A00460 - Book of the Month for the Month of December 2025: Devil in the Grove: Thurgood Marshall, the Groveland Boys, and the Dawn of a New America
Now that his Basketball Hall of Fame coaching career (see below) has come to an end and that he now spends part of his retirement years in Florida, it appears that my fellow classmate, Dave Hixon, has begun to take an interest in some of the local history. Earlier this year, he sent me a note about a book he had read about an amazing bit of Florida history. The book is entitled Devil in the Grove: Thurgood Marshall, the Groveland Boys, and the Dawn of a New America. Unfortunately, drafting over 100 Amherst College Black Alumni profiles took up most of my time this year and I was not able to read the book. However, after viewing the Becoming Thurgood documentary that aired on PBS, my interest in Dave's recommendation has been heightened. As portrayed in the documentary, Thurgood Marshall was unsuccessful in his representation of the Groveland Boys. However, the case received a great deal of publicity stemming from one of the Groveland Boys surviving being shot four times while in police custody by the infamous Sheriff Willis McCall. Due to this publicity, thousands of dollars were subsequently donated to the NAACP Legal Defense Fund. And it was the funding derived from the Groveland case that enabled the NAACP to fund the successful pursuit of the case that came to be known as Brown v. Board of Education, the case that struck down the separate but equal doctrine of Plessy v. Ferguson.
David Hixon (born December 3, 1952) is a retired American college basketball head coach who spent 42 years coaching Amherst College. As head coach, he transformed the Amherst men's basketball program into one of the best in the nation.
He was inducted into the New England Basketball Hall of Fame in 2003 and into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2023.
Playing career
The Andover, Massachusetts native was a member of the Amherst College men's basketball team while studying psychology. He graduated in 1975.[1]
His father, Wil Hixon, was a basketball coach at the high school level, best known for his stint at Andover High School where he also coached his son. Father and son won a state championship in 1970. Both were inducted into the New England Basketball Hall of Fame in 2003.[2]
Coaching career
Following his playing days, Hixon earned a master's degree from the University of Massachusetts and volunteered in coaching (basketball, track & field, football) at Amherst.[3]
Hixon was hired as Amherst head coach in 1977 at only 24 years of age.[3] Until his retirement, he compiled a coaching record of 826–293, ranking him 15th in NCAA men's basketball when he retired in April 2020. He had a winning percentage of .738, good for a 10th place in NCAA Division III history, at the time of his retirement. He was named NABC NCAA Division III Coach of the Year in 2007 and 2013.[4]
Hixon's Amherst teams won national championships in 2006–07 and 2012–13.[5] In 2008, he reached the national championship game with his squad, where they suffered defeat to Washington (MO). In 2004, 2006, 2014, 2016, he led Amherst to the national semifinals.[6]
Under his tutelage, Amherst participated in the NCAA national tournament 20 times and compiled a 43-20 postseason record. However, due to New England Small Conference Athletic Conference (NESCAC) rules, his Amherst team was ineligible for NCAA postseason play until 1994. He took on arch rival Williams College 21 times during his coaching career, winning 17.[7]
Hixon also coached soccer and track at Amherst.[8] On May 7, 2022, the floor at Amherst's LeFrak Gymnasium was named Hixon Court.[9]
Retirement
On September 16, 2019, it was announced that Hixon would be taking a leave of absence for the 2019–2020 season, and that assistant coach Aaron Toomey would be the interim head coach.[10] On April 13, 2020, Hixon announced his retirement.[11] In April 2023, it was published that he was elected into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.[12] Hixon was the first coach of an NCAA Division III institution to be inducted.[13]
Legacy
Several of Hixon's players went on to play professionally, including players like:
- Andrew Olson (played in Germany; All-American in 2007 and 2008)[14]
- Willy Workman (plays in Israel; All-American in 2013)[15]
- Kevin Hopkins (played in Germany)
- Fletcher Walters (played in Germany and Luxemburg)
- Pat Fitzsimmons (played in Germany and Ireland)
- Brian Baskauskas (played in Denmark; All-American in 2009)[16]
Other standout players of his Amherst tenure include
- Aaron Toomey (2014 D3hoops.com NCAA Division III Player of the Year, also All-American in 2012 and 2013)
- John Bedford (2006 All-American)
- Andrew Schiel (2005 All-American)
- Steve Zieja (2003 All-American)[15]
- Jamal Wilson (1997 All-American)[17]
- Conor Meehan (2011 All-American)
- Jordan Moss (2011 All-American)
Throughout his coaching career, Hixon received interest from NCAA Division I schools, especially from the Ivy League. In 2008, he was a candidate to become the new head coach of Bucknell University. Hixon declined the offer, but suggested Dave Paulsen of Amherst's rival Williams College as a candidate. Paulsen eventually ended up getting the Bucknell job.[18]
Family
His wife Mandy, a member of the United States International Diving Team from 1980 to 1984, served as diving coach at Amherst College, Williams College and the University of Massachusetts Amherst. She was also an assistant Professor of Physical Education, Coordinator of Aquatics, assistant Director of Intramurals and assistant coach of field hockey, lacrosse and tennis.[19]
The couple's first son Matthew is a film editor,[20] their younger son Michael won silver medals at the 2016[21] and 2020 Olympic Games[22] in diving.
Devil in the Grove: Thurgood Marshall, the Groveland Boys, and the Dawn of a New America is a 2012 nonfiction book by the American author Gilbert King. It is a history of the attorney Thurgood Marshall's defense of four young black men in Lake County, Florida, who were accused in 1949 of raping a white woman. They were known as the Groveland Boys. Marshall led a team from the NAACP Legal Defense Fund. Published by Harper, the book was awarded the 2013 Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction.[1] The Pulitzer Committee described it as "a richly detailed chronicle of racial injustice."[2]
Description
In 1949, Florida's orange industry was booming, and citrus barons got rich on the backs of African-American laborers, who worked under Jim Crow laws and had been disenfranchised by the state constitution since the turn of the century and struggled for justice in the white supremacist state. The planters relied on Sheriff Willis V. McCall to keep order in Lake County, where he was known for his harsh actions against blacks. A white 17-year-old Groveland girl said she had been raped by blacks, and McCall soon arrested four young black men.
Thurgood Marshall, known as "Mr. Civil Rights" and one of the most important American lawyers of the 20th century, entered the fray and represented the suspects for the NAACP Legal Defense Fund. The US Supreme Court overturned the convictions and returned the case to the state for retrial. Members of the Ku Klux Klan came to town, burned the homes of blacks to the ground, and chased hundreds into the swamps, as they were intent on lynching the young men who came to be known as "the Groveland Boys." The Ku Klux Klan initiated a wave of violence, shot two of the defendants, and killed one.
Associates feared for Marshall's life during the time of the "Florida Terror" and worried that he was irreplaceable to the burgeoning Civil Rights Movement. Marshall was determined to fight for the case. The Klan murdered one of his NAACP associates, Harry T. Moore, who was involved with the case in Florida, and Marshall received numerous threats that he would be next.
King drew on a wealth of never-before-published material, including the FBI's unredacted Groveland case files. He also gained unprecedented access to the NAACP's Legal Defense Fund files. He both explored the work of Marshall and set his narrative against the case that US Supreme Court Justice Robert H. Jackson decried as "one of the best examples of one of the worst menaces to American justice."[3]
Reception
In 2013, this book won the Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction.[1] It won runner-up for the 2013 Dayton Literary Peace Prize.[4] Thomas Friedman of The New York Times described Devil in the Grove as a "must-read, cannot-put-down history."[5]
In addition to being named to several "Best Books of 2012" lists by newspapers such as The Christian Science Monitor and The Boston Globe, Devil in the Grove was nominated in 2013 for the Chautauqua Prize[6] and an Edgar Award for Best Fact Crime.[citation needed]
The Christian Science Monitor noted that
"King's style, at once suspenseful and historically meticulous, advances the facts of the Groveland case while simultaneously weaving together details from Marshall's professional rise within the NAACP and his home life in Harlem ... Devil is a compelling look at the case that forged Thurgood Marshall's perception of himself as a crusader for civil rights ... The story of the Thurgood Marshall and his Groveland Boys reminds us that man's capacity for evil may be deep, but so is his capacity for change."[7]
Booklist called it "Gripping ... Lively and multidimensional."[8] It received a starred review from Kirkus Reviews, which described it as "[a] thoroughgoing study of one of the most important civil-rights cases argued by Thurgood Marshall in dismantling Jim Crow strictures. ... Deeply researched and superbly composed."[9]
Adaptations
Lionsgate acquired the rights to the book in 2013, deeming the project a "high priority". Anton Corbijn is going to direct the movie based on this book[10]
References
- "Making a Name by Uncovering a Lost Case". The New York Times. April 24, 2013. Retrieved 9 July 2013.
- "The 2013 Pulitzer Prize Winners General Nonfiction". www.pulitzer.org. Retrieved 9 July 2013.
- Staff Writer (1951-07-01). ABA Journal. Vol. 37. American Bar Association. Retrieved 2020-01-22.
- Meredith Moss (September 24, 2013). "2013 Dayton Literary Peace Prize winners announced". Dayton Daily News. Retrieved September 26, 2013.
- Thomas Friedman, "Review: So far, so good", The New York Times, 4 August 2013
- Ron Charles (May 15, 2013). "Timothy Egan wins Chautauqua Prize for Short Nights of the Shadow Catcher". The Washington Post. Retrieved September 26, 2013.
- "Devil in the Grove" (review, page 2). Meredith Bennett-Smith. The Christian Science Monitor. March 7, 2012. Retrieved August 31, 2013.
- "Booklist Review: Devil in the Grove {...}". Booklist (booklistonline.com). 2012. Retrieved August 31, 2013.
- "DEVIL IN THE GROVE {...} by Gilbert King". Kirkus Reviews. December 1, 2011. Retrieved August 31, 2013.
- Fleming, Mike Jr. (2013-06-17). "Lionsgate Acquires Pulitzer Prize Winner 'Devil In The Grove;' Seminal Civil Rights Case For Thurgood Marshall". Deadline Hollywood. PMC. Retrieved 2014-03-11.
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