It is easy to gain an appreciation for dealing with adversity if you are a fan of Pat Conroy's work.
He wrote "The Great Santini," introducing the world to the violent Bull Meecham, sharing his family's dark secrets, turning his fighter-pilot father and Don's nickname into an international cliché for horrible parenting.
He wrote "The Lords of Discipline," changing forever the way people viewed The Citadel, revealing hidden layers of institutional anger and cruelty and racism. The military college's alumni responded with hatred, vowing if he ever set foot on campus, he might never step off.
He wrote "My Losing Season," a best-selling memoir that cemented the unrelentingly dismal legacy of Citadel basketball.
Conroy's story has turned full-circle, as his cousin - Ed Conroy - is now the Head Basketball Coach at the Citadel. The Bulldogs are one of just five of the original Division I teams never to have made the NCAA tournament, but the Conroy family is doing a lot to change the reputation and culture at the Citadel.
The Citadel is pulsating with energy, the result of a strange chain of events that began when Pat Conroy left these white buildings and wrote a novel that made him hated but made his cousin want to wear the ring. All this has Pat thinking about the circles in life, and how so many things come back around, time turning wrongs into rights. "Our history began in 1963 in that gym," he says, "and here we are in 2009 and the Conroy history continues with this gym."
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