The Wow Boys: A Coach, a Team, and a Turning Point in College Football. Dieser Artikel ist nicht verfügbar.The Wow Boys: A Coach, a Team, and a Turning Point in College Football

In 2002 ESPN rated football&;s shift to the modern T-formation offense as the second best sports innovation of all time&;just behind baseball&;s free agency. The story behind the move to the T-formation is also the story of a season unparalleled in the annals of college football&;the year Stanford&;s new coach, fresh from seven dismal seasons with the University of Chicago, deployed an out-of-favor offense to take a team of talented underdogs to a Rose Bowl victory.

The Wow Boys (the title refers to the nickname the team earned at its very first game) chronicles Stanford&;s miraculous 1940 season, from the surprise hiring of coach Clark Shaughnessy and his marshalling of the previously untapped talents of left-handed quarterback Frankie Albert, runners Hugh Gallarneau and Pete Kmetovic, and fullback Norm Standlee, to his reintroduction of the T-formation and its profound and enduring effect on football. James W. Johnson gives a game-by-game rundown of this dramatic season as well as an in-depth account of Shaughnessy&;s accomplishment in the face of overwhelming criticism and skepticism. This story is one of tenacity, character, and radical ideas prevailing against formidable odds&;a sports revolution engineered one play at a time.

James W. Johnson is a professor emeritus of journalism at the University of Arizona. He is also a longtime newsman who worked for the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Oakland Tribune, and the Oregonian, among other newspapers. His most recent book is Arizona Politicians: The Noble and the Notorious.