Description
When the U.S. declared war on Japan after Pearl Harbor was bombed in December 1941, the dreams of young men and women across the nation were sidelined. So, too, were the plans Coaches Paul "Bear" Bryant, Carney Laslie, and Frank Moseley, a dream team of coaching talent and three friends and ex-football players from the University of Alabama, who had plans to coach football together. Their plans upended, these three friends and ex-teammates from the University of Alabama, instead join the Navy, among an elite group of 800 coaches, selected out of 20,000 who applied from around the country, to be part of a contingent of ace coaches trained in a fast-tracked officer training program at the Naval Academy in Annapolis. Known as a "90-Day Wonder", these coaches turned naval officers implemented a merciless military-style team conditioning at the newly installed Navy Pre-Flight Training Centers. The revolutionary new training regimen used sports to prepare WWII aviators and was credited for US fighting forces being known as the toughest in the world.
Post-war, the three reunite in their first coaching job together, bringing their brand of coaching to collegiate teams and transforming them into national champions. Spanning the 1920s until 1961, A TIDE OF DREAMS is not so much about the game of college football as it is about friendship and loyalty, aspirations and dreams, and the intriguing blend of three personalities who loved the game, told against the backdrop of the history of the sport and the nation. Author Carey Henry Keefe, granddaughter of Carney Laslie, weaves this poignant and personal account from a treasure trove of personal letters, diaries, interviews, and newspaper and University archival research, creating an inside and fascinating look at the sport and what it cost for those who became the face of its success.
About the Author
Carey Henry Keefe grew up in the suburbs of Washington, D.C., and received a B.S. in Business Management from the University of Richmond in Richmond, Virginia. She has written one novel, a mystery thriller loosely based on her twelve years as a medical practice administrator in Las Vegas. A humorist at heart, she has had numerous personal essays produced on NPR-affiliated stations.Keefe now writes narrative non-fiction full time, drawn to research and the telling of compelling historical events and the people behind them, and speaks regularly to groups about the fascinating account of how the Navy used sports during WWII to train aviators in a revolutionary new training regimen they named Pre-Flight Training, credited with U.S. troops coming to be known as the toughest in the world during WWII.Tidewater Virginia is home where when she's not doing research or writing, she enjoys time with family, which include six grandchildren, and watching the sun set each evening with her husband of forty four years.
Reviews
"Carey Henry Keefe has done it-the remarkable, unknown, inside story of a rich red slice of Crimson Tide Americana!"-ELLEN VAUGHN, New York Times bestselling author
"Never overlooked is the influence of wives and young families on the headline coaches, a factor which gives depth and humanity to the sporting evaluation, well beyond the usual 'Rah! Rah! Cis boom bah!'"-WILLIAM CRISP, nephew of Alabama's Coach Hank Crisp, and author of several novels
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