Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Just a little bitty skinny kid

Just finished John Olsen's Just a Little Bitty Skinny Kid.  Most enjoyable and informative for a guy who arrived in southern Indiana in the summer of 1975 and missed out on all the heroics of the Loogootee basketball team during the years 1970 to 1975.  Of course, I've heard much around the golf course as stories were told again and again and names were mentioned.  And have come to know some of the players on those teams through their golfing antics.  This particular book by John Olsen is one that heralds the attribute of attitude in an often comical way.  Olsen's sense of humor, and deprecation, are forever present in his retelling of his years growing up in Loogootee, playing basketball in the Jack Butcher system, and then, very briefly, moving on to Indiana University and the Bobby Knight basketball system.  (He was a walk on at IU in Knight's very first year and made the freshman squad.  He left the program after that first year to concentrate on his studies.)  Excellent read and one I highly recommend to all Loogootee and Jack Butcher fans.  Of note: The book is available at the Loogootee Public Library - I googled the title and came up with nada.