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Winning Kicker
Relates what happens when a girl place-kicker joins a champion high school football team
- GenresSports
Mass Market Paperback
First published February 1, 1978
1 person is currently reading
15 people want to read
About the author
Thomas J. Dygard
23 books11 followersIn His Own Words...
"I can't remember when I first started writing fiction. it was shortly after I began reading fiction, I'm sure.
"I've been a voracious reader for as long as I can remember. As a teenager, I read a lot of the same kinds of books I'm writing-the John R. Tunis sports stories, for example. I also read a lot of history when I was young-and I still do now. It's always fascinated me.
"When I was a high school senior, I was offered two jobs, both of the apprentice sort. One was in a commercial artist's studio, on a recommendation from my art teacher. The other was in the sports department of the local newspaper, following work on the school paper. I took the sportswriting job.
"For four years I worked for the Arkansas Gazette while attending the University of Arkansas, first at Little Rock and then at Fayetteville, covering football, baseball, basketball, boxing, golf, tennis-everything that made up the sports page. After graduation, I joined the Associated Press as a newsman at Little Rock and later worked in AP bureaus in Detroit, Birmingham, and New Orleans. Eventually, I was Chief of Bureau in Little Rock, Indianapolis, Chicago, and Tokyo, Japan. I retired from the Associated Press in 1993 and now live in Evansville, Indiana.
"For me, writing fiction is fun, relaxing, and satisfying-an enjoyable change of pace, a recharging of the batteries.
"My first young adult novel, Running Scared, got started one night in a motel room in Champaign, Illinois, when I had nothing else to do. Before long, the story had me in its grip. The creation of the thing was a fascinating experience. I liked the characters. I liked leading them through their problems to their triumphs. I kept going until one day it was finished.
"I did not set out to write for young people. Looking back, I think it was something of a blessing that 1 did not. As I wrote Running Scared, I imagined the reader as an adult, but after it was finished, it seemed more appropriate for young readers. The result, I think, was that the story did not talk down to teenagers. In every book I've written since, I've tried to keep the same approach."
"I can't remember when I first started writing fiction. it was shortly after I began reading fiction, I'm sure.
"I've been a voracious reader for as long as I can remember. As a teenager, I read a lot of the same kinds of books I'm writing-the John R. Tunis sports stories, for example. I also read a lot of history when I was young-and I still do now. It's always fascinated me.
"When I was a high school senior, I was offered two jobs, both of the apprentice sort. One was in a commercial artist's studio, on a recommendation from my art teacher. The other was in the sports department of the local newspaper, following work on the school paper. I took the sportswriting job.
"For four years I worked for the Arkansas Gazette while attending the University of Arkansas, first at Little Rock and then at Fayetteville, covering football, baseball, basketball, boxing, golf, tennis-everything that made up the sports page. After graduation, I joined the Associated Press as a newsman at Little Rock and later worked in AP bureaus in Detroit, Birmingham, and New Orleans. Eventually, I was Chief of Bureau in Little Rock, Indianapolis, Chicago, and Tokyo, Japan. I retired from the Associated Press in 1993 and now live in Evansville, Indiana.
"For me, writing fiction is fun, relaxing, and satisfying-an enjoyable change of pace, a recharging of the batteries.
"My first young adult novel, Running Scared, got started one night in a motel room in Champaign, Illinois, when I had nothing else to do. Before long, the story had me in its grip. The creation of the thing was a fascinating experience. I liked the characters. I liked leading them through their problems to their triumphs. I kept going until one day it was finished.
"I did not set out to write for young people. Looking back, I think it was something of a blessing that 1 did not. As I wrote Running Scared, I imagined the reader as an adult, but after it was finished, it seemed more appropriate for young readers. The result, I think, was that the story did not talk down to teenagers. In every book I've written since, I've tried to keep the same approach."
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
May 10, 2016
This surely was a good read. "Give the girl a chance to kick a point."" That's John Earlingham, now, after 36 years, in his last season as head coach of the Higgins High Hornets. Coach John Earlingham, whose best-ever team is unstrung by the pony-tailed place-kicker Kathy Denver--too good to turn away, too serious not to gain his respect. In some of the best football play, the boys come back--for Kathy, who's blameless (and wants to quit), for the coach, for their own self-esteem. It's an emotionally different story that calls the signals clearly but doesn't force the issues: a fragile girl on a team is a problem, a concern to her teammates and a deterrent--or challenge--to the other side. And, in due course, the opposing Panthers' strategy--""Don't smash into the girl; do smash into the holder""--fails, and Kathy is injured, in effect solving the problem: she'll be out the rest of the season. For her courage, Coach Earlingham awards her a football letter, and he bends still further to sign her cast. The rub is not the solution--reasonable in context, and true to character--but the fact that this is not Kathy's story or the other kids' but the coach's.
July 16, 2015
I've probably read Winning Kicker by Thomas Dygard a half dozen times in my life. This time it was like coming back to an old friend. The mild language in it caught me by surprise. I didn't remember it from before. The story progresses at a good pace and even those with only rudimentary football knowledge should be able to make it through the story without too much confusion. My wife certainly did. The interaction between Kathy, Gil, and Freddie could be played out a little better. Though that could be tough given that the book is about high school football as told from the 64 year old coach's perspective. The way the book ends, simultaneously completing the story and yet not, is one of my favorite parts.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews