It has everything - a larger-than-life football coach in Paul Bear Bryant, a supporting cast of coaches/players to be in Gene Stallings, Jack Pardee and John David Crow, and a small town locale in Junction, Texas as colorful as anything Larry McMurtry ever dreamed of in "The Last Picture Show."
So one can partially forgive Dent's penchant for waxing a bit too poetic when describing every Texas cliche in the book. This story has always had "Hollywood" written all over it and Dent, a former sportswriter who himself must dream of the lofty heights of the already-mentioned McMurtry (refer to A&M defeat of Texas contrasted with a simultaneous thunderstorm breaking the drought in Junction), milks this tale for all it's worth.
I didn't learn much from Dent's story, as the drought-ridden conditions of Junction, Texas at the time of this football camp has been told millions of times add nauseum; the 100-plus players dwindling to 35 has become a sort of sacred mantra by every small town football coach in modern history; and the climb to an undefeated season two short years later usually concludes what has become a popular campfire story across the plains of West Texas.
What I liked about "The Junction Boys" was the colorful interpretation of the early years of the legendary Paul Bear Bryant. Texas A & M was where this coach cut his teeth, or more accurately, began to lay the foundation for his conservative coaching beliefs and monument status. Bryant is a character who at times, makes Abraham Lincoln or even Babe Ruth, if you will, seem like a pale Gerald Ford with the flu. After reading "The Junction Boys," it's not difficult to see why the colorful Coach Bryant won national championships and collegiate games with amazing consistency.
The problems I have with Dent's novel is the lack of substance in detailing how the ramifications of those 10 days in Junction would shape football careers and the collegiate game (negatively and positively). The author rarely states his opinions about the dated and at times brutally harsh methods of Coach Bryant. And the fact that a player nearly died of heat stroke during this waterless preseason camp is treated with awe and respect rather than appropriate abomination.
But this was a different era of sports, if not society, and the most compelling passages of Dent's novel are in the recreation of a time (1954) long since past. The story is just a few years removed from World War II, and the grit and determination which enabled this country to survive that horror is the residue which led to the Junction football experiment.
Many players and officials to this day bemoan the tactics used by Coach Bryant in Junction, Texas and Dent, to his discredit, only scratches the surface of these naysayer opinions. A better rounded more substantial novel would have given this quiet minority a bit more ink. But Dent is only telling a tale, rather than digging beneath the dusty, cactus-covered surface
"The Junction Boys" is a terrific read and certainly does this incredible story justice. If the waters, much like the drought-ridden rivers of the South Llano River near Junction, run a bit shallow, then perhaps it is good that the reader only invests 289 pages of time.