We Will Rise

In 1977, the University of Evansville's Purple Aces were a basketball program with five small-college national titles behind them, and their fans in this Indiana city expected a strong run on the national stage. Led by a dynamic young coach and a gifted freshman, the team had played just four games when its plane went down in fog soon after takeoff, killing everyone aboard. For a factory town already losing its industrial identity, the loss struck at the core of how residents saw themselves.

Grieving and determined, the community rallied behind Dick Walters, a new coach who vowed to bring the program back. He built his roster from players others had passed over, along with walk-ons and driven competitors, and set about restoring the team's standing and the hopes of its supporters. The result was a season that surprised almost everyone and placed the Aces in the record books once more.

Steve Beaven's book honors the men who died and the people who kept the team alive. It follows a basketball program, its fans and a city learning to move forward together, and will appeal to readers of sports history and stories of community resilience.