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Jim Wellington / Iron Duke
Iron Duke
When Jim Wellington enters Harvard, he finds himself in a world completely different from the small town he grew up in. To face the difficulties and disappointments of his first year, Jim must gain poise and a sense of proportion.
- GenresSportsFictionYoung Adult
Hardcover
First published January 1, 1938
2 people are currently reading
34 people want to read
About the author
John R. Tunis
47 books10 followersJohn Roberts Tunis "the 'inventor' of the modern sports story",was an American writer and broadcaster. Known for his juvenile sports novels, Tunis also wrote short stories and non-fiction, including a weekly sports column for the New Yorker magazine. As a commentator Tunis was part of the first trans-Atlantic sports cast and the first broadcast of the Wimbledon Tennis Tournament to the United States.
After graduating from Harvard and serving in the Army during World War I, Tunis began his writing career freelancing for American sports magazines while playing tennis in the Rivera. For the next two decades he wrote short stories and articles about sports and education for magazines including Reader's Digest, The Saturday Evening Post and Esquire.
Tunis' work often protested the increasing professionalization of sports in America. He believed that amateur participation in sports taught values important for good citizenship like perseverance, fair play and equality, and that the emphasis on professional sports was turning America into a country of spectators. His sports books also tackled current social issues such as antisemitism and racial equality.
Though Tunis never considered himself a children's writer, all but one of his twenty-four books were published for juveniles; their success helped create the juvenile fiction book market in the 1940s. Books like Iron Duke (1938), All American (1942) and Keystone Kids (1943) were well received by readers and critics. Iron Duke received the New York Herald Tribune Spring Book Festival Award for best juvenile novel and was named a The Horn Book Magazine Best Book. The Child Study Association of America gave its Golden Scroll Award to Keystone Kids.
In his tribute to the writer, Bernard Hayes said "Tunis has probably made good readers of millions of young people." His success with the juvenile audience helped change the publishing industry. Along with writers like Howard Pease, his books demonstrated to publishers that there was money to be made in targeting books for teenagers. His influence went beyond simply creating a market for young adult books. "In his attempt to link sports with the communities in which they are played, he broached some highly significant issues in the literature written for and about America's youth", according to John S. Simmons in John R. Tunis and the Sports Novels for Adolescents: A Little Ahead of His Time. Tunis never considered himself a writer of boys' books, insisting his stories could be read and enjoyed by adults. He felt that the word "juvenile" was an "odious... product of a merchandising age". Despite his dislike of the term, Tunis' novels helped create and shape the juvenile fiction book market.
After graduating from Harvard and serving in the Army during World War I, Tunis began his writing career freelancing for American sports magazines while playing tennis in the Rivera. For the next two decades he wrote short stories and articles about sports and education for magazines including Reader's Digest, The Saturday Evening Post and Esquire.
Tunis' work often protested the increasing professionalization of sports in America. He believed that amateur participation in sports taught values important for good citizenship like perseverance, fair play and equality, and that the emphasis on professional sports was turning America into a country of spectators. His sports books also tackled current social issues such as antisemitism and racial equality.
Though Tunis never considered himself a children's writer, all but one of his twenty-four books were published for juveniles; their success helped create the juvenile fiction book market in the 1940s. Books like Iron Duke (1938), All American (1942) and Keystone Kids (1943) were well received by readers and critics. Iron Duke received the New York Herald Tribune Spring Book Festival Award for best juvenile novel and was named a The Horn Book Magazine Best Book. The Child Study Association of America gave its Golden Scroll Award to Keystone Kids.
In his tribute to the writer, Bernard Hayes said "Tunis has probably made good readers of millions of young people." His success with the juvenile audience helped change the publishing industry. Along with writers like Howard Pease, his books demonstrated to publishers that there was money to be made in targeting books for teenagers. His influence went beyond simply creating a market for young adult books. "In his attempt to link sports with the communities in which they are played, he broached some highly significant issues in the literature written for and about America's youth", according to John S. Simmons in John R. Tunis and the Sports Novels for Adolescents: A Little Ahead of His Time. Tunis never considered himself a writer of boys' books, insisting his stories could be read and enjoyed by adults. He felt that the word "juvenile" was an "odious... product of a merchandising age". Despite his dislike of the term, Tunis' novels helped create and shape the juvenile fiction book market.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
February 21, 2025
I don't often read sports stories but this one was alright. Jim Wellington goes to college and gets into athletics - poor bastard - and he's easy to sympathise with because he's just a decent person, even if he does enjoy spending his free time running in circles. It's very much a coming of age story, but while I enjoyed the sports stuff (which was surprising!) and his friendship with the footballer McGuire, I was less interested in the rest of the social life of the school, including pranks and student mobs doing dickhead things and behaving like entitled cretins.
There's nothing surprising here; the story hits pretty much every beat you would expect from something like this, but Wellington and McGuire are likeable enough that it doesn't really matter.
There's nothing surprising here; the story hits pretty much every beat you would expect from something like this, but Wellington and McGuire are likeable enough that it doesn't really matter.
March 16, 2022
I read this book when I was about 12. Now I'm a little (OK, a lot) older, and I re-read it as part of a quest to revisit the books I loved as a kid.
It was even better this time.
As a child, I read Iron Duke as a sports story. But it's much more, and I am so grateful for the underlying lessons that I might not have recognized at the time. Now see them clearly. In retrospect, I see how they were part of forming my character.
For those who think that a young adult story written in 1938 is hopelessly dated, irrelevant for an octogenarian in 2022 -- you could not be more wrong.
It was even better this time.
As a child, I read Iron Duke as a sports story. But it's much more, and I am so grateful for the underlying lessons that I might not have recognized at the time. Now see them clearly. In retrospect, I see how they were part of forming my character.
For those who think that a young adult story written in 1938 is hopelessly dated, irrelevant for an octogenarian in 2022 -- you could not be more wrong.
April 5, 2025
Enjoyed this story. It was different than most sports stories I've read, but it was still good. There were a few chapters that suddenly skipped a lot of time after some event and it took me a few minutes to figure out what and when and were, but other than that, it was a good read. I had to laugh over some of the shenanigans of the “Dunster Funsters,” and I really liked Duke’s response to the Circle.
July 14, 2024
not a fan
December 4, 2018
I read this ~50 years ago, following the lead of my older brother. Kids like us read dozens of similar books. I can remember almost none of the titles, just fragments of some. Fragments of this book kept coming to mind, which prompted me to find it.
The author was an early leader in this genre (wholesome sports fiction for young readers).
This book is nicely written. Rather than simply overcoming adversity, the hero has to overcome his resentment (of insiders who fail to value him, an outsider). To realize his potential, he needs the support of some very good friends. Ironic Ironman that he is, he struggles with resentment about his outsider status, doubting the sincerity of many who reach out to him, all the while supported by wise and patient friends.
The distance running stuff is not realistic. The author‘s heroes usually play team sports.
The author was an early leader in this genre (wholesome sports fiction for young readers).
This book is nicely written. Rather than simply overcoming adversity, the hero has to overcome his resentment (of insiders who fail to value him, an outsider). To realize his potential, he needs the support of some very good friends. Ironic Ironman that he is, he struggles with resentment about his outsider status, doubting the sincerity of many who reach out to him, all the while supported by wise and patient friends.
The distance running stuff is not realistic. The author‘s heroes usually play team sports.
June 25, 2015
I read this book the first time when I was only twelve. Even though I remembered most of the story lines, I was able to 'get' more from the book reading it now as an adult. I won't say the book is timeless because I don't know how much kids today can really connect to a character that has to take a train from the middle of the country to the east coast instead of a plane and how he has to write actual letters home instead of an email. For those that do read it, you are picking up a book that will make you think you can achieve anything you put your mind too.
September 6, 2014
By a master of writing sports for young people (well, I have to say it, males mostly). Set at a certain institution described authentically without adulation. Tunis himself may have been an alum. There are not many books about track. Good story of year of growing up fast. I'd recommend this one wholeheartedly to a teen-ager who is going far away to college and relying on sports as part of personal makeup. Sound familiar?
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews