Growing Up In Visalia: Quest For Identity

By Leroy Moore and Le Matthews

This book is an engaging memoir about a nostalgic journey of growing up in the vibrant San Joaquin Valley in central California. The focus of the memoir is about how the author overcame confusion and uncertainty about his place in his family, his community and among his friends, to achieve identity as he evolved from childhood to adulthood.The author chronicles the confusion that surrounded his name and eligibility to play in Visalia's highly successful youth baseball teams that eventually became state and regional champions as well as a participant in the national Babe Ruth League baseball world series. The memoir also depicts his perspective of overcoming his small stature to accomplish his dream of becoming a high school football player. He tells of his coaches, extended families and, most of all, his loyal friends. Leroy achieved his goal and went beyond it to make the first touchdown in the first cross-town football classic in Visalia, known as The Cowhide. Not only does Leroy document his challenges and obstacles that surrounded his accomplishment in athletics, but also shares his many experiences along the way to becoming a grown-up, of finding his way to adulthood, and of unraveling his confusion in his quest for identity. He writes of how, as a youth, he revered Old Sawtooth, the mighty peak in the Sierra overlooking Visalia, as his guardian and protector.Le went on to become a college professor, received many accolades and published numerous articles in his field of experimental psychology. Despite these successes, his most cherished is that of making the first touchdown in The Cowhide.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1521887071
• ISBN13: 9781521887073
• Release Date: July 2017
• Publisher: Independently published
• Length: 209 Pages
• Weight: 0.73 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.5" x 0.5" x 5.5"