A Season on the Reservation

From Hoopedia

A Season on the Reservation: My Sojourn with the White Mountain Apache
by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Stephen Singular (William Morrow and Company, Inc., 2000)

In this book, basketball legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar tells of one basketball season when he coached a high school team on the White Mountain Apache Reservation (Arizona). Tired of life in Los Angeles, disillusioned with pro basketball, and devastated by the death of his mother, Abdul-Jabbar accepted an invitation to coach the team at Alchesay High School in Whiteriver, Arizona. He describes his first encounter with high-speed "Apache basketball," his efforts to teach basketball fundamentals and discipline, and the mutual journey of discovery in which he and the team members learned much from each other. In addition to extensive descriptions of the events of the basketball season, the book includes many anecdotes about the good and the bad aspects of life on the reservation, the extended family relationship of everyone on the reservation and the exceptional community support for the team, the personal struggles and successes of the boys on the team, American Indian culture and history, school and community efforts to preserve Apache culture and language, and the historical connections between the Apaches and African Americans.