(L-R) Orinda Books owner Pat Rudebusch and local author Ken Hogarty during a Nov. 2023 book signing event for Hogarty’s sports fiction book, “Recruiting Blue Chip Prospects.”
When Ken Hogarty began working on “Recruiting Blue Chip Prospects” over 30 years ago, he was completing his doctoral dissertation and getting his work published in educational circles.
Hogarty’s career as teacher, counselor and principal for his alma mater Sacred Heart Cathedral Preparatory in San Francisco kept him busy. He also taught English and education classes at Holy Names College and the University of San Francisco, simultaneously raising his daughter.
Hogarty knew what he wanted to do when retirement came along.
“When I stepped down as a principal,” he said, “I had a little bit more time to write.”
For Hogarty, the publication of one of his short stories, also written three decades prior, in a widely circulated Irish magazine was “an impetus” for returning to his writing. Another was a reference by the historian of the Major Baseball League to his master’s thesis stating how baseball is the evolution of the American frontier experience. This led to Hogarty’s reworking of the piece, which was published in “Sport Literate” and received a semi-finalist designation by “Cobalt” for best baseball writing of 2021.
“Recruiting Blue Chip Prospects,” set in 1991 Sacramento, features a third-person narration through Patrick Kiernan, a high school senior at the Catholic LaSalle High School. Kiernan is an aspiring journalist covering blue chip basketball prospect and fellow student T.R. Ward.
The novel is a coming-of-age story for Kiernan and Ward as they navigate betrayal, relationships, victory and personal growth. The story is as much about Kiernan’s prospective future as it is about the college basketball recruitment process facing Ward. “The very title, it’s not ‘recruiting blue chip prospect,’ it’s ‘prospects,’” said Hogarty.
Upon suggestion from his editor, Hogarty researched music and styles from the era for context. He turned to his resource of school yearbooks, rather than television or movie representations, to determine what high school students wore back then.
“It might have been good to turn it into something more contemporary,” Hogarty said. “But I didn’t want to do that, because that wasn’t the story that I had in mind. For instance, if there had been a cell phone at the end of the novel, the story would not have worked.”
The contemporary trend in college sports recruitment, money over morals, is examined in the book. Although it was set in a different time and place, “I think it does anticipate what is going on today,” said Hogarty.
Hogarty acknowledged that Orinda has ties to basketball through WNBA player and Miramonte High School graduate Sabrina Ionescu, and Warriors guard Steph Curry, who lived in Orinda from 2013 to 2016.
“Over the years, Miramonte had a number of people who’ve done pretty well in sports,” he said. “Also, several professional athletes have called Orinda home.”
While Ward’s recruitment is obvious, journalist Kiernan’s recruitment to his dream job is part of the hook of “Recruiting Blue Chip Prospects,” said Hogarty. “Everybody’s being recruited, if nothing else, for differing versions of the truth.”
A preview of the novel is available at kenhogarty.net.
Hogarty will be giving a reading of “Recruiting Blue Chip Prospects” March 2 at 1:30 p.m. at Orinda Books, 276 Village Square. The book is currently available for purchase through Amazon, Goodreads, Barnes & Noble and at Orinda Books. Contra Costa Library is also planning to add some copies to its collection.