Claerbaut, David 1946-

PERSONAL: Born February 27, 1946, in Tomahawk, WI; son of Erwin Peter (a postal distribution clerk) and Wilma (Gabrielse) Claerbaut; married Carole Patricia, March 15, 1979; children: (from a former marriage) Wilma Rochelle. Education: Calvin College, A.B., 1969; University of Michigan, M.A., 1970; Loyola University, Ph.D., 1976. Hobbies and other interests: Public speaking, sports.

ADDRESSES: Home—5061 North St. Louis, Chicago, IL 60625.

CAREER: Writer, sports psychologist, and educator. Taught English and social studies in public schools of Grand Rapids, MI, 1969–70; North Park College, Chicago, IL, assistant professor, 1970, former associate professor of sociology and psychology, former chairman of department of sociology. Currently president of Dr. David Claerbaut and Associates (consulting firm). President of board of directors, Oak Therapeutic School, 1979–, and Cabrini-Green Legal Aid Clinic. Lecturer at Loyola University and De Paul University.

WRITINGS:

Black Jargon in White America, Eerdmans Publishing Company (Grand Rapids, MI), 1972.

Social Problems, Christian Academic Publications, 1977.

Black Student Alienation: A Study, R & E Research Associates (San Francisco, CA), 1978.

The Reluctant Defender, Tyndale (Wheaton, IL), 1978.

(Editor) New Directions in Ethnic Studies: Minorities in America, Century Twenty One (Saratoga, CA), 1981.

Urban Ministry, foreword by Raymond J. Bakke, Zondervan (Grand Rapids, MI), 1983.

Liberation from Loneliness, Tyndale (Wheaton, IL), 1984.

The NBA Analyst, Taylor (Dallas, TX), 1998, updated edition published as The NBA Analyst, 1999, 1999.

Durocher's Cubs: The Greatest Team that Didn't Win, Taylor (Dallas, TX), 2000.

Recruiting Confidential: A Father, a Son, and Big Time College Football, Taylor (Dallas, TX), 2003.

Faith and Learning on the Edge: A Bold New Look at Religion in Higher Education, Zondervan (Grand Rapids, MI), 2004.

Bart Starr: When Leadership Mattered, Taylor (Dallas, TX), 2004.

Bears Essential: Everything You Need to Know to Be a Real Fan!, Triumph Books (Chicago, IL), 2006.

Cardinals Essential: Everything You Need to Know to Be a Real Fan!, Triumph Books (Chicago, IL), 2006.

SIDELIGHTS: An educator and president of a consulting firm, David Claerbaut is also the author of numerous titles dealing with both religion and sports. Among those titles dealing with religious themes are Urban Ministry and Faith and Learning on the Edge: A Bold New Look at Religion in Higher Education.

In his capacity as a sports psychologist, however, Claerbaut brings a unique perspective to the world of athletics. With his 2000 title, Durocher's Cubs: The Greatest Team that Didn't Win, Claerbaut looks at the years from 1967 to 1972 when the Chicago Cubs baseball team was managed by the legendary Leo Durocher, having winning seasons each year but nonetheless failing to win the World Series. A focus of the book is the team's 1969 loss to the New York Mets in the closing days of that season. Such losses created the image of the Chicago Cubs as the "lovable losers" of professional baseball. That season was as close as the team would come to winning a modern World Series. Claerbaut utilized interviews with former team members plus newspaper accounts of the time to try and explain how the team failed to win a pennant despite having such talent. For Booklist contributor Wes Lukowsky, Durocher's Cubs is "wonderful reading for longtime baseball fans and a great history lesson for young ones."

In Recruiting Confidential: A Father, A Son, and Big Time College Football Claerbaut recounts the experiences he and his stepson, a high school running back, had when being recruited for a football scholarship. The experience was not an easy one, with offers often disappearing, coaches at colleges desperately in search of the next great player, and a good deal of pressure put on both parents and players to sign. Sometimes the author and his stepson would come for a visitation, only to discover the recruiter was off visiting another prospect; other times they might simply be ignored at the campus as if the recruiter had forgotten he had invited them. Library Journal reviewer John Maxymuk thought this work "shows how this can be a tough world for inexperienced parents, let alone an 18-year-old, to understand and negotiate."

With his 2004 title, Bart Starr: When Leadership Mattered, Claerbaut turns his attention to the famous Green Bay Packers quarterback, who played under the equally famous coach Vince Lombardi, leading his team to five league championships in the 1960s and victories in the first two Super Bowls. Claerbaut emphasizes Starr's leadership abilities as well as his skill at creative play-calling on the field. Maxymuk, writing in the Library Journal, felt that Claerbaut "offers nothing new" to previous works on the Packers and merely called Bart Starr a "serviceable biography." Higher praise, however, came from Booklist contributor Lukowsky, who found the same book "a carefully researched, fluidly written biography of one of football's truly great players." With the numerous interviews Claerbaut conducted with former team members, the work also provides a "glimpse inside" one of football's greatest teams, according to Lukowsky.

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, May 15, 2000, Wes Lukowsky, Durocher's Cubs: The Greatest Team that Didn't Win, p. 1720; September 1, 2004, Wes Lukowsky, review of Bart Starr: When Leadership Mattered, p. 45.

Library Journal, February 1, 2000, Paul Kaplan and Morey Berger, review of Durocher's Cubs, p. 91; September 1, 2003, John Maxymuk, review of Recruiting Confidential: A Father, a Son, and Big Time College Football, p. 176; September 15, 2004, John Maxymuk, review of Bart Starr, p. 64.