Ruby's Son: A Journey from Poverty to Peace
Basketball legend Bobby Langley's story of hope is now a book
Beasley Town Press presents Ruby's Son: A Journey from Poverty to Peace, available online through amazon.com, barnesandnoble.com, or at Landmark Booksellers in historic Franklin, Tennessee.
ISBN 978-0-615-47302-4
Bobby Langley's basketball scoring record has stood for more than 50 years. But the story of how he trained himself for hours upon hours is not a sports story. It is a story about challenges. It is a story about race and segregation, and about what he learned from living in a part of a segregated town that was integrated by poverty. It is about the challenges of social standing and fitting in. It is a story about fear and about overcoming fear. It is a story about demons, and it is a story about the goodness of a community: a story about angels, human and maybe supernatural, who helped members of a family rise above their circumstances.
The story
Ruby's Son starts in Franklin, Tennessee, with Bobby Langley's awakening in second grade to his family situation when he hides in shame at a school outing because he doesn't have lunch.He learns to cope with the stigma of poverty, and though he is frequently on the losing end of the social power structure, kind people such as the coach at an exclusive private school, the mother of an affluent friend, and a beloved basketball coach help him cope and learn. But his own fear of his family's intellectual and social shortcomings holds him back at school, and although he is heavily recruited by colleges as an amazing basketball talent, his academic record is too poor. Yet his basketball reputation opens doors that eventually lead to his own business, a family, and high-achieving children.