cover image The Right Kind of Heroes: Coach Bob Shannon and the East St. Louis Flyers

The Right Kind of Heroes: Coach Bob Shannon and the East St. Louis Flyers

Kevin Horrigan. Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, $18.95 (332pp) ISBN 978-0-945575-70-2

In the crime- and drug-infested inner city of East St. Louis, Ill., high-school coach Bob Shannon has welded his football team, the Flyers, into a precision force, leading them to six state championships in 15 seasons. Born in a shack in Mississippi, Shannon, who is black, lectures players about commitment, character and the danger of drugs, promoting the values of hard effort and teamwork in a city rife with unemployment, crack and violence. Football, to this blunt, aloof disciplinarian, is a means to an end--a way for kids to get out of East St. Louis or to stay there on their own terms. Horrigan, a St. Louis radio broadcaster and former sports columnist, takes readers through the Flyers' 1990 and 1991 seasons, interweaving profiles of players, a history of East St. Louis and an account of the outspoken Shannon's run-ins with local politicians and school officials. The result is a quietly inspirational testament to an achiever whose favorite phrase is ``Get it done.'' Author tour. (Sept.)