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The Rock and the Kangaroos

Jim O. Rogers’ novel about small town people, small college basketball, friendship, camaraderie -- and “giving back.”

At a time, when so many sports books are about the negative aspects of sports, along comes Dr. Jim O. Rogers’ The Rock and the Kangaroos. The messages in the book harken back to a time when strong friendships and camaraderie meant something, when the notion of “giving back,” a social responsibility to helping and influencing young people, transcended sport. Therefore, the reader is left with a warm feeling at the end of the story.

Because the author feels it is so essential that these values be recaptured today, he finally decided to finish writing the book after letting it gather dust for almost 15 years.

“The appeal of the book is a warm feeling of coming of age,” says Rogers (Nocona, TX), who is retired from a career in educational administration. “People can identify with growing up, the time of life when they’re making decisions about what they should do, and what they’re going to be. This story is another perspective on sports and life. It gives a warm side of relationships, coaches that really cared about players, people who cared about each other. If someone wants that perspective I think they will enjoy the book.”

The book centers on the long-time friendship between The Rock, Rockford Riley, raised by his widowed mother, and Big Jim Green, raised by his widower father in a small Oklahoma town. They take their basketball skills and more to Baker College in the small town of Douglas, Texas. While the book revolves around the adventures of the Kangaroos’ basketball team, it is interesting on many levels. The Rock and the Kangaroos is about the strength of friendships, growing up poor in a small town, the camaraderie generated by being part of a team, the differing values of rich and poor students, racial integration, but most important, the idea of “giving back,” a message The Rock kept driving home to Big Jim. The story takes place during the years of 1959-64, a time of change in America, but the messages are still relevant today.

For Rogers, the notion of “giving back” is aimed at everyone. “It’s a deep feeling I have,” he says. “I was a poor kid. Fortunately, I grew up to be 6-4. With some athletic ability and good coaching, a lot of good things happened to me. It’s my personal duty to give it back. I spent my professional career in education trying to do this. I still do a lot of volunteer work on projects that benefit kids. Everyone needs to realize how fortunate they are in life and be aware that their fortune is the result of other people giving their time and resources to them.”

Another important message Rogers transmits is the importance of diversity. When Jim Green arrives at Baker College he realizes there are two types of students, “poor kids and silver spooners.” “For a true liberal arts education there has to be diversity in the student population,” the author says. “When rich, poor, white, black, Jewish, Catholic, and other religious or ethnic groups come together, they have a lot to contribute to each other. Only when educational institutions have an environment of true diversity will true education take place.”

Rogers symbolizes this in the book when during a road trip Billy Joe Jackson, Baker College’s first African-American player, is told he has to eat in the kitchen of a restaurant. The entire team decides to eat with him. When a police officer comes to the scene, he makes a derogatory statement about the team’s support for Jackson. Jim Green slugs the cop, is arrested, and ends up in a hearing.

“I heard several stories about teams supporting black teammates by eating together,” said Rogers. “It was a neat way for guys to express themselves. Guys playing on newly integrated teams evaluated each other on ability and what contributions they made to the team. That was an attitude of most of the guys back then. I was trying to pay tribute to athletes of that era, black and white.”

How Rogers compiled the book is an interesting story in itself. He began collecting “jock stories” he had heard from former teammates and athletes and coaches that happened between 1950-65. He then molded all these stories into one team. Much of the book is from his memory of those tales. Though there are many similarities between Jim Green and Jim Rogers, Green is not Rogers. Green goes on to become a highly successful basketball coach at his high school alma mater, while Rogers coached a few years of junior high and high school basketball before becoming an administrator.

“In my real life, I had many of the same experiences Big Jim Green and The Rock had in college,” said Rogers. “Jim Green is not me, although it’s who I would like to be, not that I am not satisfied with who I am. With The Rock character, I tried to embody the good in all the guys I knew and roll them into one character. I intended The Rock to be the hero. As the book finished, Rock was a hero, but Jim Green probably came off as the true hero. The philosophy of Rock’s ‘giving it back,’ drove Jim Green to pursue the career he did.”

Dr. Jim O. Rogers is now giving the philosophy back to the world.

Purchase the book at

iuniverse.com
Barnes & Noble.com
Amazon.com
Booksamillion.com

To contact the author: jim@jimorogers.com
Publicity: Michael Kleiner, pr@jimorogers.com;
215-868-0303. Fill out form on interview request page.