The Perfect Season - A Memoir of the 1964-1965 Evansville College Purple Aces

Aug 6, 2026

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The Perfect Season recounts Russ Grieger’s experience as part of the 1964–65 Evansville College Purple Aces’ extraordinary undefeated national championship run. Blending sports narrative with reflective memoir, it explores how a quiet, psychologically skilled coach shaped a team of five distinctly different personalities. Through intimate insider portraits and a coach-to-life perspective, the book examines growth in Indiana, the mindset behind close-game tension, and how basketball lessons informed later success.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryStory & Novel

FormatPDF

Pages302

Reading Time7 h 45 min

AccessFree to download

About the Perfect Season

The 1964–65 Evansville Aces perfect season

Coach Arad McCutcheon and team personalities

Basketball psychology, close-game mindset, and lessons learned

[OceanofPDF.com](OceanofPDF.com) [OceanofPDF.com](OceanofPDF.com) “The Perfect Season is a winner! Russ Grieger was part of the 1964–65 Purple Aces Evansville College perfect season and takes us through that magical time. Grieger also shares how the lessons learned on the court with a team helped him later succeed in life.” —Kyle Keiderling, author of Trophies and Tears, The Story of Evansville and the Aces “Russ Grieger ’s poignant memoir is more than just a sports book. It is a book about how a quiet, genius coach and five very different personalities melded to produce something extraordinary, and how one of those personalities came to understand that he was not just a basketball player—he was a unique person who happened to play basketball.” —Tom Tuley, retired journalist“Relying upon his considerable skill as a master psychologist and his unique experience as an integral part of a star-studded national championship team, Russ Grieger not only captures all the excitement and thrills of the Evansville Aces’ perfect season of 1964–65 but also provides avery personal and in-depth analysis of what it meant to grow up in Indiana with a passionate love of basketball. Along the way, we get fascinating insider portraits of Coach Arad McCutcheon and superstars Jerry Sloan, Larry Humes, and the rest of that slick and talented team that accomplished the ultrarare feat of an undefeated national championship season. This is the story of a basketball odyssey filled with ups and downs and challenges both internal and external—a great story and a great read!” —Mike Roos, author One Small Town, One Crazy Coach: The Ireland Spuds and the 1963 Indiana High School Basketball Season “We’ve all wondered what really goes on inside a player ’s mind during the tension of a close game, in a wild arena, when big things are on the line. We’ve all wondered if these ‘kids’ have egos and self-doubts. Russ Grieger answers those questions and more while introducing us to one of college basketball’s all-time underappreciated great teams—and a season and a coach to match.” —Bob Hammel, author of All The Way: NCAA Indiana “Russell Grieger has lovingly captured a time and a place—Indiana a halfcentury ago—when basketball mattered so much to that part of the world, and when a boy who happened to be very good at the game enjoyed the sweetest season that any player anywhere could dream of.” —Frank Deford, author and commentator [OceanofPDF.com](OceanofPDF.com) The PERFECT SEASON [OceanofPDF.com](OceanofPDF.com) ALSO BY RUSS GRIEGER Handbook of Rational-Emotive Therapy: Volume I (with Albert Ellis) Cognition and Emotional Disturbance Rational-Emotive Therapy: A Skills-Based Approach (with John Boyd) Handbook of Rational-Emotive Therapy: Volume II (with Albert Ellis) The Rational-Emotive Therapy Companion: A Clear, Concise, and Complete Guide to Being an RET Client (with Paul Woods) Fearless Job Hunting: Powerful Psychological Strategies for Getting the Job You Want (with Bill Knaus, Sam Klarreich, and Nancy Knaus) The Undefeated Season: The Newspaper Story of the 1964–1965 Evansville College Purple Aces Basketball Team (with Tom Tuley) The Couples Therapy Companion: A Cognitive Behavior Workbook Mastering Unrelenting Drive: A Cognitive Behavior Workbook to Produce Extraordinary Performance and Results (forthcoming) [OceanofPDF.com](OceanofPDF.com) The PERFECT SEASON A Memoir of the 1964–1965 Evansville College Purple Aces Russell Grieger AN IMPRINT OF INDIANA UNIVERSITY PRESS Bloomington & Indianapolis [OceanofPDF.com](OceanofPDF.com)

FAQs

What period and team does the memoir focus on?

It centers on the 1964–65 Evansville College Purple Aces perfect, undefeated national championship season.

How does the book connect basketball to later life?

It emphasizes lessons learned through the team and coach, highlighting personal development and psychological insights that influence future success.

What kind of story does The Perfect Season present beyond sports?

It blends sports excitement with reflective analysis of identity, mindset, and how different personalities combine to achieve something extraordinary.

Aug 6, 2026

Upload by Quinn