Last Press Bus Out of Middletown

For 30 years, celebrated sports journalist Bob Hammel has reported on a variety of games and athletes–the Olympics, Pan American Games, 23 NCAA Final Fours, Major League Baseball playoffs and World Series, college football bowl games, Muhammad Ali's last championship victory, and dozens of Indiana high school basketball Final Fours. In all that time, however, he's never written much about himself–ntil now.

In Last Press Bus Out of Middletown, Bob tells the story of how an Indiana sports journalist without a college degree, armed with talent, gumption, and a whole lot of inspiration and advice from those he worked with, earned national attention while still working for his small-town newspaper. From Bob Knight to Mark Spitz, from the horrors of the Munich Olympics tragedy to the Hoosiers' exhilarating clinching of the NCAA basketball championship, Bob Hammel's journey has been unforgettable. Even in his 80s, it's a dream that still has him smiling and storytelling.

Preface by Michael Koryta

Prologue

In the Beginning. . .Henry David, William Allen, Dad, and Mom

BOOK ONE Journalism and I

My "Sundown Town"

Religion, Politics, and Me

My College Years, in a Newsroom

Four Schools, Four Towns, Second Grade

The Herald-TELEPHONE?

BOOK TWO Olympian Tales

The Perry Stewart Effect

BOOK THREE My Gift That Kept Giving

Munich 1972

Even at Schwimmhalle, All Wasn't Golden

About That Basketball Game

Montreal 1976

Los Angeles 1984

Barcelona 1992

Atlanta 1996

BOOK FOUR The Bob Knight Effect

BOOK FIVE Friendships and Relationships

Acknowledgments