Gary B. Youmans Interview Published on: 20, Oct 2023

It is interesting how I got started writing. I was sitting in the back of a plane (when I was coaching professional basketball) and instead of doodling plays, I started writing a story about this minor league team and their young coach. I never finished the story, but the hook was set. A few years later a friend of mine (Rich Wolfe) asked me to come out to St. Louis and help him market a book he wrote on Jack Buck. When I returned home, from helping Rich I was stoked. I wrote my first book: ’59 The Story of the 1959 Syracuse University National Championship Football Team. People liked it and that got the ball rolling.

The big difference between non-fiction and fiction I quickly found out was in non-fiction it’s a lot more research compared to fiction, not saying you don’t research fiction, of course you do. It’s just for me I spent a lot more time in libraries writing my sports books. Everything with fiction comes out of your head. All original thoughts. Life and Love took eight years to write. I would start and stop until my friend Janice thought what I had written was “pretty good” and that was all I needed to hear to complete the book.

Not much. Most of my fiction writing is from ‘life experiences.’ Jasper Day is a composite of people I have known in my lifetime. That goes true for all the townsfolk who live in Eagle Cove. Julie’s Diner and the Do-Drop-Inn are based on my favorite diner and watering hole. Just different names.

My brother Maury played on both the ’59 Syracuse team and the ’63 Bears teams. He offered to do interviews which ended up being great! The players would share stories to a teammate that they might not share with the media. It provided richness and color regarding that championship season and dealing with George Halas both on and off the field.

Whether you’re a player or coach on any level you learn quickly about ‘Commitment.’ Writing a book is so challenging in so many ways, that it is so easy to get emotionally up and down on that journey. When you are coaching you must be honest with where you are at in preparing and completing the work, regardless of how long it takes. Coaching sports, writing, calls for discipline and I have always said the best part of participating in sports are the ‘life lessons’ you learn. Commitment and discipline are right at the top.

When I started out writing the sports books, I would start writing at 6:00 am. I don’t do that anymore. I still get up early but now spend the first two hours having coffee, relaxing, thinking, putting thoughts together about Jasper Day and life in general. Stuff pops into your head, you write it down, then build on it.

The reviews on volume one on Amazon were great! Readers loved Jasper and the townsfolk of Eagle Cove. Writing fiction is fun writing for me because it allows you to go anywhere you want to go. That is what I love most about the genre. I have begun writing Volume III, and if I can continue to build an audience, who enjoy each new volume, I will continue writing about Eagle Cove.

George Halas was one of the founders of the NFL back in 1920. His Bears had been the darlings of the NFL for years, but recently been replaced by the Green Bay Packers as the best team in football and their coach, Vince Lombardi, the best coach. Halas was determined to unseat the Packers in 1963. He would leave no stone unturned to get his Bears back as the best team in professional football. The book follows that season, with each game a chapter. Also, the book looks back at the history of the NFL through the eyes of George Halas.

She’s a pain the ass but a great companion. Jasper’s cat in Life and Love in The Adirondacks is based on her other than I got Bella at the SPCA, while the cat in the story was a stray who kept showing at Jasper’s front door. The last time the cat showed up it was near death and Jasper ended up saving his life and became its owner. The reason Jasper named him Cat was when he was at the animal hospital the nurse asked Jasper what his cat’s name was. He didn’t know because he just found her at his back door half dead. He blurted out: “Cat!

If you want to write… read. You will find your voice. I am totally self-taught. For everything I have published I have probably triple in stuff I wrote which probably (thankfully), never will see the light of day. You can’t phone it in with writing. It’s hard work.

I covered that earlier, learning about commitment and discipline has fueled my desire to start and finish books as it fueled me when I was young to work to becoming a good basketball player.

Two of the screenplays are based on two of my sports books. ‘Halas’ was based on the ’63 Bears book. ‘Basilio’ is based on my book The Onion Picker which I wrote that screenplay with two other writers. Both have great potential as films with huge built-in audiences. We continue to try to hook up with people who could make these films happen. The third screenplay, ‘Hard Road is a political drama focusing on Allard K. Lowenstein, Medgar Evers and Lyndon Johnson. Each man’s passionate leadership played crucial roles in the civil rights, anti-apartheid, anti-war, and human rights movements of the 1960s. Lowenstein and Evers were murdered by zealous angry opponents. Johnson left office disgraced, lonely, a bitter man. I believe this would make a great two-part television series.

What personal life? No, I am fortunate to have a small circle of friends who I socialize with. On Tuesday’s there is a group of guys who get together to discuss a bevy of useless information. It is not the Do-Drop-Inn but it’s damn close. As for my son, I don’t see him nearly as much as I would like to, but we do get together holidays. Matt is a great son! I am very blessed.

I am opening an online bookstore called: GBY Book Shack which has all my books available for purchase, digital and paperback. Also, there is a Man Cave which has T-Shirts, sweatshirts, Posters etc. for sale. It is through Shopify, and it is a great way to reach your readers directly. Writers can always use additional income streams, and this is one of the ways to do so.

I think it is a great site. I joined because… it’s all authors. Enough said!!!