The Punch

Starred review from June 24, 2002
Feinstein's latest (after The Last Amateurs) tears the scab off one of the deepest wounds in the history of professional sports. In 1977, during a Lakers-Rockets match, L.A. forward Kermit Washington forever altered the course of his career and that of Houston's Rudy Tomjanovich when he threw a punch that nearly killed the Rockets' captain. From that moment on, each man's life became defined by the incident and its aftermath. Seamlessly weaving the event itself into the fabric of pro basketball's rocky pre–Magic/Bird/Jordan history of constantly relocating franchises, dismal television support and chronic violence, Feinstein tells a moving story of two men branded by a moment frozen in time, and how the incident changed the game it could well have destroyed. The narrative never gets mired in the fawning sycophantism of many sports books or the moral proselytizing of many others. Feinstein's research is sharp, and his time line jumps around effortlessly, like a good Quentin Tarantino film. Most importantly, the author sustains the balance between Washington's burden of guilt and the genuine misfortune that has followed him since. He's a sympathetic character, almost uniformly described as a smart, good-hearted man bearing the never-healing scar of the one great mistake in his life. Yet he is by no means the saint he might have us believe him to be. Feinstein's portrait of each man is compelling; neither is lionized or demonized. Rather, the complexity of the incident and the depth of the personal trauma for both Tomjanovich and Washington fester under the author's microscope in this excellent and engaging book.

July 15, 2002
When Kermit Washington socked Rudy Tomjanovich during a Houston Rockets-L.A. Lakers game, two careers were wrecked. From an eminent sportswriter.

Copyright 2002 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

July 1, 2002
Ten seconds on December 9, 1977, irrevocably altered two lives and a sport. The Houston Rockets were in L.A. to play the Lakers. In the first half, a skirmish broke out at half-court. Rudy Tomjanovich, the Rockets' star forward, trailing the play, rushed into the fray as--he says--a peacemaker. Whatever his intent, he was seen as a threat by 6-foot-8-inch, 240-pound Kermit Washington, who leveled the onrushing Tomjanovich with a powerful blow to the face. Virtually every bone in Tomjanovich's face was broken, and he was leaking spinal fluid. He recovered physically but was never as effective a player. Washington, after a two-month suspension and a record fine, also resumed his career, but he, too, was diminished as a player. Feinstein, whose mastery of sports reporting is evident in his much-acclaimed books on such disparate topics as Bob Knight, Army-Navy football, and the PGA tour, has overreached this time. The postfight lives of Rudy and Kermit are worthy of an extended magazine piece but not a book. Tomjanovich, now the coach of the Rockets, led the team to consecutive titles in the mid-1990s and has enjoyed a stable, supportive family and a financially rewarding career. Washington's personal life has been a bit rockier; he feels backwash from the incident has kept him from securing an NBA coaching job, but, on balance, his postfight career, like Tomjanovich's, is hardly the stuff of tragedy. Feinstein has a lock on most best-seller lists, so expect typically heavy demand for this one; in the context of his career, however, it's only a minor exhibit. (Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2002, American Library Association.)

November 1, 2002
On a December night in 1977, in the heat of what would become arguably the most infamous basketball brawl in history, Los Angeles Lakers power forward Kermit Washington sensed someone approaching from behind, whirled, and landed a devastating punch to the face of Houston Rocket All-Star Rudy Tomjanovich, who was running full-tilt toward Washington and the battle. Tomjanovich hovered close to death for a short time, endured five operations, and missed the remainder of the season, while Washington served a 60-day suspension as the NBA acted to tighten its rules against fighting. Tomjanovich returned the next season, but many observers agree that neither player was ever quite the same again. Best-selling author Feinstein (A Good Walk Spoiled) tells the story of that night and what followed, recounting the many ironies that surround it: Washington, reviled at the time and still struggling to secure work within the NBA as a coach or scout, is by all accounts a good human being; Kevin Kunnert, with whom Washington was initially skirmishing, is the man Washington blames for his problems accruing from the fight; and despite their subsequent accomplishments, Washington and Tomjanovich are still thought of chiefly as puncher and victim, roles they long to shed. Essential for public libraries. [Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 7/02.]-Jim Burns, Jacksonville P.L., FL

Copyright 2002 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.