FORTY MINUTES OF HELL: THE EXTRAORDINARY LIFE OF NOLAN RICHARDSON

An exploration of the racial politics of American sports, from the Jim Crow era to the present day, witnessed through the life of legendary African-American basketball coach and NCAA title winner Nolan Richardson

Born in El Paso’s Segundo Barrio, or Second Ward, pioneering basketball coach Nolan Richardson grew up in the only black family in a Mexican neighborhood and attended desegregated Bowie High School in 1955. Richardson went on to play at Texas Western College, now the University of Texas at El Paso, as the first black star player for legendary coach Don Haskins. Richardson eventually rose to national prominence as a coach in his own right. He became the first black coach at a predominately white school in the Old South to win the NCAA Championship in 1994 at the University of Arkansas. With Richardson’s Razorbacks playing at a high-pressure, electrifying pace—a style he called “Forty Minutes of Hell,” which became a nationally known trademark—Arkansas made three appearances in the Final Four, and Richardson was named NABC Coach of the Year in 1994.

Richardson’s gradual political awakening, and his subsequent refusal to keep quiet about overt or subtle racial injustices, marked his rise. Regardless of his staggering win totals, tensions in Arkansas culminated in an infamous 2002 press conference in which he accused the University of Arkansas of discriminating against him, bringing about an abrupt end to his college coaching career. The only coach in history to win a Junior College National Championship, the NIT, and the NCAA tournament, Richardson went on to coach internationally and in the WNBA.

Rus Bradburd, a former college basketball coach who also worked with Don Haskins, highlights Richardson’s trailblazing career with empathy and intimacy, revealing a man whose hard-won successes were matched by deeply felt losses. An intensive inside look at elite collegiate athletics and a chronicle of the transition away from the segregated era of American sport, Forty Minutes of Hell is the first full-length biography of Nolan Richardson, setting his complicated story against the backdrop of a decisive time in American history.

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Praise for Forty Minutes of Hell

“This is a great story about America and its hidden histories. Nolan Richardson understands the struggle because he did the heavy lifting. Every black college coach with a good job today owes Nolan Richardson a measure of respect for the fearless way he kicked down doors. Every American should thank him for showing us it was possible.
– Charles Barkley

 “I’ve never read a sports book I would describe as operatic until now. Nolan Richardson’s story, both unique and universal, would challenge the most seasoned biographer, but Bradburd’s libretto is heartbreaking and inspiring. This is the finest sports biography I’ve read in years, hands down.”
– Dave Zirin, author, A People’s History of Sports in the United States

“Establishes Richardson as one of college basketball’s most compelling figures, both because of and in spite of his race.”
– Kirkus Reviews

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In the Media

• Forty Minutes of Hell: The Extraordinary Life of Nolan Richardson was published by Amistad, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers.
• Read Rus Bradburd’s piece on teaching his dribbling drills to Portland Trailblazer Jerryd Bayless here.
• Read Dan McGrath’s New York Times feature on Rus Bradburd here.
• Read Rus’s LA Times piece on Jerry West here.
• Read Rus’s essay “Last Man Standing,” for ESPN’s The Undefeated website explores the relentless gun violence in Chicago. It won an Associated Press award for “Top Ten Long Form Essays” in 2020.
• Watch Doug Harris’s award-willing documentary film on Rus Bradburd and Steven Yellen’s “Basketball in the Barrio”, a yearly camp established in 1992.  
• Read Rus’s piece on Craig Hodges being blackballed for his politics here. 
• Read Ben Osborne’s profile of “Basketball in the Barrio” here.