Based on the gold-standard currency of tradition and success, few college basketball programs are richer in history than Wake Forest University. An original member of the Atlantic Coast Conference, the Demon Deacons have provided the acclaimed league with much of its color and character, not to mention many of its colorful characters. Tales from the Wake Forest Hardwood traces that vibrant history back to the birth of the league and delves even deeper into a past that began with the first intercollegiate basketball game played in the state of North Carolina in 1906--back when the United States consisted of 45 states and the state of basketball was mostly a curiosity. The book looks at great coaches, like Richard Crozier, the director of the university gymnasium who introduced baksetball to Wake Forest and served as the school's first basketball coach; Coach Murray Greason, whose love for the game of basketball was second only to his love for his beagle hounds; and Coach Bones McKinney, the hyperactive Baptist minister whose dual, and at times dueling, religions were based on the Bible and basketball. Author Dan Collins also provides stories about legendary players, like Muggsy Bogues, the 5'3 guard who defied the description of basketball as a big man's game, and the glory days of Tim Duncan, the onetime aspiring Olympic swimmer from the Virgin Islands who grew up to become one of the best basketball players on the planet. Tales from the Wake Forest Hardwood chronicles how Wake Forest basketball could survive the university's relocation from the quaint town of Wake Forest to the city of Winston-Salem without ever leaving behind the hearts of its many devoted fans and followers.