The Heartbeat of Halftime - Steve Wunderli (5 of 5 Titans)

For anyone not currently attending the University 16th ward, this review will not be nearly as amusing. Steve Wunderli is the second counselor in my bishopric. About a month ago his brother came to our ward to speak in sacrament meeting. During his talk he mentioned that his brother Steve had written a book. I can't speak for everyone else, but I was quite surprised to find out that we had a published author in our midst. I knew that he worked for Bonneville Communication, but I had never expected to discover something like this. What's more, he has another book called The Blue Between the Clouds, which I just ordered from Amazon.com for about five bucks. I couldn't find Blue at the library. Let me know if you'd like to read it and I'll pass it along to you.

The Heartbeat of Halftime is only about 175 pages, but I enjoyed every minute of it. The best way to describe it is the movie The Sandlot's equivalent to football. A bunch of eighth grade students at Olympus Junior High join together to try and take the state championship. Before this season (1972), they had won only two games. These wins were due to car accidents, arrests, etc. of the opposing team members, which left that with a significant disadvantage. A new kid, nicknamed Spray Can moves into town from Idaho. He's a big kid who give them new hope of taking the championship.

At the same time, Steve's dad is dying of cancer. Steve feels that he has something to prove to his father and everyone else. This subplot provided some additional depth to the story without being too sentimental.

It's everything you'd expect from a junior high/high school story: bullies, discovering girls, pranks, sports, dealing with parents, growing up, etc. I can't wait to get to church on Sunday and ask Steve how much of it is true. I know he was quite a handful when he was a kid. If this book is true, it surely cements that reputation.

One caution: The night before each game the boys from the Olympus team march onto the field to "mark" their territory... It's not crude in any way. It's just boys being boys. If by chance, you think you might be offended by this content, you might try Steve's other book.