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The Thin Thirty | 
 enlarge | Author: Shannon P. Ragland
Publisher: Set Shot Press
Category: Book
List Price: $18.95
Buy New: $16.71
You Save: $2.24 (12%)
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Avg. Customer Rating:  10 reviews
Sales Rank: 553545
Media: Paperback
Edition: 1st
Pages: 372
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 8.1 x 6 x 1
ISBN: 097912221X
Dewey Decimal Number: 796
EAN: 9780979122217
ASIN: 097912221X
Publication Date: August 21, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
Kentucky's new football coach in 1962, Charlie Bradshaw, a Bear Bryant acolyte, put his team through a brutal conditioning and practice regiment, thinning the squad from eighty-eight players to just thirty. Over the course of the fateful year, the players would survive not just brutality on the football field, but sex and gambling scandals off it that involved Rock Hudson and the fixing of a Kentucky game. Based on extensive research, including over 100 interviews, The Thin Thirty is a detailed account of this fateful season, providing intimate portraits of the key participants, from the coaches to the players to the corrupting predators off the field. This is the true story of a football team that overcame the darkest of scandals to become forever known as legends. They were the Thin Thirty.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 5 more reviews...
 Interesting stuff; execrable writing. March 25, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
As a Kentuckian who followed the UK football program during the Bradshaw years, I found much of the "unknown" material from that era very interesting. I only wish Mr. Ragland could have done the research, then put his findings in the hands of a competent author (or found a good proofreader). I do not believe I have ever seen worse writing in a published book. Apparently he has no acquaintance with elementary rules of grammar.
Mr. Ragland deserves credit for finding the individuals with whom he talked and for making the information public. But he went too far when he stated, as a fact, that UK threw the Xavier game, even going so far as to infer the identity of the guilty players, without naming them explicitly. A careful reading, however, shows that he has no proof whatsoever that the fix was in. This is unconscionable.
 Thin Thirty January 2, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I played for Bradshaw 65'-69'. The book was accurate but the indoor conditioning and tough style of coaching continued through till his departure in 69'.
 Disturbing but true December 3, 2007
4 out of 5 found this review helpful
Having been a product of southern football in the early 60s (a successful HS program, though, not college), I recognize many of the brutalization tactics employeed by Bradshaw and his staff. So traumatized by practices were we that we looked upon actual games as fun times off. No wonder we did so well and our opponents hated to play us. No comment about the fixing allegation, as I've no knowledge of that. But, the gay sex thing rang true, also. It's hard today to realize just how naive young men were in that age. That robust, hetero young men could have partaken in such without any stigma says a lot about how far we've come in the politization of all things sexual in the last half of the 20th century.
As to the artifact itself (the book). This is one of the worst production jobs I've ever seen. Was there no editor or proof-reader available? Grammatical mistakes and typos abound. And the binding did not survive a first reading. Even opening the book flat on my lap loosened the pages, so poorly were they glued in.
But, the information in this book is a vital link to a time gone forever, and should be part of any historical survey of college football in the south. Not for everyone, but a must read for anyone wondering how football came to be a religion in the south.
Not What Bear And Vince Intended November 22, 2007
8 out of 10 found this review helpful
Who among the male sports fans reading this has not at some time subscribed to the Bear Bryant/Vince Lombardi school of coaching, or thinking? We have all done it.
It goes something like this:
Part One - Be tough on the kids, break em down physically and mentally.
Part Two - Build them back up as a team, encourage them, reward them.
Ever wondered what would happen if Part One was overdone, and Part Two was ignored?
Well, that's exactly what occurred at Kentucky University in 1962, and that is what The Thin Thirty is about.
The book gets its name from the fact that in the winter of 1961 KU had 88 men out for football, but after the brutality of the "conditioning program," spring practice, and finally fall practice, when the first game rolled around in 1962 only 30 players were left on the team.
The "thin" part of the title refers to the fact that among the 30 survivors most had gone from hefty guys down to scrawny, thin, weakened young men.
And the abuse did not stop there. Scholarship players who quit because of the insanity and physical abuse (wait till you read about the coach that slugged a player, knocked a tooth out and then demanded he continue with no interruption) were badgered into signing a waiver giving up their scholarships - a clear violation of the scholarship contract.
This is about a coaching staff and supportive administration that ran amok. And more importantly it is about dozens of young men who were forced to choose to endure the label of quitter for finally throwing in the towel on the KU version of the Bataan Death March.
Richly researched and told in a vivid style of writing, this is a book about what was nothing less than a concentration camp masquerading as a football program. And the stories of how the survivors eventually built solid lives for themselves in spite of the experience will bring tears to your eyes.
Bryant and Lombardi were masters. But they remembered Part Two of their formula. The "Bryant wannabees" at KU in 1962 forgot Part Two and became sadists in classic Lord Of The Flies fashion.
There is a message there for all of us.
PS This book deserved to be printed and distributed by a large publisher. Instead it seems to have been printed by a vanity press - so be prepared for some typos and errors in grammar - but don't let that put you off - this is a great book and we hope to hear more from this author.
The Thin Thirty October 28, 2007
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
The five stars are only valid if you are a UK fan and know the history of the Thin Thirty. It was a great book as I knew a lot of people mentioned.
If you don't know the people and the history of that era then this book might not be for you.
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