'Maynard 8 MIles' book signing Saturday

By Dick Fridley
Contributing Writer

First-time author Brian Borland of Madison, Wis., considers his initial work “Maynard 8 Miles” to be a true labor of love.

Borland will be conducting a book signing on Saturday, Feb. 22, from noon to 2 p.m. in the Oelwein High School main lobby and at the West Central school from 3:30 pm. to 5:30 p.m.

As stated on the cover, of the book tells the “story of family, basketball and triumph in the heartland” and is a legacy of his parents, Glenn and Carolyn.

His mother, Carolyn Nicholson, was a high school basketball star from West Central in Maynard. Playing with the varsity already when she was in eighth grade, Carolyn finished her high school career as Maynard’s all-time leading scorer with 3079 points.

She was the captain of the team that brought the town its first six-player basketball title in 1956.

After graduating from high school, Nicholson turned d

own a partial basketball scholarship to Iowa Wesleyan College and married Glenn Borland. The couple would make their home in Madison, Wis.

Glenn Borland came to Madison after an outstanding prep basketball career at Oelwein High School. He helped lead his high school team to the Iowa state tournament in his junior year of 1953. 

He received a scholarship to play basketball for the University of Wisconsin and joined the varsity for his sophomore season, 1955-56. Borland was a three-year letterwinner and was named team captain his junior year and senior seasons. He is one of a select few to have been named team captain in multiple seasons. Though only 6’ 1”, he was a starting forward his junior year and was second on the team in scoring, averaging more than 10 points a game, and third on the team in rebounding.

Brian Borland was inspired to write the book by a couple of major events — the death of his grandmother and a visit with his parents in 2006 to the 50-year reunion of the state champion West Central basketball team at the Girls’ State Basketball Tournament in Des Moines.

“I videotaped interviews with the coaches and players and learned a great deal about how special six-player girls’ basketball was in Iowa, and how important a role my mom played in its development,” the author said.

“I got a lot of help from the players on the team and from people in the Maynard area who provided such avid support. As is often said, small towns in Iowa were so important in the sport’s development and helped to make it so special,” Borland added. 

He noted that his dad is also significantly profiled in the book, detailing his tremendous high school and college career and the influence that he had.

“I have coached a number of my kids’ youth teams over the years, and the influence of my parents was a big reason for that,” Brian Borland added.

Those wishing to find out more about the book can either go to the website at maynard.8miles.com or to the publication’s Facebook page.

The book will be available for purchase in either soft-cover or on the Amazon kindle. Readers can order the book from Amazon.com or Createspace.com.