UIL Executive Director Co-authors Biography of Legendary Coach
Media Contact: Chris Schmidt
Phone: 512-471-5883
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Date: Feb 13, 2012
Category: General Information
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
AUSTIN, TX — UIL Executive Director Charles Breithaupt grew up in Buna during the era of legendary basketball coach Cotton Robinson and he honors the memory of the famous coach with a book he co-authored entitled KING COTTON: Coach Cotton Robinson and the Buna Boys’ Basketball Legacy, 1948-1963. The book, which will be released on Feb. 25, 2012, chronicles the life of Robinson, one of the greatest coaches in the history of Texas basketball, and how he came to win seven state titles – a record that still stands after 90 years of tournament competition in Texas.
King Cotton records in detail the story of the basketball icon, Cotton Robinson, who was born into a poor family in Leon County and rose to become one of the great innovators of the game of basketball. Using the successful “Buna Offense,” an adaptation of the double-post offense originated by Buna girls’ basketball coach Clemit Hyden, Robinson won 538 games in 15 years as the head coach of Buna High School.
Breithaupt and co-author Fred B. McKinley, two former residents of Buna, combined efforts to produce both a fascinating history and the definitive scholarly work to date on the storied Buna dynasty. The book has been well received and appreciated by sports writers and historians including ESPN.com college basketball insider Eric Angevine.
“Big things happen in small towns, and sports matter in real life,” said Angevine. “Cotton Robinson’s blend of inspiration, teamwork, preparation and persistence provided a clear road map to success for his players both on and off the hardwood. Thanks to Fred McKinley and Charles Breithaupt, contemporary basketball fans can today glean similar wisdom from the late, great coach. The story of his life is told with such detail and warmth, you’ll feel like you were there.”
Breithaupt and McKinley present a book using an array of previously unknown primary source materials from the family archives, photographs never before published and interviews with a majority of Robinson’s 94 players and team managers.
“The authors’ words are crisp, the photographs are warm reminders of a bygone era and the anecdotes expose the compassionate side of an otherwise stern and demanding coach who rarely compromised,” said Kent Hance, Texas lawyer, politician and current chancellor of Texas Tech University System in Lubbock who penned the Foreword.
On Saturday, Feb. 25, the co-authors will launch the book in Buna at the M. N. “Cotton” Robinson and R. C. Hyden Activity Center. The event runs from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and friends, families and anyone – regardless of connection to Buna basketball – are welcome to attend. Refreshments will be served and there will be musical entertainment.
Dr. Charles Breithaupt, the Executive Director of the University Interscholastic League and Associated Vice-President of UT-Austin, and his wife, Debbie, currently reside in Georgetown, Texas. The author or co-author of four other books, Fred B. McKinley and his wife, Dottie, currently reside in Burleson, Texas. Both authors are graduates of Buna High School.
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