The Miracle of St. Anthony: A Season with Coach Bob Hurley and Basketball's Most Improbable Dynasty » (Reprint)

ADRIAN WOJNAROWSKI is a sports columnist for The Record of New Jersey, and a regular contributor to ESPN.com. He has twice been voted as the Associated Press Sports Editors' #1 columnist in the nation and his work has been frequently honored by the U.S. Basketball Writers Association.

In a city mired in endless decay, where the youth suffer through all the horrors of urban blight, hope comes in a most unassuming form: a tiny brick schoolhouse run by two Felician nuns where a singular basketball genius takes teenagers from the mean streets of Jersey City and turns them into champions on the hardcourt. Coach Bob Hurley had been working miracles at St. Anthony High School for over thirty years, winning state and national championships and offering his players rescue from their surroundings through college scholarships, when he met his most dysfunctional team yet. In The Miracle of St. Anthony Adrian Wojnarowski follows Hurley through a gripping and heartrending season as he struggles to lead a troubled team to glory through his unparalleled understanding of the game and his ceaseless determination to see no more children lost to these streets.

In The Miracle of St. Anthony, acclaimed sports journalist Adrian Wojnarowski follows Hurley through a gripping and heartrending season, as he struggles to lead a troubled team to glory through his unparalleled understanding of the game and his ceaseless determination to see no more children lost to the city streets.

Acclaim for The Miracle of St. Anthony:
“It takes two ingredients to make a book special: a great story and a great storyteller. The Miracle of St. Anthony has both. Bob Hurley is a remarkable coach; Adrian Wojnarowski is his equal as a writer.”
—JOHN FEINSTEIN, BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF A SEASON ON THE BRINK

“Takes you through this miracle season where this high school basketball team didn't have the greatest talent but somehow came out on top . . . [Coach Hurley] is dedicated to these city kids and helping them overcome the obstacles that the city can offer. A lot of his lessons are not about basketball, but about life, and doing things the right way.”
—BILL RAFTERY, THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

“Compelling.”
—Chicago Tribune

“A classic.”
—Boston Globe

“Astonishing”
—New York Post

“Hard to put down.”
—The Washington Post

Publishers Weekly

The Bob Hurley profiled here isn't as well known to the average sports fan as his son, Bobby, the Duke University basketball superstar. But the elder Hurley's profile should rise quickly, thanks to sportswriter Wojnarowski's fine and detailed look at the "miracle" Hurley has achieved as coach for more than 30 years of the men's basketball team at St. Anthony's High School in Jersey City, NJ. Wojnarowski provides an excellent look at the phenomenon of the school itself, which Hurley and two Felician nuns managed to keep open even after it lost funding from the church, educating "the poorest of the poor" (more than 50% of the students' families lived below the poverty line). He delivers a finely etched portrait of Hurley, whose passion and drive enabled him to construct "a national powerhouse program out of an enrollment that struggled to stay at 200" and keep the school's decade-long streak of 100% college acceptance. But Wojnarowski's main focus is on the 2003-2004 season, in which a varsity team that Hurley considered "the most academically, athletically and socially underachieving in St. Anthony basketball history" overcame its "dysfunctional" nature and had an undefeated season. Wojnarowski's sensitive, insightful look at the social backgrounds and emotional development of the varsity players -- and Hurley's remarkable understanding of them -- will keep readers riveted throughout this book, which is one of the best recent pieces of sports journalism.