Honoring the Intangibles

Such was the premise that Robert Friddell had in mind when he authored his first book, intangible: the story behind Virginia’s bigger-than-basketball program, which was released in late September 2021 by Mountain Arbor Press.

 

The impetus for the 2009 Collegiate graduate to put fingers to keyboard came shortly after UVA defeated Texas Tech 85-77 in overtime to win the 2019 NCAA men’s championship.

 

As he formulated his thoughts, he decided to address and honor the Cavaliers’ decade-long run under Coach Tony Bennett rather than just their inspiring reversal of fortune following their unprecedented No. 16-takes down-No. 1 first-round loss to University of Maryland Baltimore County the year before.

 

“When you focus on just those two seasons, you miss out on so much of what happened,” said Friddell, who lives in Atlanta with his wife Laura and golden retriever Coach. “You don’t really give the credit that those early guys really deserve.”

 

The question, then, became how to present the story, especially since so much of the UVA basketball journey under Bennett had already been chronicled.

 

Rather than interject himself into the narrative, he devised a plan to let a host of interviewees share their thoughts, insights, and reflections about the culture of the program and its Five Pillars: humility, passion, unity, servanthood, and thankfulness

 

“My favorite documentaries,” Friddell said, “are the ones where it’s just the guys talking, not someone who hadn’t really been inside what the documentary is about.”

 

Easier said than done, as the work of a writer often is.

 

The first order of business was to determine whom he would contact and convince them that the project was viable. He’d do his due diligence, he thought, make some calls, conduct the interviews, then transcribe, write, and publish.

        

Once again, easier said than done.

 

In May 2019, Thomas Rogers, who played for the Cavaliers from 2010-2014, spoke into Friddell’s recorder. A year later, he’d spoken with only five more from his list. Reaching out to subjects and selling them on his endeavor had become something of a Herculean effort.

 

“There were a lot of starts and stops,” he said. “Having six interviews after a year was frustrating. I think if I’d had no more than that, it would have been a completely different book with a lot more of my writing in it.”

 

Despite the grind, Friddell remained committed.

 

“What originally drew me to it,” said the 2013 UVA alumnus, “was my grandfather (the legendary Guy Friddell) writing books and writing a column for the (Norfolk) Virginian-Pilot forever. It was always intriguing for me, but I don’t know if I ever thought growing up that it would be something I could do.  Once this idea hit, it stuck with me and inspired me to go for it.”

 

In March 2020, the pandemic changed everyone’s life. People’s schedules slowed. Between May and July, Friddell conducted 20 more interviews with former players, coaches, behind-the-scenes personnel (including team manager Ben Buell, Collegiate ’15), and others with a connection to UVA hoops such as former Collegiate boys basketball coach, counselor, and mindfulness guru Alex Peavey.

 

“The culture boils down to your intentions,” Friddell said of Peavey’s insights.  “It’s remaining true to who you are, especially when you’re in the heat of battle or in a game. It’s staying calm and letting the moments come to you. It’s acknowledging when you’re afraid of them but acknowledging that you can still play basketball, and for me, write a book. He’s been a role model of mine for a while. Talking to him was an incredible honor.”

 

His interviews completed, Friddell then began the time- and labor-intensive task of transcription, which generated 900 pages of notes.  Next came another arduous process: shaping those notes into a coherent outline, then doing the actual writing, then proofreading, editing, and revising.

 

“I don’t have much experience as a journalist and didn’t want to put myself in the story,” Friddell said. “The guys I talked to had all the credentials in the world to talk about UVA basketball. I didn’t want to interrupt the flow. I just wanted to put it (their recollections and insights, often conveyed with heart and soul) on display for people rather than dissecting it for them.”

 

Why the title?

 

“A bunch of reasons, the obvious being that their value system is really the intangibles that the program and certainly Tony himself preaches and lives by,” Friddell said. “Then, the way it’s organized is a really unique. I don’t say a word throughout the whole thing. I like the title intangible to express the composition of it.”

 

Why the unadorned cover with lower case title?

 

“I wanted it to be different from what you see normally on a book,” Friddell said.  “I wanted it to be really, really simple in its appearance because I think simple things can last longer.”

  ~Weldon Bradshaw