Also By Dan Kellams
A Coach’s Life: Les Hipple and the Marion Indians
“Part Hoosiers and part Our Town . . . Tough and to the point” — Phil Grose, author of South Carolina on the Brink.
“A poignant biography of the stern taskmaster . . .The historical backdrop of the town grips the reader.” — Jim Ecker, Metro Sports Report.
He was one of the greatest high school coaches the state had ever known. Les Hipple imposed strict rules on his players and enforced them unsparingly. The turned out championship teams year after year in four different sports—football, basketball, cross country, and track and field. Although his rules were extreme, boys in the small Iowa town longed to become “Hipplemen,” and townspeople praised the coach and admired his teams for their gritty play and their modesty.
Then everything about him began to change, but the coach did not. This is the story of an extraordinary man who unflinchingly lived according to the principles he taught—even if it might mean losing a game, a championship—or the job he loved.
Meticulously researched, this biography is set against the backdrop of small-town America during the 1940s and 1950s. Its poignant stories include those of a superb athlete who died on the verge of greatness, a school controversy that turned brother against brother, and a changing society that trapped a great coach in the vise of his own principles.
For more information: www.acoachslife.com
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