Longhorn Hoops: The History of Texas Basketball

Almost a century of UT basketball is covered in this exhaustively researched book. The reader is treated to anecdotes ranging from ridiculous to sublime and from funny to tragic, as well as player rebellions, hiring and firing of coaches and wild rumbles culminating in the 1963 UT-A&M game at Gregory Gym. Pennington also charts the painfully slow process of racial integration, the ebb and flow of opposing teams in and out of the Southwest Conference and Big 12 and shows how Dr. James Naismith's game has evolved from plodding, ground-bound finesse to the muscle, speed, altitude and exponentially greater skills of today. The orange-and-white stars of the past are recalled, including Clyde Littlefield, Holly Brock, Jack Gray, Bobby Moers, Slater Martin, Raymond Downs, Jay Arnette, Larry Robinson, Johnny Moore, Travis Mays, Terrence Rencher and Reggie Freeman. Men like E.J. "Doc" Stewart, Jack Gray, Harold Bradley, Abe Lemons (whose 1978 team won the NIT) and Tom Penders put in successful stints coaching the Longhorns, and the Rick Barnes era has just begun. And women's basketball receives equal coverage, starting with the early days when men were forbidden to watch and the decades of non-varsity competition imposed by physical education director Anna Hiss. With time and effort, however, Jody Conradt's program scaled the heights, winning the 1986 NCAA title. This book details the play of outstanding female athletes such as Linda Andrews Waggoner, Retha Swindell, Annette Smith, Andrea Lloyd, Clarissa Davis, Vicki Hall, Cinietra Henderson and Danielle Viglione. Longhorn Hoops covers everything a fan may want to know about basketball history at UT.