Losers Take All

Losers Take All (2015), a young adult contemporary novel by David Klass, follows a young boy and his friends who form an anti-athletics team and attract far more attention than they could ever expect. The book received generally positive reviews upon publication, and it was nominated for the 2017 Missouri Gateway Readers Award. Alongside writing novels, Klass is also a well-respected Hollywood screenwriter who once preferred playing sports to reading books. During his time studying at Yale University, he won the Veech Award for Best Imaginative Writing.

The protagonist, Jack Logan, is a teenage boy who hates playing sports. This surprises his father, a local football legend known as the “Logan Express.” His brothers also perform very well in sports; Jack always feels like the oddball of the family. He’s fast, but he doesn’t care. He doesn’t want to play. To make matters worse for Jack, he attends Freeman High, a sports-obsessed high school in New Jersey.

All Jack wants is to live his own life, which will never involve playing sports. His friends at the school all feel the same way, and together, they do everything they can to stay on the sidelines. However, when the high school principal dies trying to break a track record, the local obsession with sports and athletic prowess only intensifies.



The school votes in Mr. Muhldinger as the new principal. He embodies everything the school stands for—he’s the football team coach, and he’s obsessed with athletic achievement. When he’s not coaching, he’s a member of the audio-visual department, which is essentially a non-teaching position. Everyone is convinced he’s what the school needs after the principal’s death. Jack, however, is not so sure.

Things only get worse for Jack when Mr. Muhldinger introduces a new policy—every senior must sign up for a sports team. As Jack is so fast, he’s recruited to the varsity football team. They need a quick player to complete their roster. Jack’s family is very proud he has been chosen. Horrified, Jack doesn’t think it’s fair. However, no one is prepared to listen to him.

No one, that is, other than his friends at school. They tell him to give it a chance, though they agree it is completely unfair. Jack takes their advice and tries out for the football team, but he suffers a broken tooth during his first tryout. Jack has had enough, and he walks away from the football field. He decides that, if he must play sports, he’ll form his own team—there’s no rule against that.



Jack’s friends love his plan. Together, they set up the “C” soccer team. His girlfriend, Becca, joins too. They recruit Mr. Percy, a history teacher who hates sports, to be their coach. The team is made up of students who are either terrible at sports or do everything to avoid playing them. Mr. Percy understands their frustrations. Jack is the captain, which unsurprisingly, does not impress his family.

When the team takes to the field, it’s a disaster. The goalie falls asleep in the net, and the players stumble their way around the field. Mr. Muhldinger, sensing that they’re playing badly on purpose, is furious. Jack and his friends, however, find it amusing. Moreover, they’re not the only ones.

Someone filmed their disastrous football game and uploaded it to social media. It has attracted attention from both high school sports stars and the ones who can’t play. Some students are angry that Jack and his team, now known formally as The Losers, are mocking sports tradition and the value of high school football teams. Others think it’s wrong that they’re made to play sports at all, and they’re standing up for students who don’t fit in.
Jack’s father is outraged. He is ashamed that his son is bringing the school’s name into disrepute, especially when he has so much sporting potential. For a time, this is almost enough to make Jack reconsider how his team plays, but he cannot sacrifice his own values just to impress his dad.



Before their next game, one of the players, Rob, is badly beaten. The incident is filmed, and the perpetrators look like A team football players. This attracts more attention, and school kids everywhere are in an uproar. By the time the next game rolls around, The Losers have attracted followers who attend the game to watch.

The Losers go from strength to strength, until finally, they play Lynton High—a local team with an unbeaten record. It is the biggest game of the season, and college scouts will be there. The Losers have no expectations, but Jack is such a talented player that many people believe they’ll win. Mr. Muhldinger is incensed that they’re taking the limelight away from him and his A team, but there’s nothing he can do about it.

Ultimately, The Losers tie with Lynton High. Jack impresses a scout, and his father tells him that he’s proud of all he achieved. When Jack goes to college, he’ll leave behind a legacy, just like his father—only this time, it’s a legacy which everyone can relate to and aspire to.