Local Author Celebration Series: John Dechant
Castle & Cathedral District presents:
Local Author Celebration Series
March Author: John Dechant
Cost: Free
When: Wed, March 20 Doors open at 5pm // event begins at 5:30
Age: All ages welcome!
Where: Joslyn Castle Carriage House, 3902 Davenport Street, Omaha, NE 68131
Get to know local authors in an intimate environment as they share their inspirations and writing processes with us! In March, we're thrilled to welcome John Dechant, partner at Legacy Preservation and longtime Joslyn Castle supporter.
About John:
John Dechant is the author of Little Poison: Paul Runyan, Sam Snead, and a Long-Shot Upset at the 1938 PGA Championship. He has played golf since childhood but only recently began writing about it.
In 2016 Dechant wrote Scoreless: Omaha Central, Creighton Prep, and Nebraska’s Greatest High School Football Game, published by the University of Nebraska Press. The book was named one of “12 Really Good New Sports Books” by the Christian Science Monitor. After the publication of Scoreless, MaxPreps named the 1960 game the book was based on the greatest tie game in high school football history. In 2017, Dechant wrote The Fraternalist, a biography of his grandfather, Virgil C. Dechant.
In 2021 Dechant profiled the topsy-turvy career of professional golfer Phil Rodgers in an article that was published in issue No. 15 of The Golfer’s Journal. In the course of researching that story, Dechant rediscovered Paul Runyan, Rodgers’ late golf instructor, who he remembered reading about in his youth. That detour led him to plunge headfirst into a study of Runyan’s life and his dramatic upset over Sam Snead at the 1938 PGA Championship.
Today, Dechant lives in Omaha with his wife and children. He is the president of Legacy Preservation, a specialty publishing firm that helps families and businesses across the country preserve their history in book form. He is a graduate of Creighton University, where he received a journalism degree in 2005 and a master’s degree in 2008. While at Creighton he was a member of the men’s golf team. In 2005 he received the team’s “Most Inspirational Player” award.
