ideas that I may not have had much direct experience with. The Hustle really made me think, and overall I would say that its an outstanding book. I would recommend it not just to sports fans, but to anyone looking for a thought-provoking and moving experience.
July 11, 2011
An excellent exploration of how the history and reality of white supremacy, racism, and class effect the lives of blacks and whites growing up in the Northwest United States. The gathering of a team of basketball players from two different racial and economic areas of Seattle in 1986 may set the stage, but this is far from a sports book, the summer season they played given minimal time.
Instead, Merlino uses this sports hook to lead us through the history of Jim Crow to the Civil Rights era, right up into the 1980's--including the increasing incarceration of the community. He also gives a history of blacks in Seattle, as well as their continued marginalization.
The individual players he was able to contact twenty years after they played together are given plenty of space, along with part of their family history. Merlino excels at describing an interaction with someone, then moving to their words, then moving back in history to highlight a point or reality.
Highly recommended.
Instead, Merlino uses this sports hook to lead us through the history of Jim Crow to the Civil Rights era, right up into the 1980's--including the increasing incarceration of the community. He also gives a history of blacks in Seattle, as well as their continued marginalization.
The individual players he was able to contact twenty years after they played together are given plenty of space, along with part of their family history. Merlino excels at describing an interaction with someone, then moving to their words, then moving back in history to highlight a point or reality.
Highly recommended.
September 4, 2011
When I picked up this book, I expected a pure sports book. Even though that is not what this book was, it was engaging enough to not leave me disappointed.
In the first part of the book, Merlino recounts his time on an integrated kids' basketball team in 1986 Seattle. He weaves the narratives of the games and time the team spends together with the history of Seattle's founding and early history. The book's transition takes place when Merlino learns of the murder of one of his teammates in 1991. The second part of the book finds Merlino reconnecting with the teammates, black and white. These encounters prompt a deep analysis of the sociology of education in the US and the divide between black and white. Merlino's analysis is incisive, and the limited sports vignettes are well done.
The book was marketed as being similar to Michael Apted's Up series. It did live up to this billing, but not fully. I think most sports fans with no interest in American society will be bored by this book. People with an interest in sociology and race relations will have a much better time.
In the first part of the book, Merlino recounts his time on an integrated kids' basketball team in 1986 Seattle. He weaves the narratives of the games and time the team spends together with the history of Seattle's founding and early history. The book's transition takes place when Merlino learns of the murder of one of his teammates in 1991. The second part of the book finds Merlino reconnecting with the teammates, black and white. These encounters prompt a deep analysis of the sociology of education in the US and the divide between black and white. Merlino's analysis is incisive, and the limited sports vignettes are well done.
The book was marketed as being similar to Michael Apted's Up series. It did live up to this billing, but not fully. I think most sports fans with no interest in American society will be bored by this book. People with an interest in sociology and race relations will have a much better time.
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