In a small town, basketball can become much more than a game. It can give people a shared identity, restore local pride, and make an overlooked community feel important.
In August: We Carry What We Bury, Ian Hanes uses basketball to capture the spirit of Lebanon, Kansas. The town is shrinking. Family farms are disappearing, young people are leaving, businesses are closing, and the local school will eventually fall silent. Yet during the 1977 basketball season, the Lebanon Bronchos give the community something it has been missing: a reason to believe in itself.
At the centre of that hope is August Harper.
August is a gifted player with the talent to leave Kansas and build a future beyond the family farm. When he steps onto the court, he is no longer merely a farm boy from a declining town. He becomes the person carrying Lebanon’s hopes. Every basket gives the crowd something to celebrate. Every victory allows residents to feel that their town still matters.
The gym becomes a gathering place where farmers, families, church members, students, and neighbours share the same excitement. Its worn bleachers and imperfect floor do not lessen its importance. For the people of Lebanon, it becomes the centre of their world.
Basketball also creates a private space for Rose and August. Rose attends the home games and watches from a careful distance. After practice, when the other players have left, she and August sit together in the bleachers. They talk about books, politics, family, and their plans for the future. In those quiet moments, the gym offers them something the wider town does not: freedom from scrutiny.
Their relationship grows beside the court, but so does the danger surrounding it.
The championship should be the happiest night of August’s life. He helps bring home the state title, and the town celebrates the victory it will remember for decades. Yet Rose dies while trying to reach the game. From that moment, basketball carries two meanings for August. It represents belonging and achievement, but also grief, guilt, and the future he lost.
He turns away from scholarships and never plays with the same purpose again.
Years later, basketball returns through his son, John. The old hoop is restored, the worn ball comes out again, and a family connection begins to form across generations.
August shows why sport matters deeply in rural communities. Basketball gives Lebanon pride, memory, and fellowship. It brings people together when almost everything else is pulling them apart.
For one unforgettable season, a small Kansas town does not feel forgotten.
