Happy New Year! 2025 was a good reading year for me - over 110 total books read with this one being the 90th one reviewed on this site. While it was good, I am shooting for 120 total books with 100 being reviewed here. I won't call it a "resolution" - that means it will be broken. Instead, enjoy the end of 2025 with this review of a very good high school basketball book.
Title/Author:
“The Last One Out of Town Turn Out the Lights” by David Albee
Rating:
4 of 5 stars (very good)
Review:
When a basketball fan thinks of areas where high school basketball is big, Maine won’t be the first thing on their mind. Indiana will certainly come to mind, and maybe Kentucky and Maryland, but certainly not Maine. However, in 1975, a school in rural Maine captivated the town and the state with their improbable run to the state championship. The story of the Foxwood Academy basketball championship team of that year is told in this book by David Albee, a graduate of the school.
This came at a time when there were school closures and consolidations were common in rural Maine. A good section of the book begins with this backdrop. Foxwood Academy, located in Dover-Foxwood was consolidated with Monson which led to much grief, especially in the latter town. Monson was very good in basketball at the time of the consolidation, which added another layer of issues many had with the merger. While reading this part of the book, I was wondering what this had to do with the story, but as it turned out, Albee was right to include this history in the book as it was important to the story of Foxwood’s success on the court later in the decade.
The biggest factor (literally) in the rise of Foxwood basketball was a 6’ 8” player named Kevin Nelson. He came over from the Monson school district while younger and grew into one of the better players in the state. His story is told well by Albee as is that of the Foxwood coach Skip Hanson. In fact, many of the players, parents and others who were important to the success of the Ponies are portrayed well in the book.
The basketball action, not only for the championship season where the Ponies went undefeated, but for the seasons in which Monson was a powerhouse for smaller schools as well as the rise of Foxwood Academy is described quite well. A reader will not only feel the action on the court, but the excitement in the stands and in the band as well. They are just as important to the story as the players.
Overall, this was a very good account of a rural school and community coming together after a rough transition period. The story of the Foxwood Academy basketball team is one that high school basketball fans will want to read.
I wish to thank Globe Pequot Publishing for providing a copy of the book via NetGalley. The opinions expressed in this review are strictly my own.
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