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A Tide of Dreams
Three star college football players and friends. One dream. Upon graduating from the University of Alabama, they vow that whoever gets the first head coach job will bring the other two along with him. Thus begins their quest to be the winningest partnership of coaches the sport had ever seen. Only one lived to see their dream realized. Their story remained untold. Until now.
Written by Coach Carney Laslie’s granddaughter, Carey Henry-Keefe, A Tide of Dreams is not as much about the game of college football as it is about friendship and loyalty, aspirations and dreams, and the intriguing blend of three personalities who loved the game, told against the backdrop of the history of the sport and the nation. Spanning the years 1930 – 1961, the account follows the trajectory of one of football’s most legendary coaches, Coach Paul “Bear” Bryant of Alabama fame, and his former teammates and coaching partners, Coach Carney Laslie and Coach Frank Moseley, starting from their early days at Alabama as players, to WWII, where the three play a key role in helping to develop the Navy’s most transformational program, known as the Navy V-5 Pre-Flight training, which used sports, with football as their 'secret weapon', to train the next generation of Navy pilots. Postwar, the three take the foundational elements of physical training implemented at Pre-Flight Training to the University of Maryland, Kentucky, and Texas A&M, where they struggle through both the growing pains of the sport and those of their partnership, Bryant as head coach, Laslie and Moseley his faithful, able assistants, pilot, wingman, and navigator respectively, as they strive to create championship teams always with an eye on returning to Alabama.
This poignant and behind-the-scenes account not only gives dimension and understanding to one of college football's most influential and colorful personalities, but it speaks to the crucial elements of what it takes to be successful: a team. Never forgotten in the narrative is the ever important role of the families, their stories woven throughout using personal letters and diaries made accessible to the author, as well as a rich collection of photos from both private and public collections, creating an inside and fascinating look at not only the sport but of what it cost for those who became the face of its success.
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Hover cursor on the dividing line and slide right and left for interactive.
Left to Right: Laslie, Bryant, Moseley
University of Maryland,
1946
Bryant - The Winningest Coach in College Football History
1981
"Carey Henry Keefe has done it - the remarkable, unknown, inside story of a rich red slice of Crimson Tide Americana!"
- Ellen Vaughn, New York Times Bestselling Author
Praise for
A TIDE OF DREAMS below.....
"The subtitle of Carey Henry Keefe’s A Tide of Dreams says it all: UNTOLD.
Not only does this spectacular piece of work reveal behind-the-curtain stories of the much written-about Coach Paul “Bear” Bryant, but it chronicles in a fascinating way the simultaneous journeys of Bryant and his two closest coaching confidantes and friends – Carney Laslie and Frank Moseley. Beginning in the early 1930s as rugged Crimson Tide football players, this trio of great football minds remained inseparable for most of their careers. Especially poignant are their World War II days when they utilized football techniques and workouts to train what would become the world’s greatest fighter pilots. Following their service, the trio reunited as coaches and continued to lead young men on the gridiron for years to come. A Tide of Dreams is more than a story of three football buddies doing what they loved most: it’s a magnificent display of friendship, love, and loyalty."
Tommy Ford
Retired, Director of Athletic Alumni Association, 33 years:
"Carey Henry Keefe has written a love story, or better said, a story of many loves. ....the devotion of a group of men who experienced the common bond of playing football for the University of Alabama Crimson Tide takes the reader on an adventure.... through the trials of World War II, family, winning and losing football games. On first impression many people will think this is a football book. After reading Keefe’s excellently written text all will know it is an account of devotion, sacrifice, and of love."
Ken Gaddy
Retired Director of the Paul W. Bryant Museum, Tuscaloosa, Alabama:
"Just when you think you know everything about Coach Bear Bryant, Carey Henry Keefe adds a new dimension to his life with this moving portrait about his enduring friendships with her grandfather Carney Laslie and Frank Moseley. This narrative travels to little-explored wartime training camps where Alabama’s most beloved football coaches bonded for life, prepped the first generation of top gun fliers and mastered the ingredients for producing championship football teams.”
Anne R. Keene, Author
The Cloudbuster Nine: The Untold Story of Ted Williams and the Baseball Team That Helped Win WWII and granddaughter of the commander of the U.S. Navy Pre-Flight School in Chapel Hill, NC:
About Carey
Carey Henry Keefe grew up in the suburbs of Washington, D.C., and attended the University of Richmond in Richmond, Virginia, graduating with a B.S. in Business Management. She spent twelve years working in the medical field in Las Vegas before beginning her writing career. She now writes full time, drawn to research and the telling of undiscovered and compelling tales of historical events and the people behind them. She speaks regularly to groups about the remarkable group of men known as the "90-Day Wonders" and the history of the Navy's WWII Pre-flight Training program profiled in A TIDE OF DREAMS. A relatively little-known piece of WWII history that used sports, and in particular football, to help win the war.
Tidewater Virginia is home and when she's not doing research or writing, she enjoys time with family, which includes six grandchildren, and watching the sun set each evening with her husband of forty-three years.