From basketball to serious literature, a path of discovery

OFF THE RIM: Basketball and Other Religions in a Carolina Childhood. By Fred Hobson. University of Missouri Press. 242 pages. $19.95 (paperback).

Hobson, a UNC Chapel Hill professor who grew up in Yadkin County in the 1950s, cared little for books in those early days. He spent most of his spare time sharpening his basketball skills on a dirt court behind his house - at about the same time Everett Case at N.C. State and Frank McGuire at UNC were introducing to the South an Indiana style of racehorse basketball that soon changed the game forever, first for the old Southern Conference, then for its offspring, the ACC, and ultimately for the basketball world at large. (Winston-Salem Journal)