num_pages: 432
description: The first comprehensive USF basketball program overview, A RAGING CHASING THE BIG TIME, chronicles the program starting in the early seventies. More than a memoir, more than a coming-of-age story, more than a history, this book offers personalized insights and life-wisdom framed by the transition of a college player to a member of the larger community. If ever times and events came together to enable a young man's dreams and reward his efforts, Tony Grier's life is an example of it. Tony was raised in Port Chester, New York public housing, labeled as learning-disabled, and sent to a "special" school. The future could have been grim. Through a teacher's special gift, his passion for reading was ignited. When a basketball court was constructed, Tony watched, not realizing that the sport and his love of books would lead him out of the projects and into the world of college basketball. Fighting the stigmas of poverty, race, and scholastic inadequacy, Tony developed the academic and basketball skills to earn a scholarship at the University of South Florida when the program was young. He became a star player under the illustrious Lee Rose. Tony researched the program from its earliest days, sought out former players and coaches, and documented little known and seldom remembered facts about the past of USF hoops. This is not a book of stats. It is a personalized history that tells more about the 'why' than the 'what.' Tony's teammates, former and current USF Bulls, and essential program boosters share their memories on these pages. Tony returned to USF and completed his degree in 1984, part of the larger narrative of where the program is coming from and where it is moving to. In reading his story, we remember that those individuals and institutions that have overcome the greatest challenges are those we most admire. Tony and the University of South Florida share the victory.
language: English
title: A Raging Bull: Chasing the Big Time
titlecomplete: A Raging Bull: Chasing the Big Time
publisher: Inkwater Pr