GOAL LINE BOMBER

by Nelson Hutto ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 7, 1964

Barry Caulder, newly appointed football coach at Huntley College, arrived with some of the muscle men from the team at the junior college where he had previously coached. A new and wealthy member of Huntley's Board of Trustees had instigated Caulder's coming in the hope that he could help Huntley break into the big time college football conference. Caulder's approach to football proved to be more commercial than sporting. It quickly became apparent that he operated under an inverted ethic: it doesn't matter how you play game but whether you win or lose. The players he brought with him attracted the attention of the press and soon the whole team was being castigated for playing dirty. The regulars, honest, tuition-in-case-of-need boys, under the leadership of Tom Fannin, the captain, fought against the Caulder regime. The resolution is poetic justice: the application of conference rules left the imported bully boys ineligible to play. It is unfortunate that only lip service is paid to the idea that college is not all football. This keeps the book within the confines of the formula sports novel. Nevertheless, it rises above others in this category as did the author's first -- Breakaway Back (1963, p.607, J-209). Mr. Hutto has a flair for creating a dramatic situation and describing game play. The central problem of young people frustrated under corrupt adult authority demands a reader sympathy boys will not be slow to give.

Pub Date: Oct. 7, 1964

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Harper & Row

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1964

Categories: FICTION