Jim Wellington, aka "The Duke" of Waterloo and Harvard goes to the Berlin Olympics to run the 1500 meter. I used to love this book, and now I don't know why. The Duke is a dullard. Plus, written in 1939, Tunis has an inkling what German fascism is going to look like, but he's a bit of a dick about the "colored boys" and doesn't give much attention to Jesse Owens (who he refers to by another name, Washington, maybe).
This is an old favorite, that I ILL'd partially for Eric's benefit because it's about a runner. It's 1930s young adult sports fiction. Our protagonist, "The Duke," is an Iowa boy struggling to find himself at Harvard University, which is full of prep school snoots who won't give him the time of day until he accidentally becomes a sports hero. His best buddies, football star Mickey McGuire and the urbane Faugeres Smith, are more interesting than Duke. Even if Duke is a little hayseed, his story is compelling, and I like the way Tunis gives it to Harvard.
