The Boys from Joes

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The Boys from Joes The town of Joes, Colorado was founded in 1906. Just about everyone in the town had someone in their family with name of Joe, and that’s how the town got its name. The Boys from Joes is an incredible story. It’s about a group of ten small town boys who weren’t expected to go anywhere in basketball, or achieve their goals. Joes High School’s total enrollment consisted of sixteen girls, and twenty boys. Ten of the boys that had enrolled there played basketball. All of the boys were over six feet tall. Lane Sullivan, the new coach of the basketball team, had never even touched a basketball before he started coaching. Sullivan had never coached anything at all before he started coaching the Joes basketball team. In order to gain knowledge about the sport, he got a book about it. He started coaching in 1927, but before the 1928 basketball season, Joes High School didn’t even have a gym. Instead, they’d practice outside on a dirt court, and two times a week they’d take a bus to the nearest gym, which was ten miles away. In order to play home games, the boys had to play in the local dance hall. The “court” was nowhere near regulation size, and the ceiling was so short that the boys couldn’t shoot an arched shot. The people who attended these basketball games had no place to sit and watch the game, the all stood around the edges of the court and on the small stage. Joes High School finally got their own gym around Christmas time because the people of Joes donated their time and material in order to make it happen. The Joes Basketball team of 1927-1928 wasn’t just your average basketball team. They finished their actual basketball season with a record of nineteen wins, five losses, and one tie. The boys won their con... ... middle of paper ... ...ous. They didn’t even make any money off of their talent. The Great Depression occurred shortly after the Joes basketball epidemic, and people say it was a little bit easier to take than it was in other areas. The Joes basketball championships led to other state championships in baseball, track and field, band, and debate. One of the boys from Joes became a very successful man. Some of the others stayed in Joes and went on with their lives. A few others moved to places including Denver, San Francisco, and plenty of other places. Their coach, Lane Sullivan finally wrote a book, which was the primary reason he took the job at Joes in the first place. He thought it would be quiet enough for him to focus on writing. The Boys from Joes is such an incredible story. These boys went from not even having their own gym, to becoming undefeated and winning State Championships.

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