The Kids Got It Right: How the Texas All-Stars Kicked Down Racial Walls
Praise forThe Kids Got it Right: “If I could have any sports wish granted today, it would be that every student from seventh grade up in Southeast Texas be required to read Jim Dent’s latest and, without question, most important book —The Kids Got It Right. Dent, who is a masterful story teller, is at his best with this real-life tale of how a courageous black athlete from Beaumont, Jerry LeVias, and a white superstar from Palestine, Bill Bradley, helped break down racial barriers in the 1960s in the context of a football holy war between Texas and Pennsylvania.” –Port Arthur News “Consummate sports chronicler Dent (Courage Behind the Game: The Freddie Steinmark Story, 2012, etc.) examines a transformative football event in Texas that blurred racial boundaries… A passionate, well-reported history of the role Texas football played in America’s racial integration.” --Kirkus “Dent (The Junction Boys) spotlights on of the prouder moments in Texas gridiron lore, with its first high school football integration effort winning the 1965 Big 33… A work of tolerance, sportsmanship, and friendship, Dent’s account of coach Layne and his boys is a feel-good American story that never slumps into slogans or stereotypes.” –Publishers Weekly “Porlific and popular sportswriter Jim Dent relates the forgotten story of the 1965 Big 33 All-Star game between high schoolers representing Pennsylvania and Texas… A warm and positive take on times of change that should appeal to football fans and broader readers.” –Library Journal “I know how big the Big 33 game was because I covered it back in the sixties in Hershey, Pennsylvania. It was the Super Bowl before there was such a thing. Recruiters and writers came from everywhere just to see the talent. Once more, Jim Dent has brought home a story that is both fun and inspirational. Great writing, great stuff.’’ --Randy Galloway, ESPN Radio and Fort Worth Star-Telegram “I’ve been covering major sports in Texas for more than thirty years, and I must confess that my favorite ones are always about the high school athletes. This terrific tale about the friendship of Jerry LeVias and Bill Bradley shines a bright light into a dark hole concerning the death of segregation. It is the best high school story I’ve seen yet. Of course, there is no one better to write it than Jim Dent because he is the best story-teller I know.’’ --Dale Hansen, WFAA Sports Anchor "It was first down and seemingly a lifetime for racial integration of Texas high school football. Jim Dent tells the compelling story of how two great players began that drive.'' --Randy Harvey,Houston Chronicle "Jim Dent has a great sense of the history of football in Texas, and it's place in our state's culture. Like his other books,TheKids Got It Rightcarries a message that will resonate with any reader. His book takes you back to a fascinating time in our country that seems distant, and yet really wasn't that long ago." --George Dunham, KTCK, The TicketPraise forCourage Beyond the Game:“Jim Dent, dadgum him, keeps writing books I wish I’d written. LikeThe Junction BoysandTwelve Mighty Orphans, to name two. Now here he comes with another terrific effort,Courage Beyond the Game, the story of the most courageous kid to ever pull on a football suit. If you pick it up, it’s guaranteed to pick you up.’’ --Dan Jenkins, author ofSemi-ToughandDead Solid Perfect“Jim Dent is a world class story teller, and in Freddie Steinmark’s courageous and triumphant fight to be a man of substance, he’s found a tale worthy of his ample talents.  Dent will bring tears to your eyes, and Steinmark’s example will make you want to be a better person.’’ --Joe Drape,New York Timesbestselling author ofOur Boys: A Perfect Season on the Plains with the Smith Center Redmen“You will cheer and you will weep as you read Jim Dent’s irresistible rendering of one of the great real-life dramas in college football history. Dent has brought plenty of tough guys to life in his other books, but little Freddie Steinmark surely ranks as the toughest. Dent has brilliantly re-cast a Longhorn legend. I could not putCourage Beyond the Gamedown.’’ --John Eisenberg, author ofThat First Season:How Vince Lombardi Took the Worst Team in the NFL and set it on the Path to Glory, andCotton Bowl Days: Growing up with Dallas and the Cowboys in the 1960s''Freddie Steinmark's story will inspire you and make you cry, and Jim Dent has told it better than anyone inCourage Beyond the Game. Jim's eye for detail and gifted writing will take you back to another place and time, and a new generation of college football fans will learn why Freddie lives forever in the hearts of those he touched in his brief life.'' --Richard Justice, lead sports columnist forThe Houston Chronicle“Courage Beyond the Game is a wonderful book whose protagonist, the doomed University of Texas safety Freddie Steinmark, delivers just what the title promises. Veteran sports author Jim Dent infuses a narrative whose ending we all know with depth, tenderness, and unexpected insights. His Steinmark could have easily been a cardboard saint. Instead the Steinmark we meet is intensely human, inspirational, funny and utterly unforgettable. This was a book I couldn’t put down.’’ --Bill Livingston,Cleveland Plain Dealersports columnist“Jim Dent once again proves his mastery of the way football felt and sounded in the days of Texas and the Southwest Conference. His inspirational portrait of Freddie Steinmark takes us back to a purer time.’’ --Mark Whicker,Orange Country Registersports columnist“Freddie Steinmark defined college football with his unquenchable thirst for life, unbridled spirit through adversity, and rare passion for the game he lived to play. Jim Dent can tell a story life like few others and brought this must-read, must-be-told account back to life for all to relish with his riveting, gut-wrenching book,Courage Beyond the Game.’’ --Kirk Bohls,Austin American Statesmansports columnist