8 books
—
1 voter
Goodreads helps you keep track of books you want to read.
Start by marking “We Will Rise: A True Story of Tragedy and Resurrection in the American Heartland” as Want to Read:
We Will Rise: A True Story of Tragedy and Resurrection in the American Heartland
by
The inspiring true story of the tragic loss and triumphant resurrection of a basketball team and its coach at the heart of a small Indiana town.
By 1977 the University of Evansville’s Purple Aces basketball team had won five small-college national championships. With a charismatic young coach and a freshman phenom, this small Indiana city hoped to see its team shine in the ...more
By 1977 the University of Evansville’s Purple Aces basketball team had won five small-college national championships. With a charismatic young coach and a freshman phenom, this small Indiana city hoped to see its team shine in the ...more
Paperback, 272 pages
Published
January 1st 2020
by Little A
Friend Reviews
To see what your friends thought of this book,
please sign up.
Reader Q&A
To ask other readers questions about
We Will Rise,
please sign up.
Be the first to ask a question about We Will Rise
Community Reviews
Showing 1-30

Start your review of We Will Rise: A True Story of Tragedy and Resurrection in the American Heartland

A wonderful telling of the entire team that went down on a plane in 1977, all dying including the young high energy coach that had driven them to 5 championships,working on a 6th. The story tells the grief the entire town experienced, how a sport brought a town together. It tells about each families grief and how this town and families came together to conquer their grief and rebuilt another winning small college basketball team. So much grief and so much love and respect. A story that you will
...more

To be honest I did not read this entire book. I relegated it to my "will-not-be-finishing-this-one" bookshelf. Way too many details on every coach, player, anyone involved with a coach or player (family & friends) for me to stay interested. Sports nuts interested in decades old high school basketball in a small town will love this!
...more

Excellent book on a sports tragedy
On December 13,1977 a plane crash near Evansville, Indiana killed all on board, including the players,coaches and managers of the Evansville University basketball team. The grieving by the school and city as well as their recovery from this tragedy is the topic of this excellent book by Evansville native Steve Beaven.
He uses his first hand knowledge of the town and the Purple Aces history, along with information from over 150 interviews and many other stories to ...more
On December 13,1977 a plane crash near Evansville, Indiana killed all on board, including the players,coaches and managers of the Evansville University basketball team. The grieving by the school and city as well as their recovery from this tragedy is the topic of this excellent book by Evansville native Steve Beaven.
He uses his first hand knowledge of the town and the Purple Aces history, along with information from over 150 interviews and many other stories to ...more

I eagerly anticipated reading Steve Beaven's "We Will Rise: A True Story of Tragedy and Resurrection in the American Heartland," a book that remembers the December 13, 1977 plane crash that took the lives of the entire University of Evansville basketball team along with coaches, boosters, and everyone else on the plane. In fact, the lone player to not be on that plane would actually die a mere two weeks later in a car crash.
It was and remains a tragedy that has a permanent place in the Indiana ...more
It was and remains a tragedy that has a permanent place in the Indiana ...more

I am a resident of Evansville, Indiana, the city featured in this book. We were all impacted greatly by the airplane tragedy, and the author did an excellent job of explaining the degree of basketball importance in our city. Some readers are saying there are too many insignificant statistics and details, but true Aces fans appreciate every bit of it. It’s a matter of having the right reading audience.

Reading 2020
Book 2: We Will Rise: A True Story of Tragedy and Resurrection in the American Heartland by Steve Beaven
Found amazon First Reads through Katie Colcomb Augustine AKA Pink Katie, and tried my first book from that service. You get books that are not published yet. I chose a nonfiction since I had not read one in awhile.
The story is of the 1977 University of Evansville Purple Aces basketball team. One foggy evening they take off late on their flight to their next game, the plane crashes ...more
Book 2: We Will Rise: A True Story of Tragedy and Resurrection in the American Heartland by Steve Beaven
Found amazon First Reads through Katie Colcomb Augustine AKA Pink Katie, and tried my first book from that service. You get books that are not published yet. I chose a nonfiction since I had not read one in awhile.
The story is of the 1977 University of Evansville Purple Aces basketball team. One foggy evening they take off late on their flight to their next game, the plane crashes ...more

I really loved this book. It’s far from perfect and won’t be winning any awards, but it’s a wonderful tale of heartbreak and redemption in a struggling town. I’m a sucker for sports books and will generally go out of my way to read whichever one catches my eye.
I had very little knowledge or background of the tragedy surrounding the Evansville basketball team, so I went into this book with an open mind. I liked that the author went out of his way to explain the backgrounds and motivations of the ...more
I had very little knowledge or background of the tragedy surrounding the Evansville basketball team, so I went into this book with an open mind. I liked that the author went out of his way to explain the backgrounds and motivations of the ...more

Surprisingly good read for an only occasional basketball fan
This book is not my genre of choice but I saw it and it made me think of my father-in-law, a sports fan from Indiana. I was surprised how much I enjoyed it. I thought the writing was great and the story was compelling. There were great details and historical background and I loved how the city itself was treated almost as its own character with it’s own personality and biography.
I did get a little confused and bogged down by the very l ...more
This book is not my genre of choice but I saw it and it made me think of my father-in-law, a sports fan from Indiana. I was surprised how much I enjoyed it. I thought the writing was great and the story was compelling. There were great details and historical background and I loved how the city itself was treated almost as its own character with it’s own personality and biography.
I did get a little confused and bogged down by the very l ...more

I can't count the number of times I walked through Memorial Plaza, passing these words--"Out of the agony of this hour, we will rise."--without really thinking about the tragedy of the 1977 men's basketball plane crash as anything except a historical event.
This book is heavy to start, introducing us to the players and the promise of their futures even as we know what's going to happen. I have learned so much about the city of Evansville's history and the school's history and it makes me apprecia ...more
This book is heavy to start, introducing us to the players and the promise of their futures even as we know what's going to happen. I have learned so much about the city of Evansville's history and the school's history and it makes me apprecia ...more

Mar 03, 2020
Denise Levendoski
rated it
liked it
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
electronic,
won-on-goodreads-2020-thank-you
Thank you to Steve Beaven and Goodreads.com I won this book in a Giveaway.
Perfect Timing ! My daughter just committed to UE and we while touring the school, not much was said about the memorial. This was a great way to find out about it and what these students and the team and basketball means to Evansville. It was quite moving and really explained where those students came from and how Evansville as a town rallied (sometimes not) around this tragic event. We both know alot more about the people ...more
Perfect Timing ! My daughter just committed to UE and we while touring the school, not much was said about the memorial. This was a great way to find out about it and what these students and the team and basketball means to Evansville. It was quite moving and really explained where those students came from and how Evansville as a town rallied (sometimes not) around this tragic event. We both know alot more about the people ...more

On December 13, 1977, the entire University of Evansville basketball team, their coaching staff, and radio announcer were killed in a plane crash while en route to a game. This novel introduces the players and coaches and explains how they each ended up at UE and how their families, and the town, rebuilt the basketball program after their tragic deaths.
The story is a little scattered, with narratives bouncing between various families, geographies and points of view....but as a lover of NCAA bask ...more
The story is a little scattered, with narratives bouncing between various families, geographies and points of view....but as a lover of NCAA bask ...more

Jan 21, 2020
CYIReadBooks (Claire)
rated it
it was ok
Shelves:
owned-ebooks,
2020-motley-reading-challenge
Full disclosure. I'm not a basketball fan, so reading this book was a bit of a challenge for me. However, it was interesting enough for me to finish.
We Will Rise, written by Steve Beaven, is a story of the University of Evansville basketball team that perished in a plane crash on 12/13/77. It is a non fiction book, so expect a lot of statistics, player and coach backgrounds -- before and after the plane crash. You don't read about the plane crash until midway through the book, and it is just a s ...more
We Will Rise, written by Steve Beaven, is a story of the University of Evansville basketball team that perished in a plane crash on 12/13/77. It is a non fiction book, so expect a lot of statistics, player and coach backgrounds -- before and after the plane crash. You don't read about the plane crash until midway through the book, and it is just a s ...more

This new release seeks to tell the tale of basketball at the University of Evansville, a small Division I school in Indiana. Like many areas in the American midwest, the community surrounding the school is tight-knit and obsessed with basketball. Before moving into Division I, the program even won several national championships at the Division II level.
There’s a wrinkle in the true story that makes its telling especially emotional. In 1977, the entire basketball team died in a plane crash. A new ...more
There’s a wrinkle in the true story that makes its telling especially emotional. In 1977, the entire basketball team died in a plane crash. A new ...more

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.

A story of tragedy and resurgence. On December 13, 1977 Indiana Flight 216 would send shockwaves across Evansville. All 29 members on board were killed, ending what was just starting to become the rise of a small school among the basketball ranks. Prior to the crash, the Aces won 5 championships during their stint in division II. Young rising stars like Mike Duff, would never fulfill their potential and the expectations that was expected. Although a tragedy felt like a long lost of progress, Eva
...more

Well-Written and Compelling Story (Finished a Few Months Too Soon)
No doubt the author wishes he could end the book with hometown son / new coach Walter McCarty taking the Aces into hallowed Rupp Arena against then-number-one-ranked Kentucky and winning in late 2019. I'm a basketball guy, and learned to hate Evansville in the early 90s when they were the conference hegemon who perennially seemed to end my Butler Bulldogs' season and steal the conference's NCAA bid. Damn you, Parrish Casebier! But ...more
No doubt the author wishes he could end the book with hometown son / new coach Walter McCarty taking the Aces into hallowed Rupp Arena against then-number-one-ranked Kentucky and winning in late 2019. I'm a basketball guy, and learned to hate Evansville in the early 90s when they were the conference hegemon who perennially seemed to end my Butler Bulldogs' season and steal the conference's NCAA bid. Damn you, Parrish Casebier! But ...more

Well written; details the impact of a tragedy on a community
I was a 15 year old southern Indiana teen when the crash happened. I remember crying when I heard the news.
This is a factual account of the meaning of basketball on small town Indiana. The story of a communitys grief and the struggles to move forward. If you're expecting a happily ever after due to a single hero, this isn't it.
Mr Beaven does a nice job of telling the history of the town so the reader understands how something like ba ...more
I was a 15 year old southern Indiana teen when the crash happened. I remember crying when I heard the news.
This is a factual account of the meaning of basketball on small town Indiana. The story of a communitys grief and the struggles to move forward. If you're expecting a happily ever after due to a single hero, this isn't it.
Mr Beaven does a nice job of telling the history of the town so the reader understands how something like ba ...more

A very good telling of a basketball team rising from the ashes to make a huge comeback following the tragic loss of the entire team in a plane crash. It was a team lead by a new young coach in his first year trying to fill the shoes of a legendary coach who had won five national small college championships. Only four games into their season under this new coach all lives were lost in the plane crash.
Enter a new young coach from a tiny unknown school in Chicago to lead this small college in India ...more
Enter a new young coach from a tiny unknown school in Chicago to lead this small college in India ...more

Very compassionate, well researched, inspirational telling of the tragic story of the University of Evansville's basketball team, whose members all died in a plane crash, devastating the university and the city of Evansville & surrounding areas. The triumphant rebuilding of the team in subsequent seasons did much to revitalize & help the university & town come to terms with the loss of such promising young men.
Though this is a work of tragic historical non-fiction, it reads almost like a novel, ...more
Though this is a work of tragic historical non-fiction, it reads almost like a novel, ...more

First...full disclosure. My father was raised in Evansville and I still wear his Purple Aces sweatshirt to this day. I read this book because of my Evansville roots. We Will Rise details the successful history of Evansville's proud small-college basketball tradition, the shocking 1977 crash of the chartered plane carrying the team to a game and, most importantly, the emotional revival of Evansville basketball in the years following the crash. For those of us Hoosier senior citizens who lived thr
...more

Well done Steve Beaven. As a 9-year old boy on December 13, 1977, I remember that night vividly. My mother and I ran out our front door after hearing sirens blaring some 4+ miles in the distance, wondering what was going on. We went back inside and my mom turned on the tv to see a tearful David James choking out the horrific news. Having attended Aces games with my parents prior to that fateful night, I was overcome with sadness.
This book brought back so many memories of those magical and emotio ...more
This book brought back so many memories of those magical and emotio ...more

This book is about a small midwest college town with a big basketball tradition that lost its entire team and coaches in an airplane crash in 1977. Yes, a very "We Are Marshall" situation. Normally I enjoy this type of nonfiction book, but this one is extremely basketball minutia heavy, with a seeming cast of thousands. One reads about the details of both players' and coaches' high school sports careers, about coaches and players prior to and after the doomed Purple Aces, and even a few local ra
...more

I very descriptive read that read almost like a history text book. The author does a good job of describing Evansville and the area in a historical context and does a an excellent job of introducing you to the players, coaches and other people connected to Evansville basketball. Where he falls short is connecting you with the emotions that these families and friends suffered. The grief these families had to indoor had to be great and the way it would of spread into the campus and into the commun
...more

A fair account
We Will Rise favors the personal side of the Evansville Aces in and through the 1977 plane crash. The story is a good read that does not overwhelm with history or basketball Xs and Os. Two subtle points came up several times in the book that wore on me. First, the author kept referring to the "jet" that crashed. A DC-3 is not a jet. A Douglas DC-3 is a propellered aircraft. The NTSB account of the crash refers to the propellers. It might seem trivial but it made me question whether ...more
We Will Rise favors the personal side of the Evansville Aces in and through the 1977 plane crash. The story is a good read that does not overwhelm with history or basketball Xs and Os. Two subtle points came up several times in the book that wore on me. First, the author kept referring to the "jet" that crashed. A DC-3 is not a jet. A Douglas DC-3 is a propellered aircraft. The NTSB account of the crash refers to the propellers. It might seem trivial but it made me question whether ...more
There are no discussion topics on this book yet.
Be the first to start one »
News & Interviews
As dedicated readers already know, some of the best and most innovative stories on the shelves come from the constantly evolving realm of...
36 likes · 8 comments
No trivia or quizzes yet. Add some now »