"Winning a national title... winning it at Kentucky? There's nothing like it. You're always going to be remembered." -- Truman Claytor, member of UK's 1977--1978 NCAA National Championship team Joe B. Hall, Jack "Goose" Givens, Rick Robey, and Kyle Macy -- these names occupy a place of honor in Rupp Arena, home of the "greatest tradition in the history of college basketball." The team and coaches who led the University of Kentucky Wildcats to their 94--88 victory over the Duke Blue Devils in the 1978 national championship game are legendary. Yet the full, behind-the-scenes story of this team's incredible redemptive season has remained untold until now. In Forty Minutes to Glory, Doug Brunk presents an inside account of this celebrated squad and their championship season from summer pick-up games to the net-cutting ceremony in St. Louis. Brunk interviewed every surviving player, coach, and student manager from the 1977--1978 team and he shares unbelievable tales, such as how James Lee's father talked him out of quitting. Brunk also reveals heart-wrenching moments, recounting the time when Jay Shidler traveled 150 miles to visit his seriously ill mother on the eve of the national semifinals game against Arkansas and how Scott Courts coped with his father's death just days before the championship game against Duke. Published to coincide with the fortieth anniversary of the national championship victory, Forty Minutes to Glory invites the Big Blue Nation to relive a special season. Featuring chapters by Jack Givens and Coach Hall, this engaging book is a fitting tribute to one of the most talented and determined teams ever to compete on the hardwood.

Until I was nine or ten, everyone called me Joe or Joe Hall. Then one day, my grandmother, for reasons known only to her, pulled me aside, telling me my name was "too short and too plain." She said, "Let's add your middle initial to make it more interesting. From now on, you say your name is Joe B., not just Joe. It's Joe B. Hall." Joe B. Hall is one of only three men to both play on an NCAA championship team (1949, Kentucky) and coach an NCAA championship team (1978, Kentucky), and the only one to do so for the same school. In this riveting memoir, Hall presents intimate details about his remarkable life on and off the court. He reveals never-before-heard stories about memorable players, coaches, and friends and expresses the joys and fulfillments of his rewarding life and career. During his thirteen years as head coach at the University of Kentucky, from 1972 to 1985, Joe B. Hall led the team to 297 victories. The most memorable of these is the 1978 NCAA Men's Division Basketball Championship. This legendary coach followed in the colossal footsteps of Adolph Rupp to chart his own path to success and become one of college basketball's all-time greats and winningest coaches.