Misfit Youths Find A Champion (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9798887759586)

Misfit Youths Find a Champion is a classic tale of values and romance turned squarely on its head. Jerry Walker is cruising through life in what appears to be a fairytale marriage complemented by an illustrious Major League Baseball career. Then without warning, his world comes crashing down, leaving him reeling in disillusionment and despair.

As he struggles to come to terms with the premature end of his pitching days because of an elbow injury, Jerry is blindsided by his wife, Frances, who files for divorce

and gains an injunction that prevents him from having any contact with their three sons, until he undergoes a psychiatric examination. In a desperate attempt to redefine his life, Jerry discovers his need to make a difference in the lives of troubled youth. With the help of a longtime friend, Sam Kaeo, Jerry takes a teaching and coaching job at an inner-city high school in Houston, Texas.

The new position presents its own set of challenges, however. Jerry is pitted against militant students and Bill Saddler, a ruthless, tyrannical principal with an agenda that includes depriving the already under-privileged students of the chance to have any athletic teams. Down but not out of willpower, Jerry finds a couple of unlikely allies in fellow teachers Jack Klam and Ed Hughes. Jack is a veteran teacher who has given up righting the system until Jerry's arrival. Ed is a black man who resents having been passed over for the head baseball coaching position. Together, the trio resolves to challenge the Saddler system.

Then out of nowhere, Jerry is summoned to rescue Frances, left stranded in Cancun by her soon to be husband, with Hurricane Allen bearing down on the small town in its early inception. With his children pleading, "You gotta save mom," he and Frances have the life threatening experience in the jungle few couples will ever have.