Richard D. Van Scotter

Thinclad: a Small Town 1950s Track Team and then Some Richard D. Van Scotter

Elkhorn High was an unlikely place for a championship track team to emerge. It had no facility except for a horse training roadway on the edge of the county fairgrounds. And it had no track program until 1954. Spilling over from the baseball team were four swift runners and jumpers who would change all this. The spring of 1956 was a magical season for these "thinclads" from this small, rural town. Outfitted in old basketball jerseys and gym shorts, they made their mark on Wisconsin prep track and field.

Thinclads is much more than a story of a few high school athletes and their team. It's also about a community, nurturing and paradoxical, nestled in the beautiful southern lakes area of Wisconsin. And it's about an era-the 1950s-with its charm and innocence juxtaposed with provincial, small-town values. Richard Van Scotter, with playful wit and graceful style, weaves an enchanting memoir of high school sports, laced with historical insight, economic contradiction, and cultural incongruity.