Even if you never followed a single game of high school basketball around here, you may remember a remarkable three-part series by our staff writer Neil Swidey (below) that ran in this magazine in the spring of 2005 (to see a refresher, check out the videos on our website, boston.com/magazine). The story took readers inside the complex relationship between a hard-charging basketball coach and his players from some of Boston's toughest neighborhoods, as he worked to help them rise above the forces pulling them down and get to college. That Charlestown High School, the scene of so much racial strife during Boston's busing battles, was the setting for this story about the bonds between a white coach and his black players made it that much more compelling.
But the story of the players and their driven coach didn't end with their final game, and, in fact, a much richer story begins where the series left off. Swidey has expanded that series into a book, called The Assist, which comes out this week and which we excerpt. What you'll read here is just a tease to a powerful narrative about kids struggling to beat the odds imposed by life in the inner city and a coach who needs his players and their problems as much as they need him. The book follows a team's journey through celebration and tragedy and everything in between. It's a journey worth your time.
