I Said Bang!: A History of the Dirt Bowl

Award-winning book about 46 years of community building through basketball, told by people who have been a part of the tradition.

In 1969, amid the turmoil of the civil rights era, two college students started the Dirt Bowl, a summer-long basketball tournament in Louisville's Algonquin Park. By the end of that summer, thousands of people packed the park every weekend to connect with one another and to watch high-level basketball featuring the best players in the region. It was the biggest event of that year for a great many people in the nation’s most basketball-obsessed city. The rest is history. Generations of people have bonded, reunited, competed, laughed, shown off, and celebrated one another at the Dirt Bowl.

I Said Bang! is a book written by dozens of people who have contributed to and been shaped by the Dirt Bowl tradition: organizers, players, spectators, announcers, referees, vendors, and coaches. This book weaves together their stories and experiences to paint an impressionistic portrait of the Dirt Bowl and the community that nurtures and sustains it.