“Marc Hugunin chronicles the state high school tournament from its modest beginnings, and breaks through the long-standing myths of the tournament’s founding. This is the real story. He is the leading historian of Minnesota basketball, and so this a must-read for aficionados of high school basketball in the state.”

“Some Very Clever Teamwork helps us to see and to feel the building of a new national athletic culture. Mr. Hugunin helps us to remember how new athletic styles were an important part of a great transformation in American life. This is the gift of this book. Some Very Clever Teamwork exemplifies local history at its best.”

“What do we really know about the earliest state high school basketball tournaments in Minnesota? The first championship team did not even have a coach or a gymnasium!  Marc Hugunin has provided extensive and surprising research in Some Very Clever Teamwork. His detailed information is again at a championship level!”

“Some Very Clever Teamwork relives for us the beginnings of basketball as a community and a school activity in Minnesota, and the birth of the Minnesota state high school basketball tournament and the Minnesota State High School League. If you are a fan of Minnesota basketball, this book is for you.”

“Minnesota is often branded as the ‘state of hockey,’ but as Marc Hugunin expertly chronicles in his thoroughly researched history of the early days of basketball in Gopherland, that game was more popular and important, with direct connections to James Naismith, the inventor of the game. Hugunin follows up his co-authored book (Stew Thornley) Basketball in the North Star State (2006) with this examination of the controversies surrounding the didactic purpose of sport in the public educational system. For anyone interested in high school basketball in the first two decades of the twentieth century, Hugunin’s encyclopedic coverage is the definitive resource.”