A Summer of Baseball, Dreams and Growing Up

A lot of young boys dream of baseball glory. Follow one hard-to-forget 11-year-old as he chases his dream through the tears and laughter of growing up.

TTU Press

Written by Sally Logue Post

In the midst of the 2007 baseball season, the book “Summer of Champions” takes the reader back to 1956.

“Summer of Champions” by Dewey Johnson, is published by Texas Tech University Press. The novel revolves around the real life Roswell All Star baseball team that won the 1956 Little League World Series and a fifth grade boy’s dreams and struggles.

For Joe Don Miller, 11 year old in Roswell, N.M., the new found affluence enjoyed by a lot of the country has managed to miss his family. His mother is struggling to make ends meet after his father is killed in the Korean War. But Joe Don, an avid baseball player, has a dream to be a champion on and off the baseball field.

Joe Don is fictional, but he does represent the author’s memories of growing up in the New Mexico town in the ‘50s.

Watch Dewey Johnson talk about how to organize a good story idea.

“I had always wanted to do a book about growing up in Roswell, I thought there were great stories to be told,” said Johnson. “Then I realized no one had ever written about the 1956 team that won the Little League World Series, and decided I could combine the two.”

The book follows Joe Don’s efforts to make the All Star team while he deals with the financial struggles of his mother after she is fired from her job for resisting sexual harassment and the arrest of his favorite teacher.

Johnson was born in Lubbock, grew up in Roswell and now lives with his wife Cheri in Albuquerque. He is a pastor, standup comedian and creator of the “High Desert Home Companion.”

For more information on “Summer of Champions” or Texas Tech University Press, please visit their Web site.