Description

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“A tour de force of reporting” (The Washington Post) from a Pulitzer–prize winning journalist that examines the often-corrupt machine producing America’s basketball stars

“Indispensable.”—The Wall Street Journal
“Often heart-breaking, always riveting.”—The New York Times Book Review
“Tremendous.”—The Plain Dealer

Winner of the PEN/ESPN Award for Literary Sportswriting• Winner of the Award for Excellence in the Coverage of Youth Sports

Using eight years of unfettered access and a keen sense of a story’s deepest truths, journalist George Dohrmann reveals a cutthroat world where boys as young as eight or nine are subjected to a dizzying torrent of scrutiny and exploitation. At the book’s heart are the personal stories of two compelling figures: Joe Keller, an ambitious coach with a master plan to find and promote “the next LeBron,” and Demetrius Walker, a fatherless latchkey kid who falls under Keller’s sway and struggles to live up to unrealistic expectations. 
 
Complete with a new “where-are-they-now” epilogue by the author, Play Their Hearts Out is a thoroughly compelling narrative exposing the gritty reality that lies beneath so many dreams of fame and glory.
 
One of GQ’S 50 Best Books of Literary Journalism of the 21st Century • One of the Best Books of the Year: Los Angeles Times, The Christian Science Monitor, Kirkus Reviews

This edition includes an exclusive conversation between George Dohrmann and bestselling author Seth Davis.

About the Author

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George Dohrmann is a senior writer at Sports Illustrated and the magazine’s investigative reporter. In 2000, while working at the St. Paul Pioneer Press, he won a Pulitzer Prize for a series of stories that uncovered a college basketball team’s academic fraud. Dohrmann lives in San Francisco with his family. This is his first book.

Praise For…

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“Often heartbreaking, always riveting.”—The New York Times Book Review
 
“Tremendous.”—The Plain Dealer
 
“Indispensable.”—The Wall Street Journal
 
“A tour de force of reporting, filled with deft storytelling and vivid character studies.”—The Washington Post
 
“One of the finest sports books of all time.”—Harper’s Magazine
 
“Amazing stuff . . . The Friday Night Lights of youth basketball.”—Leigh Montville, author of The Big Bam
 
“A landmark achievement in basketball journalism.”—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)