Hometown Legend

Athens City, Alabama, is a town that lost its heart the day the high school football team lost the state championship and suffered a tragedy. Since that night, the town that once enjoyed superstar status has fallen on hard times. Now, years later, the former coach returns to head up one final season aided by a local who tells the story with a fresh voice. Together, they fight Goliath and learn that love and reconciliation are more important than winning ever could be.

Athens City, Alabama, has fallen on hard times. The town's leading employer struggles for survival. The Athens City Crusaders, once a powerhouse high school football team, are in disarray--as is the school itself, targeted for closing. When an old, familiar figure returns to Athens City after a twelve-year absence, everything begins to change.

Former football coach Buster Schuler, who left town following a tragedy during a championship game in 1988, has returned for one last chance to lead the Crusaders to glory. But he soon discovers the challenge is overwhelming. Outmanned and outsized, the Crusaders enter a make-or-break season, and other lives are caught up in their quest:
Cal Sawyer, who tells the story and who is desperately trying to save his company as he raises a teenage daughter on his own. Hand-picked as Buster's assistant, he discovers things about himself that will change his life.
Elvis Jackson, gifted athlete, who sees Athens City as his last hope--only to find that his most difficult test lies far from the playing field.
Rachel Sawyer, Cal's daughter, who becomes an example of faith to the entire town.
Bev Raschke, Cal's assistant, who fights a personal battle that reveals more about her, and Cal, than they ever dreamed.

As the Crusaders head for a final confrontation with their most powerful rival, this last drive for victory mirrors the struggles of everyone in Athens City to recapture the heart and soul of their town.

Ivan Maisel

An inspiration...reading Hometown Legend is like listening to a good country song. —Sports Illustrated

When the Left Behind series became a publishing phenomenon, no one was more surprised than its authors, evangelical preacher Tim LaHaye (left) and fiction writer Jerry B. Jenkins. Audiences gobbled up the duo s thrilling novels, which combine romance, morality questions, and high-tech gadgetry against the dramatic backdrop of the apocalypse.