Westfield author Dan Genovese will discuss his book chronicling the City’s history of professional basketball.
WESTFIELD-Westfield native and award winning sports historian Daniel Genovese will discuss the city’s basketball franchise in the rough and tumble world of the professional leagues during the early 20th century on March 9 at 7 p.m. at Blue Umbrella Books.
“Daniel Genovese will bring you into the turbulent world that was professional basketball, often overlooked, ignored and hidden by historians of the game, and present eye-opening research from his book, Rough House,” said Jessica Martin, owner of Blue Umbrella Books.
The early pioneer leagues are considered the forefather of the NBA, played in small towns and cities located on train routes throughout the northeast United States, according to Genovese.
“This was professional basketball when the game was played in wire cages, small courts, rugby scrums and fisticuffs with no backboards, back-court violations, shot clocks or seven-foot giants,” said Martin. “You don’t know the game until you hear this.”
Genovese has researched and written books on Westfield baseball and basketball history and is the 2010 recipient of the Westfield Historical Commission’s Annual Preservation Award for his research, writings and re-forming of the Westfield Wheelmen Base Ball Club (a team that plays baseball with equipment and rules of the 1880s and 1890s). Genovese has served as a guest lecturer for Baseball History courses at Westfield State University and the University of Massachusetts.
Copies of Rough House are priced at $11.95 and will be available for sale.
Also this week at Blue Umbrella Books, local author Shawn Flynn will discuss the memoir, The Kitty: Who Rescued Me After I Rescued Him, on March 11 from 11 a.m. to noon.
“The heartwarming story reveals how the pets we love sometimes turn around and care for us,” said Martin. “Offering moving insights into the powerful love our four-legged companions offer us, The Kitty is a must-read for anyone who has ever needed a true friend. As Shawn discovers, sometimes we don’t even realize we need to be rescued – until we are.”
Signed books will also be available after the lecture.
For more information on both events, call Blue Umbrella Books at (413) 579-5383 or visit www.blueumbrellabooks.com.
