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Glory Days: A Basketball Memoir
Bill Reynolds built his youth around sports. As a boy in a blue-collar Rhode Island town, he spend his hours shooting hoops and dreaming of stardom. From his adolescence to high school fame to a scholarship at Brown University, Reynolds enjoyed the perks of athletic glory. But those days soon ended and the onetime star drifted between his past and an uncertain future. Glory Days is a warm, touching, and funny book about what happens when jocks grow older --about getting a life without losing touch with your dreams.
- GenresBasketballBiography
256 pages, Paperback
First published February 15, 1998
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About the author
Bill Reynolds
87 books14 followersBill Reynolds is a sports columnist for The Providence Journal and the author of several previous books, including Fall River Dreams and (with Rick Pitino) the #1 New York Times bestseller Success Is a Choice. He lives in Providence, Rhode Island."
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
April 25, 2021
I happened to work as a junior sports reporter at the Providence Journal way back in 1984-85, when Bill Reynolds was already established as a columnist and one of the leading lights in the department. So I knew he was a talented writer. I also knew he had played college basketball at Brown, class of '68. But that's about where my knowledge ended.
This memoir fills out his rich and engaging backstory. It starts with his childhood love of sports growing up in Barrington, RI, his early fixation on basketball, and traces through his success as a star player and Barrington High and Brown, along with the local sports culture of the time, giving it texture and nuance and bringing it alive. Also how basketball defined him all the way through, and gave him an identity and purpose that he would have been hard-pressed to obtain elsewhere. First and foremost, he was a player.
The most poignant part of the narrative, though, comes when his college career ends amidst the social ferment and upheaval of the late 60s and 70s, and he has to find a new way forward. The challenge was far from easy, especially in the changing mores of the time. Eventually, by the late 70s and early 80s, he describes how he rediscovered his love of basketball and found as much or more meaning writing about the game as he had playing it. Basketball, and sports generally, it turned out, offered the same transcendence and purpose he had first found as a teenager, as well as profound insights into its participants and the human the human condition at large. The arc comes back around, and sports is the unifier.
This is a first-class sports memoir, perhaps the best I have ever read. I've read that Bill has recently retired from the Journal. He has however written numerous books during his long and outstanding career. If you wish to continue to enjoy his writing, 'Glory Days' would be an excellent place to start.
This memoir fills out his rich and engaging backstory. It starts with his childhood love of sports growing up in Barrington, RI, his early fixation on basketball, and traces through his success as a star player and Barrington High and Brown, along with the local sports culture of the time, giving it texture and nuance and bringing it alive. Also how basketball defined him all the way through, and gave him an identity and purpose that he would have been hard-pressed to obtain elsewhere. First and foremost, he was a player.
The most poignant part of the narrative, though, comes when his college career ends amidst the social ferment and upheaval of the late 60s and 70s, and he has to find a new way forward. The challenge was far from easy, especially in the changing mores of the time. Eventually, by the late 70s and early 80s, he describes how he rediscovered his love of basketball and found as much or more meaning writing about the game as he had playing it. Basketball, and sports generally, it turned out, offered the same transcendence and purpose he had first found as a teenager, as well as profound insights into its participants and the human the human condition at large. The arc comes back around, and sports is the unifier.
This is a first-class sports memoir, perhaps the best I have ever read. I've read that Bill has recently retired from the Journal. He has however written numerous books during his long and outstanding career. If you wish to continue to enjoy his writing, 'Glory Days' would be an excellent place to start.
September 29, 2022
For perspective, I enjoy basketball. I enjoyed playing the sport and watching games. I don't believe it ever became an obsession with me as it did with the author. Though I must confess that in my first year of college, I majored in basketball. I may have spent more time in the gym than I did at the library. I was never good enough to play in college or in high school. I was a "schoolyard player." Though I enjoyed high school, college and professional basketball, I was a huge fan of “Big Five” basketball played at the Palestra in the 60s and 70s.
I enjoyed reading about Reynolds’ experiences playing basketball in high school and at Brown University. I did not like reading about his struggles growing up and his failed relationships mainly because of basketball. That part of his story was certainly depressing. I am happy that the author was finally able to marry his interest in basketball with a career where he became successful.
The author captured my feelings as I played basketball in my 50s. I struggled with aches, pains and the inability to play as well as I did decades ago...
Many days I am too old for the game I'm playing in, just another aging ex player futilely trying to stop the inevitable rush of time, with just a glimpse of the glory days here and there, a faint reminder, like the words to a long ago song you thought you forgotten.... But every once in a while something magical happens, time gets distorted, reality takes a time out and I am 16 years old again out there in the driveway, just me and the ball, the glory days all ahead of me. My legs feel young, my body is drenched in sweat, and I'm off in a personal world that seems timeless, oblivious to everything else. And on those rare occasions which come like gifts from some benevolent god, the only thing I care about is my jump shot.
I enjoyed reading about Reynolds’ experiences playing basketball in high school and at Brown University. I did not like reading about his struggles growing up and his failed relationships mainly because of basketball. That part of his story was certainly depressing. I am happy that the author was finally able to marry his interest in basketball with a career where he became successful.
The author captured my feelings as I played basketball in my 50s. I struggled with aches, pains and the inability to play as well as I did decades ago...
Many days I am too old for the game I'm playing in, just another aging ex player futilely trying to stop the inevitable rush of time, with just a glimpse of the glory days here and there, a faint reminder, like the words to a long ago song you thought you forgotten.... But every once in a while something magical happens, time gets distorted, reality takes a time out and I am 16 years old again out there in the driveway, just me and the ball, the glory days all ahead of me. My legs feel young, my body is drenched in sweat, and I'm off in a personal world that seems timeless, oblivious to everything else. And on those rare occasions which come like gifts from some benevolent god, the only thing I care about is my jump shot.
July 21, 2023
A few days ago, I saw a Tweet that said #ripBilly. Not knowing which Billy this was, I opened the Tweet and as I scrolled through the comments, it was Bill Reynolds, a sportswriter and author of several books. Still didn’t ring a bell, but another comment mentioned this book. So, I read the book description, and decided to give it a read.
Basically, this book is about his passion for basketball, and for him, nothing else mattered. He was a sharpshooter and when his shots went in, he was unstoppable. He played college basketball at Brown University in the late 60’s. Since he didn’t make it to the NBA, after college, he still wanted to be a part of it. So, he went to college and high school games as a spectator. Then, he started playing again in non-professional leagues; with others who shared his passion for playing. The basketball IQ of his teammates and opponents varied as they all came from different backgrounds. Throughout this, he was starting to write freelance articles, and eventually got hired as a reporter for the Providence Journal. A few years later, he became a sportswriter.
I enjoyed this book and will check out a few of his other books.
Basically, this book is about his passion for basketball, and for him, nothing else mattered. He was a sharpshooter and when his shots went in, he was unstoppable. He played college basketball at Brown University in the late 60’s. Since he didn’t make it to the NBA, after college, he still wanted to be a part of it. So, he went to college and high school games as a spectator. Then, he started playing again in non-professional leagues; with others who shared his passion for playing. The basketball IQ of his teammates and opponents varied as they all came from different backgrounds. Throughout this, he was starting to write freelance articles, and eventually got hired as a reporter for the Providence Journal. A few years later, he became a sportswriter.
I enjoyed this book and will check out a few of his other books.
March 8, 2023
A meditation on a sports that affects a lot of us mena and increasingly women. In our youth through high school and even college sports can be a large part of outr lives, the better you are the more it fills your life and sometime your sense of worth. Many of us have a hard time of giving up the dream of being someone in sports even when it is quite apparent it is not meant to be your calling. When the sports dream dies, many are left wondering what will they do with their life. This book is the author's confessional, but is also an exploration of the nation's love of sports and the difficulty so many have of moving on.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews