Against the backdrop of one of the most tumultuous periods in recent
American history, as riots and demonstrations spread across the nation,
the Tigers of poor, segregated East High School in Columbus, Ohio did
something no team from one school had ever done before: they won the
state basketball and baseball championships in the same year. They
defeated bigger, richer, whiter teams across the state and along the way
brought blacks and whites together, eased a painful racial divide
throughout the state, and overcame extraordinary obstacles on their road
to success. In Tigerland, Wil Haygood gives us a spirited and stirring
account of this improbable triumph and takes us deep into the personal
lives of these local heroes. At the same time, he places the Tigers'
story in the context of the racially charged sixties, bringing in such
national figures as Jackie Robinson, Martin Luther King Jr., and Richard
Nixon, all of whom had a connection to the teams and a direct effect on
their mythical season.