Type of bind: Hardcover
Format: Bargain Price
Label: Thomas Dunne Books
Manufacturer: Thomas Dunne Books
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 290
Printing Date: 1999-09
Publishing house: Thomas Dunne Books
Sale Popularity Level: 1092866
Studio: Thomas Dunne Books
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Product Description:
The legendary Paul 'Bear' Bryant is recognized nationwide as one of the greatest coaches ever. So why did he always cite his 1-9 A&M team of 1954 as his favorite? This is the story of a remarkable team – and the beginning of the legend.
The Junction Boys tells the story of Coach Paul 'Bear' Bryant's legendary training camp in the small town of Junction, Texas. In a move that many consider the salvation of the Texas A&M football program, Coach Bryant put 115 players through the most grueling practices ever imagined. Only a handful of players survived the entire 10 days, but they braved the intense heat of the Texas sun and the burning passion of their coach, and turned a floundering team into one of the nation's best. The Junction Boys is more than just a story of tough practices without water breaks. An extraordinary fellowship was forged from the mind-numbing pain. The thirty-five survivors bonded together like no other team in America. They profited from the Junction experience; the knowledge they took back with them to College Station, about themselves and what they were capable of, would be used for the rest of their lives.
In vivid and powerful images reminiscent of Saturday Night Lights, Hoosiers, and The Last Picture Show, these young men and their driven coach come to life. The Junction Boys contains all the hallmarks of a classic sports story, and it combines America's love of college football with an extraordinary story of perseverance and triumph.
Amazon.com Review:
When Bear Bryant took over the Texas A&M football program in 1954, he inherited a team that had lost its last five games by a combined score of 133-41. That season more than 100 Aggie hopefuls arrived in the small town of Junction for the very first practice of a now legendary training camp. The sun bore down. The drills escalated. Trainers doled out water like gold, and meals and accommodations were horribly spartan. Ten hellish days later, only 34 remained to form the 1954 team that would only win one game, but those survivors--and that's what they were--formed the nucleus of the squad that would go undefeated just two years later.
This is the story of that team, that coach, the 10 days that shook their world, and the seasons they played together. 'We lost alot (sic) of games,' recalls Gene Stallings, who endured those days as a player and eventually followed Bryant as head coach both at A&M and Alabama, 'but Coach Bryant knew what he was doing. Out of the orange dust and the broiling heat of Junction, he forged a team of champions.' Jim Dent's evocative recounting is so real and immediate you'll feel your throat getting scratchy as you read. You'll also feel remarkable respect for the players who toughed it out--and for Bryant, who begins as a man possessed, but, day after day, as he breaks the backs of some and helps instill true grit in others, transforms into a human being. --Jeff Silverman
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Rated by buyers 
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Excellent account of what playing football for Paul Bryant was like when he was possibly at his meanest. Frustrations from dealing with The University Of Kentucky's lack of support for their winning football program (which Bryant was responsible for) and the job of turning Texas A&M around at that time would have made ANYBODY a little edgy I think!! If you love football you will love this book!!!
Rated by buyers -
Hard Work Pays Off
The story Junction Boys by Jim Dent is a book about a group of Aggies who need a new coach so they can get back to there winning ways. Texas A&M found the right man for the job. They hired the legendary coach Paul "Bear" Bryant. Bryant was in consecutive winning seasons with Kentucky before he decided to make the switch to A&M. When "Bear" arrived he was there for one reason and that was to win a championship. He figured the only way he could was to take the team to a town called Junction. On there way the team noticed that the ground was getting dryer and dryer. At the camp Bryant was in no mood for messing around. He was running the team more than ever. All the players were getting dehydrated, cramping, and even worse, quitting. The Bear didn't care that half the team was quitting as long as he could get a championship. After the dreading camp the team wasn't doing any better during the regular season. The very first season the team only won one game. But the subsequent two were the seasons to remember. "A terrific football book"- Tom Landry, former Dallas Cowboys football coach. Junction Boys was a great book about a very hard working team. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes the game of football. And if you're looking for any good book to read this would be a great choice. This book has it all, comedy and serious. This terrific book is the perfect book for a perfect football fan. There is also a movie about the Junction Boys starring Tom Beringer. The movie is a little different but is also a great football story. I recommend this book to anyone who loves the great game of football.
Rated by buyers 
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"The Junction Boys" is about Texas A&M's 1954 summer football camp, run by the incoming coach (who eventually became a legend) Paul "Bear" Bryant.
While another reviewer mentioned that the Junction story is such an oft-told tale that nobody could shine any new light on it, I will mention that I did not grow up in the Deep South or in Texas and football was not religion in my household - so this story was rather new to me. What I discovered was that it still makes for an interesting tale, one in which a demanding new head coach runs his previously pampered charges ragged and forges a champion. It's the kind of tale that people love, but it isn't just that simple.
When Bryant gets hired to coach A&M's football program, he already has built a reputation for sucess as coach at Kentucky, so it's not as though he just dropped out of the blue. It is mentioned that Bryant often felt unappreciated at Kentucky, being overshadowed by Adolph Rupp and his basketball-playing Wildcats.
The Texas A&M football team in 1954 is something of a joke. Rich alumni manage to secure roster spots for their sons, whether they're decent football players or not, and the fact that A&M at the time was very nearly a military academy in the vein of the Citadel meant that most high school stars would rather play at other schools where the atmosphere was more conducive to fun and games.
Bryant changed all this when he brought his players to Junction, a small East Texas town in the middle of nowhere. Although it is summer, and undoubtedly hot, Junction's typical summer weather isn't blast-furnace dry. Unfortunately for the players, Junction has been in a drought and the landscape is barren, dusty, cactus-grown, and unbelievably hot. Still - Bryant (admittedly surprised at the poor locale for his training camp)decides to run his players to the point of exhaustion, nearly killing one of them (who never really recovers his health). While this certainly runs off the weak-willed and those who thought they would live the life of a pampered scholarship athlete, it also runs off a lot of the team's truly talented players as well. The 34 survivors tend to be those that simply couldn't afford the alternative. Seriously undermanned (even in that era of one-platoon football) A&M proceeds to lose all but one of their games. However, they are a gritty and resourceful bunch, and are competitive in most of their losses.
Two years later, Bryant's A&M team is the undefeated Southwest Conference champion. Only 8 players are left from the 34 who survived Junction, but they all share that common bond and the legacy formed from that hellish summer camp.
Rated by buyers -
Read about the greatest football Coach of all times. Great read.
Rated by buyers 
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When Gene,"Bebes" Stallings was asked if he ever got tired of
talking about Junction,he said,"It's like an old fish story:The
more you tell it,the worse it gets." "The Junction Boys" could be
summed up as someone's idea of having a bad time at training camp.
The story starts with Bear Bryant's arrival in College Station in 1954,and concludes with his passing in 1983.In between,the Aggies go from the bottom of the ash heap,to the top of the
mountain.The individual stories of the boys,along with the
rich history of Texas A&M,make this a book for the ages.It's
the best sports book that I've read.
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