The Highest Ceiling: The True Story of an Underdog Basketball Team, a Coach, and a Dream

by Marianne Walker

"The Highest Ceiling" is the true story of a small high school basketball team that stunned opponents, dazzled spectators, and captured a state championship. In this classic underdog story, a rural high school basketball team shows there is "more to the game of basketball than just dribbling a ball." With determination and a coach that never gave up on them --- and who never let them quit --- the boys beat the odds, and reached for the highest goals. After watching film reels of the Harlem Globetrotters and sometimes practicing with only bundles of rags as a makeshift ball, these boys climbed to the top, beat the big-city teams, and put their small community on the map. "The Highest Ceiling "is about a group of boys sharing their coach's dream of winning the state tournament and about how they worked together to make that dream come true. The year was 1952, a time in American life when indoor plumbing and electricity were luxuries in small rural communities like Cuba, Kentucky, and hardships and sacrifice were a way of life.

210 pages, Paperback

First published February 15, 2011