Heartland By Keith O’Brien

Some stories feel too improbable to be true. This is one of them.

From the New York Times bestselling author of Charlie Hustle and Fly Girls, Keith O’Brien delivers one of America’s greatest sports stories: the unlikely rise of Larry Bird and the Indiana State Sycamores.

Picture it. Fall of 1974. A young man named Larry Bird—one of the greatest to ever pick up a basketball—was lost. He’d dropped out of Indiana University, walked away from legendary coach Bobby Knight, and gone home to French Lick, a tiny town in one of the poorest corners of the state. He was hauling trash for a living.

It could have ended right there. But two men saw something. Bob King, an old coach with bad knees, and Bill Hodges, who knew what it was to be overlooked. Together, they coaxed Bird to a college that couldn’t fill its own arena—and built a team around him made of castoffs and leftovers, all of them ready to work.

What happened next? March of 1979. More than 50 million people tuned in to watch the Sycamores face Magic Johnson and Michigan State in the NCAA finals. That single night would reshape college basketball and the NBA forever.

Drawing on exclusive interviews with players, coaches, and staff, this PEN America award–winning biographer gives us far more than a basketball book. It’s a story about grit, brotherhood, and the sweet, stubborn miracle of belief.

A wonderful pick for your reading circle. Come linger over the pages awhile—the sea air is free.

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