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Sid Gillman
By Josh Katzowitz, Dick Vermeil. 2012
Sid Gillman, unlike so many of his coaching colleagues, never wrote a book about himself. He never published his own…
ideas about the game and why he thought passing the ball in an age where most quarterbacks handed off to running backs was the key to his success. In more than four decades of coaching, nobody thought it necessary to tell the definitive Sid Gillman story. Until now.Gillman was a true innovator. The kind of football genius that goes overlooked by today's average fan, but who will never be forgotten by the coaches he directly - and indirectly - impacted. The modern-day offenses that emphasize spreading the field with receivers, running backs and tight ends? That was Gillman's idea. The idea that the long pass could stretch a defense? That was Gillman's baby as well. What NFL fans watch today in ever-increasing numbers (and the high-flying offenses those fans love) can be directly traced back to the Midwestern coach who was a forerunner to the West Coast offense.Gillman wasn't a perfect man. He had plenty of warts, and he made plenty of enemies. But he also made a major impact on the game, comparable to how Vince Lombardi, Paul Brown and Woody Hayes left a timeless impression. Josh Katzowitz tells you how Gillman was just as important as any coach who came before him or afterward.This is not simply a biography of an innovator. It details exactly how and why the NFL football you watch today is the image of what Gillman believed was possible. It's why football luminaries like Al Davis, Bill Walsh and Chuck Noll cite Gillman as one of the most important influences on their careers and lives. It's why if you watched the Green Bay Packers beat the Pittsburgh Steelers in Super Bowl XLV, you could see the scope of Gillman's reach. In order to truly understand the reason why football offenses are so exciting today, learning about Gillman is absolutely essential. Katzowitz takes you on that journey.Super Agent
By Jerry Argovitz, J. David Miller. 2013
Super Agent. Maverick. Reformer. Iconoclast. Dealmaker. Dentist? Jerry Argovitz has worn many hats in his remarkable life, both inside and…
outside of the world of sports. As a player agent representing and advising some of the biggest names in the game, Argovitz challenged the NFL both at the negotiating table and in the courtroom, earning a reputation as one of the most powerful men in professional sports. He successfully negotiated the first milliondollar guaranteed contract in NFL history, wrote the language for career-ending insurance policy underwriting for Lloyds of London, and brokered the deal that brought Heisman Trophy-winner Herschel Walker to the upstart USFL as a junior, which opened the floodgates for all underclassmen to follow. As the owner of the Houston Gamblers of the USFL, Argovitz helped to implement several rules which were subsequently adopted by the NFL, and served as a principal figure in a lawsuit against the NFL that proved the league was guilty of Sherman Antitrust violations. Now, Argovitz has a plan to reform the corrupt world of college sports, a plan he will share in this eye-opening book.But Now I See: My Journey from Blindness to Olympic Gold
By Steve Eubanks, Geoff Bodine, Steven Holcomb. 2012
One of the top bobsledders in the world and leader of the four-man American team, Steven Holcomb had finished sixth…
in the 2006 Olympics and medaled in nearly every competition he entered. He was considered a strong gold contender for the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Winter Games. Talented, aggressive, and fearless, he was at the top of his game. But Steven Holcomb had a dangerous secret.Steven Holcomb was going blind.In the prime of his athletic career, he was diagnosed with keratoconus-a degenerative disease affecting 1 in 1,000 and leaving 1 in 4 totally blind without a cornea transplant. In the world of competitive sports, it was a dream killer. Not a sport for the timid, bobsledding speeds approach 100 miles per hour through a series of hairpin turns. Serious injuries-even deaths-can result. But Holcomb kept his secret from his coach, sled mates, and the public for months and continued to drive the legendary sled The Night Train.When he finally told his coach, Holcomb was led to a revolutionary treatment, later named the Holcomb C3-R. With his sight restored to 20/20, Holcomb became the first American in 50 years to win the International Bobsled and Skeleton Federation World Championship, and the first American bobsledder since 1948 to win the Olympic gold medal.With a foreword by Geoff Bodine, NASCAR champion and founder of the Bo-Dyn Bobsled Project, But Now I See is the intimate portrait of a man's pursuit of a dream, laced with humility and the faith to find a way when all seems hopeless. It's about knowing anything is possible and the gift of a second chance.Soul Surfer: A True Story of Faith, Family, and Fighting to Get Back on the Board
By Bethany Hamilton, Sheryl Berk, Rick Bundschuh. 2011
The amazing story of the thirteen-year-old surfer girl who lost her arm in a shark attack but never lost her…
faith -- and of her triumphant return to competitive surfing. They say Bethany Hamilton has saltwater in her veins. How else could one explain the tremendous passion that drives her to surf? How else could one explain that nothing -- not even the loss of her arm in a horrific shark attack -- could come between her and the waves? That Halloween morning in Kauai, Hawaii -- a glorious part of the world, where it's hard to deny the divine -- Bethany responded to the shark's stealth attack with the calm of a girl with God on her side. Pushing pain and panic aside, she immediately began to paddle with one arm, focusing on a single thought: "Get to the beach...." Rushed to the hospital, where her father, Tom Hamilton, was about to undergo knee surgery, Bethany found herself taking his spot in the O.R. It's the kind of coincidence that isn't mere coincidence to the Hamilton family, a clan whose motto could easily be "the family that surfs and prays together stays together." To them it was a sign someone had a greater plan than the one they'd been working on themselves -- which had been to scrape together whatever resources they could to help Bethany rise to the top of her sport. When the first thing Bethany wanted to know after surgery was "When can I surf again?" it became clear that her unfaltering spirit and determination were part of a greater story -- a tale of courage and faith that this modest and soft-spoken girl would come to share with the world. Soul Surfer is a moving account of Bethany's life as a young surfer, her recovery in the wake of the shark attack, the adjustments she's made to her unique surfing style, her unprecedented bid for a top showing in the World Surfing Championships, and, most fundamentally, her belief in God. It is a story of girl power and spiritual grit that shows that the body is no more essential to surfing -- perhaps even less so -- than the soul.A Journey Around Our America: A Memoir on Cycling, Immigration, and the Latinoization of the U.S.
By Louis G. Mendoza. 2012
Immigration and the growing Latino population of the United States have become such contentious issues that it can be hard…
to have a civil conversation about how Latinoization is changing the face of America. So in the summer of 2007, Louis Mendoza set out to do just that. Starting from Santa Cruz, California, he bicycled 8,500 miles around the entire perimeter of the country, talking to people in large cities and small towns about their experiences either as immigrants or as residents who have welcomed - or not - Latino immigrants into their communities. He presented their enlightening, sometimes surprising, firsthand accounts in Conversations Across Our America: Talking About Immigration and the Latinoization of the United States. Now, in A Journey Around Our America, Mendoza offers his own account of the visceral, emotional, intellectual, and spiritual dimensions of traveling the country in search of a deeper, broader understanding of what it means to be Latino in the United States in the twenty-first century. With a blend of first- and second-person narratives, blog entries, poetry, and excerpts from conversations he had along the way, Mendoza presents his own aspirations for and critique of social relations, political ruminations, personal experiences, and emotional vulnerability alongside the stories of people from all walks of life, including students, activists, manual laborers, and intellectuals. His conversations and his experiences as a Latino on the road reveal the multilayered complexity of Latino life today as no academic study or newspaper report ever could.The Galloping Ghost
By Gary Andrew Poole. 2008
In the 1920s four athletes defined American sports: Babe Ruth, Jack Dempsey, Bobby Jones, and Red Grange. They were the…
country's first athletic pantheon, its Mount Rushmore, and for a few brief years Red Grange outshone them all. The Galloping Ghost tells the remarkable untold story of this fleet-footed college football player who inspired poetry, dazzled fans as he felled opponents on the field, and, with the help of an unscrupulous and utterly brilliant manager (the first real-life Jerry Maguire), helped launch and legitimize professional football, changing American sports forever. In this first major biography of Red Grange, Gary Andrew Poole draws on exhaustive research and interviews to evoke the golden age of sports in all its splendor and outrageousness. He transports readers from college football rallies to barnstorming tours, from the locker room to the White House to Hollywood, as he recounts Grange's rise and tragic fall. And he lays bare the fascinating and psychologically complex relationship between a star athlete and the nation's first real sports agent-a relationship that encapsulated the good and shadowy sides of sports and how they inevitably intersected. For fans of Cinderella Man, The Devil and Sonny Liston, and The Devil in the White City, The Galloping Ghost is a provocative, character-driven, atmospheric sports history that gives us a new understanding of a seminal sports figure, from raw and innocent athletic talent to mortal American icon. A symbol of rebellious manhood and virility, Red Grange is a reminder of the fleeting nature of fame, youth, and physical dominance.Harvey Penick: The Life and Wisdom of the Man Who Wrote the Book on Golf
By Kevin Robbins. 2015
The first-ever biography of the iconic and beloved golf coach who caddied for Francis Ouimet, played with Ben Hogan, competed…
against Bobby Jones, shaped Ben Crenshaw, and distilled his golf wisdom into the Little Red Book, granting simplicity to a vexing yet beloved sport Millions of people were charmed by the homespun golf advice dispensed in Harvey Penick's Little Red Book, a sports classic that went on to become the best-selling sports book of all time. Yet, beyond the Texas golf courses where Penick happily toiled for the better part of eight decades, few people knew the self-made golf pro who coaxed the best out of countless greats -- Tom Kite, Ben Crenshaw, Betsy Rawls, Mickey Wright -- all champions who considered Penick their coach and lifelong friend. In Harvey Penick, Kevin Robbins tells the story of this legendary steward of the game. From his first job as a caddie at age eight to his ascendance to head golf pro at the esteemed Austin Country Club to his playing days when he competed with Bobby Jones and Walter Hagen to his mentorship of some of golf's finest players, Penick studied every nuance of the game. Along the way, he scribbled his observations and anecdotes, tips and tricks, and genuine love of the sport in his little red book, which ultimately became a gift to golfers everywhere. Part elegy to golf's greatest teacher, part inquiry into his simple, impactful teachings, part history of golf over the past century, Harvey Penick is an exquisitely written sports biography.My Life in Football
By Trevor Brooking. 2014
When Trevor Brooking was still at school, the Essex-born teenager was one of the most eagerly pursued prospects in London,…
but he chose to go to West Ham United - the only club that was prepared to allow him to complete his studies - and so began a lifelong attachment to the Upton Park outfit. In 1967 he made his debut for the club, and went on to play for them until 1984, helping them to win two FA Cup trophies, and scoring the only goal in the 1980 final. A cultured midfielder at the heart of West Ham's side, he was soon seen as crucial to England's fortunes, helping them to qualify for the World Cup finals in 1982. Brooking recalls the highlights of his career, playing with and against some of the most famous names in the sport, and provides revealing details about life with West Ham and England. His story recalls a time when he was a symbol of solidity during the era of flared trousers, punk, and the turmoil of the Revie regime. Respected by fans and his peers alike, Brooking has been at the forefront of the FA's work to develop the game in recent years, and his views on the future of football are essential reading.Cleveland's Finest
By Vince Mckee. 2016
Cleveland's Finest is the first book written from the player's point of view, mixed in with the media that covered…
it and the fans that watched. Cleveland's Finest will change the way the entire sports nation looks at Cleveland. Finally, the true stories are told!Andre the Giant
By Michael Krugman. 2009
Unplayable: An Inside Account of Tiger's Most Tumultuous Season
By Robert Lusetich. 2010
The definitive chronicle of the most stunning year in the legendary career of Tiger Woods, when the world's greatest golfer…
returned to competitive play following major knee surgery--only to have his personal life unravel in the public spotlight at year's end. Who is the real Tiger Woods? The unbeatable, indomitable, and ultimate competitor? The husband and father who cares more about his family than anything else? Or the supremely confident controller who thought fierce management of his image and those around him would allow him to lead a double life? In Unplayable, veteran journalist Robert Lusetich offers an in-depth look at the world's most recognizable yet least known athlete, Tiger Woods. Lusetich, who first interviewed Woods in the late 1990s and has written about him since 1996, was the only writer to cover every PGA Tour event the world's number one golfer played in 2009. Unplayable tells of the unfolding of Tiger's most pivotal season on the golf course-- with his first ever hiatuses from professional play--and provides extensive reporting and the backstory to show who the most elusive man in all of sports really is. Lusetich peels away the layers of the Woods persona to create a portrait that is neither unsympathetic nor hesitant to shed light on Tiger's shortcomings. This rich, insightful account reveals: what actually makes Woods the game's dominant player; how his upbringing influenced who he is today and how he has changed over time; and the nature of his relationships with his family, former and current friends, celebrity athletes, peers, coaches, sports agents, sponsors, and the media and public itself. Based on one-of-a-kind access, Unplayable is a gripping look at the man who changed golf and inspired more fans around the world than anyone else in the history of the sport.The Keeper: The Unguarded Story of Tim Howard (Young Readers' Edition)
By Tim Howard. 2014
In this heartwarming and candid memoir, US national soccer team goalkeeper Tim Howard does something he would never do on…
a soccer field: he drops his guard. Howard opens up for the first time about how a hyperactive kid from New Jersey with Tourette Syndrome defied the odds to become one of the world's premier goalkeepers. Howard managed to keep his condition in check well enough to be drafted by Major League Soccer right out of high school.After a successful seventeen-year professional soccer career, Howard became an overnight star during the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. His heroic performance in goal for the United States against Belgium, in which he saved an astonishing fifteen shots--the most for any goalkeeper in a World Cup game--made him a household name as well as a trending internet meme. In the course of 120 minutes, Howard went from a player known mainly by soccer fans to an American icon, loved by millions for his dependability, daring, and humility.In this uplifting memoir adapted for young readers, Howard shares his remarkable journey from a challenging childhood in which he was raised by a single mother who instilled in him a love of sports and a devout Christian faith that helped him deal with the onset of Tourette's in fifth grade.This book includes an 8-page full-color photo insert.No Bull
By Dan Bickley. 1997
Who is Dennis Rodman? Readers flocked to find out with Bad As I Wanna Be, a confessional by Rodman himself…
that sold roughly 600,000 copies. But an autobiography rarely attains objectivity, nor tells the whole story. No Bull chronicles the life of America's Bad Boy - from the time his mother fled a broken marriage to Dallas with Dennis and his two sisters, to his early arrest for theft, to his emergence as a star at Southeastern Oklahoma State. Bickley follows Dennis during his rookie year and beyond with the Detroit Pistons, where he began to make headlines for more than his basketball talent, to suspensions while playing for the San Antonio Spurs, to his time with Michael Jordan and Chicago Bulls. We see Dennis Rodman on and off the court, and the reader can be sure no punches are pulled.Misty
By Misty May-Treanor, Jill Lieber Steeg. 2010
The passionate, poignant, and triumphant story of two-time Olympic gold medal-winning beach volleyball icon Misty May-Treanor.More than any Olympics in…
history, the 2008 Beijing Summer Games captured the world's imagination, and Misty May-Treanor became one of the biggest U.S. stars on the global stage. Now she shares the story of her life and remarkable athletic career.Destined for beach volleyball superstardom, having been raised on famed Muscle Beach in Santa Monica, California, Misty talks about the personal and professional challenges she has faced and the life lessons she has learned in the process. From growing up with two driven, competitive, accomplished athlete parents and living in a volatile household rocked for years by their alcoholism to the heartbreaking death of her mother from cancer, Misty reveals intimate details never before publicly discussed. She tells behind-the-scenes stories about her eight-year climb to the top of beach volleyball with partners Holly McPeak and Kerri Walsh; her career-threatening injuries; her role on ABC's hit television show Dancing with the Stars; and of course, her historic two Olympic gold medals and the special rewards they've brought. Offering an unprecedented glimpse into the life of a cherished celebrity sports icon and an ambassador for women's athletics, Misty will touch, inspire, and empower readers everywhere.In this New York Times bestselling memoir, the announcer of the biggest sporting events in the country—including the 2017 Super…
Bowl and this century's most-watched, historic, Chicago Cubs–winning World Series—reveals why he is one lucky bastard.Sports fans see Joe Buck everywhere: broadcasting one of the biggest games in the NFL every week, calling the World Series every year, announcing the Super Bowl every three years. They know his father, Jack Buck, is a broadcasting legend and that he was beloved in his adopted hometown of St. Louis. Yet they have no idea who Joe really is. Or how he got here. They don’t know how he almost blew his career. They haven’t read his funniest and most embarrassing stories or heard about his interactions with the biggest sports stars of this era. They don’t know how hard he can laugh at himself—or that he thinks some of his critics have a point. And they don’t know what it was really like to grow up in his father’s shadow. Joe and Jack were best friends, but it wasn’t that simple. Jack, the voice of the St. Louis Cardinals for almost fifty years, helped Joe get his broadcasting start at eighteen. But Joe had to prove himself, first as a minor league radio announcer and then on local TV, national TV with ESPN, and then finally on FOX. He now has a successful, Emmy-winning career, but only after a lot of dues-paying, learning, and pretty damn entertaining mistakes that are recounted in this book. In his memoir, Joe takes us through his life on and off the field. He shares the lessons he learned from his father, the errors he made along the way, and the personal mountain he climbed and conquered, all of which have truly made him a Lucky Bastard.Sir Walter
By Tom Clavin. 2005
During the Golden Age of Sports in the 1920s, Walter Hagen was to golf what Babe Ruth was to baseball.…
The first professional golfer to make his living playing the game rather than teaching it, Hagen won eleven major professional tournaments over his long career -- two U.S. Opens, four British Opens, and five PGA Championships (including an amazing streak of four consecutive PGA wins) -- a record surpassed only by Jack Nicklaus. Hagen was also influential in helping to found the Ryder Cup and was the first American golfer to top $1 million in career earnings -- a figure equivalent to over $40 million today. Award-winning sportswriter Tom Clavin has penned a thrilling biography that vividly recalls Hagen's dazzling achievements and the qualities that made him a star. Energetic, witty, and one of the best putters ever to walk the green, Hagen was a man who loved to party, was extraordinarily generous to his friends, and golfed the world over, giving exhibitions. He preferred to travel by limousine, and if he intended to stay awhile he'd bring a second limo just to transport his clothes, which were nothing but the finest. On his many trips across the Atlantic to compete in the Ryder Cup or British Open, Hagen was known to throw parties that lasted days, ending only when the ship reached the shore. He was also the first professional golfer to admit to playing not only for the love of the game, but also for the love of the winner's purse. Walter Hagen, forerunner of today's sports superstars, is as dynamic a character as can be found in American sports history. Bringing Hagen to life with incredible detail and countless anecdotes, Sir Walter is the authoritative biography of the man who helped create professional golf as it's known today.Free Byrd: The Power of a Liberated Life
By Paul Byrd. 2008
Cleveland Indians pitcher Paul Byrd gives an honest account of how he has kept his faith in God despite all…
the trials and temptations associated with the major league Baseball lifestyle. Paul Byrd has experienced many struggles, victories, and life lessons both on the diamond and off. Throughout his life, the one thing that has kept him focused on walking clean is the glimpses he has received of God's goodness. He addresses the issues he has faced -- such as the temptation to cheat while pitching, the unhealthy desire to cheer against fellow teammates so he could benefit from their failure, and his personal battle with pornography. Byrd gives readers Major League insight into the lifestyle of top-tier baseball players while showing how, even through a struggle, he was able to pick himself up and continue to believe and trust in a God who deeply loves us all. Paul's focus remains on the people we relate to every day and the significant conversations and interactions we can have with those we love, learning to build them up rather than tear them down. In Free Byrd, readers see how Paul's life was changed through the lessons he was taught, and how he discovered a freedom he never imagined through a dynamic relationship with Jesus Christ. And, most importantly, he invites everyone to experience the same transformation.Cousy: His Life, Career, and the Birth of Big-time Basketball
By Bill Reynolds. 2005
It was an era when the game was played for the love of it, and a fledgling NBA struggled for…
mainstream attention. Bob Cousy was at the heart of basketball's emergence as premier entertainment, a dynamo whose talent and ingenuity dazzled fans and players. The MVP of the 1957 season and veteran of six NBA championships with the Boston Celtics, his trademark behind-the-back dribble and no-look pass gave us basketball as no one had seen it before -- a one-man revolution that set the stage for Wilt Chamberlain, Elgin Baylor, Bill Russell, and others. Here is the fascinating, in-depth story of Cousy's life -- his tenement childhood, his drives and motivations, his little-known personal life, and his record-breaking career -- set against one of the most exciting generations in sports history.The Keeper
By Tim Howard. 2014
I believe that we will win In the summer of 2014 Tim Howard became an overnight sensation after…
more than ten years as one of America s leading professional soccer players His record-breaking 15 saves for the United States national team against Belgium in the World Cup electrified a nation that had only recently woken up to the Beautiful Game after decades of hibernation An estimated TV audience of 21 million viewers in the U S --larger than those of the NBA and NHL finals--watched Howard s heroic performance against the heavily favored Belgians in which he repelled shots with his hands feet legs knees and even his signature long beard Suddenly an athlete who had toiled in relative anonymity for much of his career became the star of his own Internet meme Things Tim Howard Could Save from Janet Jackson s wardrobe malfunction to the Titanic and fielded personal calls from the likes of President Barack Obama You guys did us proud I don t know how you are going to survive the mobs when you come back home man You ll have to shave your beard so they don t know who you are In this inspiring and candid memoir the beloved U S and Everton goalkeeper finally allows himself to do something that he would never do on the field he drops his guard Howard opens up for the first time about how a hyperactive kid from New Jersey with Tourette Syndrome defied the odds to become one of the greatest American keepers in history He recalls his childhood being raised by a single mother who instilled in him a love of all sports--he was also a standout high school basketball player--and a devout faith that helped him cope with a disorder that manifested itself with speech and facial tics compulsive behavior and extreme sensitivity to light noise and touch The Keeper is also a chronicle of the personal sacrifices he s made for his career including the ultimate dissolution of Howard s marriage--a casualty of what he calls his addiction to winning --and its most painful consequence his separation from his two children A treat for soccer fans The Keeper will even captivate readers who are unfamiliar with the sport but want to know what makes a world-class athlete different from the rest of us--and where that difference gives way to common groundHow Football Saved My Life
By Alan Stubbs. 2013
The day had gone badly: Celtic had just lost to their Old Firm rivals Rangers in the 1999 Scottish Cup…
final, and now Alan Stubbs had to provide a sample for a random drugs test. Little did he know, but it would help save his life... The results of the test showed he had testicular cancer, and suddenly, at the age of 27 and at the peak of fitness, he realised that he had the biggest battle of his life in front of him. In this compelling and moving memoir, Stubbs recalls his despair at the time and explains how, with the support of family, friends and fans as well as terrific doctors, he pulled through to resume his career at the top. And what a career it was. First he helped Bolton Wanderers climb up two divisions to reach the Premier League in 1995. The following season, he moved to Celtic for a record fee, helping them to break the stranglehold on the league title held by Rangers. After recovering from cancer, he moved to Everton, his hometown club, where he would spend most of the rest of his playing career, lining up alongside (among others) an ageing Paul Gascoigne and an emerging Wayne Rooney. A knee injury forced him to retire in 2008, but he is now on the coaching staff at Everton. A player who has seen the game at all levels, he has also had to contend with the most shocking challenges in life, which makes his story an unmissable read.