Book: The Boys of Dunbar: A Story of Love, Hope, and Basketball, By Alejandro Danois ’88

Posted on Mar 23, 2017

Book: The Boys of Dunbar: A Story of Love, Hope, and Basketball, By Alejandro Danois ’88

The Boys of Dunbar: A Story of Love, Hope, and Basketball

By Alejandro Danois ’88

The Boys of Dunbar is the true story of a high school basketball team that, during the drug and crime epidemic in 1980s Baltimore, brought forth four NBA players and gave hope to a city.

Dunbar High School’s basketball program was one of the most successful in the country, and the early 1980s Dunbar Poets were arguably the best high school team of all time. Four starting players—Muggsy Bogues, Reggie Williams, David Wingate, and Reggie Lewis—would eventually play in the NBA. Alejandro Danois takes his readers through the Poets’ undefeated 1981–1982 season, the lives of the players, and the role of Coach Bob Wade. Wade, a former NFL player from the same neighborhood, knew that his players’ formative lessons on the court were key to their future.

A Brooklyn native, Alejandro lives in Baltimore and is editor-in-chief of The Shadow League. His writing has been published by the New York Times, the Baltimore Sun, Associated Press, Bleacher Report, Sporting News, the Los Angeles Times, and Ebony magazine.