A Ball With No Points

A Football Town...A Basketball Triumph

Non-Fiction - Sports
388 Pages
Reviewed on 09/12/2022
Buy on Amazon

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    Book Review

Reviewed by Vincent Dublado for Readers' Favorite

A Ball With No Points: A Football Town...A Basketball Triumph by Stephen D. Reddy is genuinely inspiring because it really happened. We join the author in his trip down memory lane, as he recalls an epic basketball season in 1971, a year that witnessed the emergence of an unforgettable basketball team in a town obsessed with football. As a member of the Westfield High School hoops team, the author takes you into the world of hoops filled with rude awakenings as they traverse the difficult path to victory. Facing bigger and faster teams, it is a story that addresses physical, mental, and emotional maturity, the development of skills, and dealing with the curveball that life throws at you once in a while and when you least expect it. Stephen D. Reddy openly confesses how the game of basketball is inextricably woven into his being.

A Ball With No Points is a non-fiction sports story that shows its own uniqueness from the rest. While it echoes the same way, it demonstrates the triumph of an underdog basketball team. It evokes genuine inspiration and may well set the standards for future real-life sports stories. Stephen D. Reddy tells his story by not limiting it to the personalities involved but including the intense moments that surround the memories now put in writing. It’s a good thing that Reddy didn’t give in to his apprehensions about not writing his story and letting it be buried without a headstone—because it’s a story worth telling. It’s an effective sports story, as well as an effective portrait of a man whose integral role in a team becomes a genuine tale of the indefatigability of the human spirit. No matter if you have played a sport or preferred to be a spectator, this must-read story will resonate.

Foluso Falaye

The year 1971 saw the birth of a trailblazing basketball team that made the suburban town of Westfield, NJ proud and later earned a spot in the Westfield Athletic Hall of Fame. In A Ball With No Points, a member of the phenomenal Westfield High School hoops team shows us what it was like to achieve its memorable series of wins: having to muster enough strength to go against formidable opponents and recover from losses, fighting the urge to get cocky while winning several games, and dealing with the wildness of youth and its tendency to sabotage the team effort. About 50 years after the magical moments shared between the basketball players at WHS and their fans, Stephen D. Reddy reveals how the love for the game never left him and updates readers on his engagements with some of the team members during reunions and in between.

A Ball With No Points provides a suspense-filled, thrilling, energizing, and mightily inspirational experience for lovers of all sports, especially the most exciting game of basketball! As an on-and-off basketball player, A Ball With No Points intrigued me from the first page to the last and reminded me of why I fell in love with the sport. The book puts you right in the middle of the games, with its vivid, thorough, and skillful narration. The pages are packed with words of wisdom about life choices, like appreciating the gift of life and youth, helping others, and building strong relationships that stand the test of time. Stephen D. Reddy's book is an exuberant, dreamy escape into an important moment in Westfield's basketball history that would leave you satisfied and awestruck! I recommend!

Keith Mbuya

It was not until the early 1970s that a group of young basketball players changed the norm of high school basketball in New Jersey. Before the ‘70s, the Westfield High School basketball team had never claimed the game’s most coveted titles. This was obviously because of fierce competition from other institutions in New Jersey. By the late 1960s, a change in Westfield’s High School basketball team management and team members saw the rise of a versatile, determined, and disciplined team that was set to break Westfield’s prevailing high school basketball team record competitively. Being a member of the “historic” Westfield basketball team, Stephen D. Reddy recounts every detail of the journey to the team’s success in the 1971-1972 season in his memoir, A Ball With No Points: A Football Town...A Basketball Triumph.

Enthusiasts of sports memoirs, (specifically basketball), will love Stephen D. Reddy’s book. Using a simple style of writing with appropriate vocabulary, Stephen D. Reddy took me down his high school memory lane. With exciting anecdotes and memories, he vividly depicts his days as a young Westfield High School basketball team member. His depictions have a strong nostalgic tone. This was especially augmented by the pictures of his team in the ‘70s. Whether or not you were part of the Westfield family, you will feel the bond between the players and their coach, the discipline, the determination, the energy, and perhaps see their progress. He aligns his ideas consistently, capturing important steps in his team’s journey to success. This includes details of robust training activities and gaming strategies. Get yourself Stephen D. Reddy’s A Ball With No Points to experience the thrilling journey of a coach and his team members in making history.