"may well set the standards for future real-life sports stories." - Readers' Favorite
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now an award-winning book
a ball with no points recently earned the Bronze Medal in Readers' Favorite 2022 Annual Book Award Contest for the Non-Fiction - Sports category!! Readers' Favorite conducts one of the larger book contests each year with thousands of entries worldwide, with submissions from independent authors, small publishers and giant publishing companies. Most categories receive hundreds of submissions and 2022 was a record year for entries.
This Bronze Medal Award is further validation that this story is resonating with readers, and that you don't need to be from Westfield or be a basketball fan to love this feel-good story.
Reviews
EDitorial reviews from the pros
"A Ball With No Points is genuinely inspiring because it really happened. We join the author in his trip down memory lane, as he recalls an epic basketball season in 1971, a year that witnessed the emergence of an unforgettable basketball team in a town obsessed with football....a non-fiction sports story that shows its own uniqueness from the rest....It evokes genuine inspiration and may well set the standards for future real-life sports stories. It’s an effective sports story, as well as an effective portrait of a man whose integral role in a team becomes a genuine tale of the indefatigability of the human spirit. No matter if you have played a sport or preferred to be a spectator, this must-read story will resonate." - Vincent Dublado, Readers' Favorite, ★★★★★
"An inspiring story of fearless belief in the face of impossible odds, A Ball With No Points by Stephen D. Reddy is a decade-spanning trip through the author's deep love of basketball, specifically during one legendary season in 1971. Written with a remarkable level of detail, from pickup games on Gumbert Court 1 to the play-by-play recall of nail-biters during Westfield High School's historic run, this memoir is both exciting and heartwarming....will be a pleasure for readers prone to nostalgia over their own long-buried passions." Self-Publishing Review, ★★★★½
“The year 1971 saw the birth of a trailblazing basketball team that made the suburban town of Westfield proud.... A Ball With No Points provides a suspense-filled, thrilling, energizing, and mightily inspirational experience for lovers of all sports...intrigued me from the first page to the last and...puts you right in the middle of the games, with its vivid, thorough, and skillful narration. Stephen D. Reddy's book is an exuberant, dreamy escape into an important moment in Westfield's basketball history that would leave you satisfied and awestruck! I recommend!” - Foluso Falaye, Readers’ Favorite, ★★★★★
Reviews
more Praise from early Previewers...
“Reddy nailed it, big-time! It's one of the best books of this kind that I've read, and I've read a lot of them…part remembering a historic event, and part a trip down memory lane. It's not a basketball book. It's a memoir of another time and place. I really, really loved it.” – Bruce Johnson, WHS class of 1963, longtime Westfield sports historian
"Anybody who has ever laced up a pair of basketball sneakers should read this book. The story is of the Westfield NJ high school basketball team’s record setting 1971-72 season. But it is so much more – it’s about dedication, camaraderie, and friendship. The author, a starting guard on that wonderful team, has written a compelling account of the special season. Readers will find themselves rooting for the Westfield Blue Devil players as they develop into a close-knit team while pursuing excellence." - Jay Jorgensen, 2-time Academic All-American Basketball Player at FDU and accomplished author
"This is a wonderful story of human emotion and triumph for any athlete that ever dreamed of winning a title. But as we are often reminded, victory doesn’t always come without heartache. Sit back and enjoy the thoroughly entertaining story-filled ride that Steve Reddy so deftly weaves." - Dave Miller, Former TV Executive for ESPN and NESN
"...an exquisite look back at a championship season...It's a love letter to basketball and a celebration of friendships lasting half a century." - John Belis, longtime sportswriter for The Courier-News
"Steve has done a great job in capturing the joy and heartache of high school sports. A great coming of age story of life in the early 70’s and how a group of small town guys were emotionally tied together forever. The book is not about winning and losing as much it is about friendship and growing up....it was a nostalgic trip back to a time when things seemed so much simpler. Great book for all who grew up that era as well as for anyone who played high school sports." - Jim Baglin, star player for Plainfield HS and Susquehanna U and legendary coach for Mendham HS with 685 career wins