About this item
In 1943, the West Point basketball team, the Cadets, had only managed a 5-10 record, and for the 1944 season coach Ed Kelleher's hopes in reversing Army's fortunes rested on his five starters. They consisted of three seniors - team captain "Big Ed" Christl, John "Three Star" Hennessey, and class president Bobby Faas - and two juniors, Dale Hall and Doug Kenna. At the academy, Kelleher molded his cadets into a new kind of team, and, as the new season opened in January of 1944, Kelleher's strategy paid handsome dividends. By the end of January, West Point was 6-0; by the end of February, the team boasted a 13-0 record. Of course, during those weeks, it only took a glance at the newspaper headlines to be reminded that there were far bigger contests than intercollegiate basketball afoot in the winter of 1944.
About the Author
An Army brat and former Army officer, Jim Noles is a graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point and the University of Texas School of Law. To date, his books have covered a variety of non-fiction subjects. His writing has appeared in such diverse publications as the New York Times, Smithsonian Air & Space, Preservation, Urban Land, and Alabama Heritage. Jim's most recent book is UNDEFEATED: From Basketball to Battle -- West Point's Perfect 1944 Season (Oxford and Philadelphia: Casemate Publishers, 2018) . UNDEFEATED tells the tale of West Point's basketball team during its fateful 1944 season -- and of the war that three of the seniors fought when they graduated. Sadly, it would be a war that not all of them would survive.Jim resides in Mountain Brook, Alabama, with his wife Elizabeth and sons James and John. He is a former chairman of the Board of Directors of the Alabama Humanities Foundation and the former chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Alabama School of Fine Arts. Today, he is the Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Mountain Brook Library Foundation. Jim is also a founding partner of Barze Taylor Noles Lowther LLC, where he continues to practice law today.Jim's website is www.jimnoles.com and you can follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/byjimnoles.
