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"Hurricane Season"

The football team at the John Curtis Christian School in New Orleans has won more than a score of state championships.

Part of the reason for the success has been the dedication of J.T. Curtis, the team's head coach, and his staff of a dozen assistant coaches, nearly all of them members of his family. J.T. is the son of John, the preacher who founded the John Curtis Christian School in 1962. Where other coaches put their players through dreaded two-a-day preseason workouts on sweltering days, J.T. opts for three-a-days. Where the people running other schools that are criticized as football mills bristle at the charge, John Curtis himself once characterized his academy as "the Rolls Royce of athletic factories."

Neal Thompson's "Hurricane Season: A Coach, His Team, and Their Triumph in the Time of Katrina" tells the story of the football season that J.T. Curtis cobbled together following the storm that devastated New Orleans and much of the area, leaving some of his players homeless and depressed. Thompson's argument is that the return of the John Curtis Patriots to their former glory as "fearless warriors" presented the players and their fans with the opportunity to "scream back at Katrina." Whether or not you agree, it's an intriguing contention.

This program aired on August 2, 2007. The audio for this program is not available.

Headshot of Bill Littlefield

Bill Littlefield Host, Only A Game
Bill Littlefield was the host of Only A Game from 1993 until 2018.

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