This memory and countless others form the greatest treasure of Coach Blair's life, as he makes clear in this engaging, inspiring memoir, written with veteran sports journalist and author Rusty Burson. Indeed, as Blair says, "What I cherish the most are the memories of these players and coaches." Beyond the trophies, beyond the impressive won-lost record compiled over more than four decades of coaching, beyond even the ungrudging professional respect he has achieved among his peers in a fiercely competitive occupation, Gary Blair values the images, moments, and memories collected during a life spent doing what he loves most: coaching and mentoring young women on the basketball court. In A Coaching Life, Coach Blair offers readers a "freeze-frame" view of a storied career. He serves up more than a few of his favorite memories with wit, grace, and humility. In the process, he invites readers to reflect on life's wins and losses and, most importantly, what both have to teach us.

In the 1966 NCAA basketball championship game, an all-white University of Kentucky team was beaten by a team from Texas Western College (now UTEP) that fielded only black players. The game, played in the middle of the racially turbulent 1960s-part David and Goliath in short pants, part emancipation proclamation of college basketball-helped destroy stereotypes about black athletes. Filled with revealing anecdotes, The Baron and the Bear is the story of two intensely passionate coaches and the teams they led through the ups and downs of a college basketball season. In the twilight of his legendary career, Kentucky's Adolph Rupp ("The Baron of the Bluegrass") was seeking his fifth NCAA championship. Texas Western's Don Haskins ("The Bear" to his players) had been coaching at a small West Texas high school just five years before the championship. After this history-making game, conventional wisdom that black players lacked the discipline to win without a white player to lead began to dissolve. Northern schools began to abandon unwritten quotas limiting the number of blacks on the court at one time. Southern schools, where athletics had always been a whites-only activity, began a gradual move toward integration. David Kingsley Snell brings the season to life, offering fresh insights on the teams, the coaches, and the impact of the game on race relations in America.

Basketball has a lock on the Filipino soul. From big arenas in Manila to makeshift hoops in small villages, basketball is played by Filipinos of all walks of life and is used to mark everything from summer breaks for students to religious festivals and many other occasions. Playing with the Big Boys traces the social history of basketball in the Philippines from an educational and “civilizing� tool in the early twentieth century to its status as national pastime since the country gained independence after World War II.  While the phrase “playing with the big boys� describes the challenge of playing basketball against outsized opponents, it also describes the struggle for recognition that the Philippines, as a subaltern society, has had to contend with in its larger transnational relationships as a former U.S. colony.  Lou Antolihao goes beyond the empire-colony dichotomy by covering Filipino basketball in a wider range of comparisons, such as that involving the growing influence of Asia in its region, particularly China and Japan. In this context, Antolihao shows how Philippines basketball has moved from a vehicle for Americanization to a force for globalization in which the United States, while still a key player, is challenged by other basketball-playing countries.

Remembered in name but underappreciated in legacy, Forrest "Phog" Allen arguably influenced the game of basketball more than anyone else. In the first half of the twentieth century, Allen took basketball from a gentlemanly, indoor recreational pastime to the competitive game that would become a worldwide sport. Succeeding James Naismith as the University of Kansas's basketball coach in 1907, Allen led the Jayhawks for thirty-nine seasons and holds the record for most wins at that school, with 590. He also helped create the NCAA tournament and brought basketball to the Olympics. Allen changed the way the game is played, coached, marketed, and presented. Scott Morrow Johnson reveals Allen as a master recruiter, a transformative coach, and a visionary basketball mind. Adolph Rupp, Dean Smith, Wilt Chamberlain, and many others benefited from Allen's knowledge of and passion for the game. But Johnson also delves into Allen's occasionally tumultuous relationships with Naismith, the NCAA, and University of Kansas administrators. Phog: The Most Influential Man in Basketball chronicles this complex man's life, telling for the first time the full story of the man whose name is synonymous with Kansas basketball and with the game itself.

An irreverent, hilarious insider's look at big-time NCAA basketball, through the eyes of the nation's most famous benchwarmer and author of the popular blog ClubTrillion.com (3.6m visits ). Mark Titus holds the Ohio State record for career wins, and made it to the 2007 national championship game. You would think Titus would be all over the highlight reels. You'd be wrong.
In 2006, Mark Titus arrived on Ohio State's campus as a former high school basketball player who aspired to be an orthopedic surgeon. Somehow, he was added to the elite Buckeye basketball team, given a scholarship, and played alongside seven future NBA players on his way to setting the record for most individual career wins in Ohio State history. Think that's impressive? In four years, he scored a grand total of nine--yes, "nine"--points.
This book will give readers an uncensored and uproarious look inside an elite NCAA basketball program from Titus's unique perspective. In his four years at the end of the bench, Mark founded his wildly popular blog Club Trillion, became a hero to all guys picked last, and even got scouted by the Harlem Globetrotters. Mark Titus is not your average basketball star. This is a wild and completely true story of the most unlikely career in college basketball. A must-read for all fans of March Madness and college sports

Wars ravage Iraq and Afghanistan. An earthquake devastates Haiti. The economy is in crisis and America is in the death grip of partisan politics. But what really, really gets you down? Your college basketball team loses a key game. It kind of makes a person wonder-first, of course, about his priorities, but then, inevitably, about the nature of such an obsession, one clearly shared with millions of sports fans spanning the United States. In a book that begins with one fan's passion for a game, Andrew Malan Milward takes a deep dive into sports culture, team loyalty, and a shared sense of belonging-and what these have to do with character, home, and history. At the University of Kansas-where the inventor of the sport coached its first team-basketball is a religion, and Milward is a devoted follower with a faith that has grown despite time and distance. Jayhawker, his first venture into nonfiction, bears the marks of the accomplished storyteller. Sharply observed, deftly written, and often as dramatic as its Subject, the book pairs personal memoir with cultural history to conduct us from the world of the athlete to the literary life, from competition to camaraderie, from the history of the game to the game as a reflection of American history at its darkest hour and in its shining moments. A journey through one man's obsession with basketball, Jayhawker: On History, Home, and Basketball tells a quintessential American story.

From one of the most highly respected college coaches in the nation, the only book to show how to teach winning basketball plays to kids age 14 and under

Like no other, "The Baffled Parent's Guide to Great Basketball Plays" gives you a total playbook for coaching middle and junior-high schoolers through the ins and outs of on-the-court tactics. NCAA coach Fran Dunphy provides 75 winning plays complete with easy-to-follow instructions on how to execute each move for maximum scoring.

Melvin Juette has said that becoming paralyzed in a gang-related shooting was OC both the worst and best thing that happenedOCO to him. The incident, he believes, surely spared the then sixteen year-old African American from prison and/or an early death. It transformed him in other ways, too. He attended college and made wheelchair basketball his passionOCoultimately becoming a star athlete and playing on the U.S. National Wheelchair Basketball Team.

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In "Wheelchair Warrior, "Juette reconstructs the defining moments of his life with the assistance of sociologist Ronald Berger. His poignant memoir is bracketed by BergerOCOs thoughtful introduction and conclusion, which places this narrative of race, class, masculinity and identity into proper sociological context, showing how larger social structural forces defined his experiences. While JuetteOCOs story never gives into despair, it does challenge the idea of the OC supercrip.OCO"

As the popularity of women's basketball burgeons, Karra Porter reminds us in "Mad Seasons" that today's Women's National Basketball Association, or WNBA had its origins in a ragtag league twenty years earlier. Porter tells the story of the Women's Professional Basketball League WBL, which pioneered a new era of women's sports. Formed in 1978, the league included the not-so-storied Dallas Diamonds, Chicago Hustle, and Minnesota Fillies. Porter's book takes us into the heart of the WBL as teams struggled with nervous sponsors, an uncertain fan base, and indifferent sportswriters. Despite bouncing paychecks, having to sleep on floors, and being stranded on road games, the players endured and thrived. Karra Porter brings to life the pioneers of the WBL: "Machine Gun" Molly Bolin, who set lasting scoring records - then faced an historic custody battle because of her basketball career; Connie Kunzmann, a popular player whose murder rocked the league; Liz Silcott, whose remarkable talents masked deeper problems off the court; Ann Meyers, who went from an NBA tryout to the league she had rebuffed; and, Nancy Lieberman, whose flashy play and marketing savvy were unlike anything the women's game had ever seen. A story of hardship and sacrifice, but also of dedication and love for the game, "Mad Seasons" brings the WBL back to life and shows in colorful detail how this short-lived but pioneering league ignited the imagination of a new generation of female athletes and fans. Karra Porter is a lawyer in Salt Lake City, Utah. She has represented a number of WNBA players in her practice and has given speeches on the history of women's basketball and the law of professional basketball.

Basketball: A Guide for Physical Education Teachers and Coaches is a valuable resource for those beginning to teach the sport or even seasoned coaches looking for a fresh approach to the game. The practical guide is a consolidated effort from two authors who have taught and coached the sport at various levels for many decades. Their aim is to share knowledge and sound pedagogical approaches in teaching and coaching basketball.This book will show you how to teach fundamental skills and concepts progressively through fun and innovative ways. It includes many modified games and examples of lesson plans aim to develop competent and confident learners through differentiated instruction. In this guide, Koh and Wang advocate the importance of taking a 'game-based' approach to develop good decision-making skills in the game. You will be able to select different types of content with a skill/concept, plan and deliver a teaching/coaching session to cater to different groups of learners.Complete with numerous tactics, skills and tips, Basketball: A Guide for Physical Education Teachers and Coaches is a wealth of information for instructors.

The New York Times bestseller Out of the greatest dynasty in American professional sports history, a Boston Celtics team led by Bill Russell and Bob Cousy, comes an intimate story of race, mortality, and regret About to turn ninety, Bob Cousy, the Hall of Fame Boston Celtics captain who led the team to its first six championships on an unparalleled run, has much to look back on in contentment. But he has one last piece of unfinished business. The last pass he hopes to throw is to close the circle with his great partner on those Celtic teams, fellow Hall of Famer Bill Russell. These teammates were basketball's Ruth and Gehrig, and Cooz, as everyone calls him, was famously ahead of his time as an NBA player in terms of race and civil rights. But as the decades passed, Cousy blamed himself for not having done enough, for not having understood the depth of prejudice Russell faced as an African-American star in a city with a fraught history regarding race. Cousy wishes he had defended Russell publicly, and that he had told him privately that he had his back. At this late hour, he confided to acclaimed historian Gary Pomerantz over the course of many interviews, he would like to make amends. At the heart of the story The Last Pass tells is the relationship between these two iconic athletes. The book is also in a way Bob Cousy's last testament on his complex and fascinating life. As a sports story alone it has few parallels: An poor kid whose immigrant French parents suffered a dysfunctional marriage, the young Cousy escaped to the New York City playgrounds, where he became an urban legend known as the Houdini of the Hardwood. The legend exploded nationally in 1950, his first year as a Celtic: he would be an all-star all 13 of his NBA seasons. But even as Cousy's on-court imagination and daring brought new attention to the pro game, the Celtics struggled until Coach Red Auerbach landed Russell in 1956. Cooz and Russ fit beautifully together on the court, and the Celtics dynasty was born. To Boston's white sportswriters it was Cousy's team, not Russell's, and as the civil rights movement took flight, and Russell became more publicly involved in it, there were some ugly repercussions in the community, more hurtful to Russell than Cousy feels he understood at the time. The Last Pass situates the Celtics dynasty against the full dramatic canvas of American life in the 50s and 60s. It is an enthralling portrait of the heart of this legendary team that throws open a window onto the wider world at a time of wrenching social change. Ultimately it is a book about the legacy of a life: what matters to us in the end, long after the arena lights have been turned off and we are alone with our memories. On August 22, 2019, Bob Cousy was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom

Perhaps the greatest all-around player in basketball history, Oscar Robertson revolutionized basketball as a member of the Cincinnati Royals and won a championship with the Milwaukee Bucks. When he was twenty-three, in 1962, he accomplished one of basketball’s most impressive feats: averaging the triple-double in a single season—a feat never matched since. Cocaptain of the Olympic gold medal team of 1960; named the player of the century by the National Association of Basketball Coaches; named one of the fifty greatest players in NBA history; and inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1980—Robertson’s accolades are as numerous as they are impressive. But The Big O is also the story of a shy black child from a poor family in a segregated city; of the superstar who, at the height of his career, became the president of the National Basketball Players Association to try to improve conditions for all players. It is the story of the man forced from the game at thirty-four and blacklisted from coaching and broadcasting. But two years after he left basketball, after six years of legal wrangling, Robertson won his lawsuit against the NBA, eliminating the option clause that bound a player to a single NBA team in perpetuity and ending restrictions on free agency.  The Big O is the story of how the NBA, as we now know it, was built; of race in America in the second half of the twentieth century; and of an uncompromising man and a complex hero.

Now in paperback: ?An impressive achievement...Not likely to be forgotten anytime soon.?(Washington Times) Here is the riveting true story of Jason McElwain? better known as ?J-Mac the autistic student who made headlines when he scored twenty points, including a school record six three-pointers, for his high school basketball team in 2006. Including the revealing perspectives of J-Mac's family and coach, this is McElwain's inspiring account of the challenges of growing up autistic?not only for himself, but for his family. It's also the tale of his unlikely star turn, the difference it made in his journey through life?and all the heartbreaking and heart-lifting stops along the way.

The often hilarious, occasionally heart wrenching story of a professional basketball player, Shirley details his years playing in America, Spain, and even Siberia. This is a sports memoir that details the highs and lows of trying to make it as a professional athlete.

The National Basketball Association is a place where white fans and black players enact virtually every racial issue and tension in U.S. culture. Following the Seattle SuperSonics for an entire season, David Shields explores how, in a predominantly black sport, white fans-including especially himself-think about and talk about black heroes, black scapegoats, and black bodies. Critically acclaimed and highly controversial, Black Planet was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award and the PEN USA Award, and was named one of the Top Ten Nonfiction Books of 1999 by Esquire, Newsday, Los Angeles Weekly, and Amazon.com. Purchase the audio edition.

In the twenty-first century, the idea of race in sports is rapidly changing. The National Basketball Association, for instance, was recently home to a new kind of racial conflict. After a recent playoff loss, Houston head coach, Jeff Van Gundy alleged that Yao Ming, his Chinese star center, was the victim of phantom calls, or refereeing decisions that may have been ethnically biased. Grant Farred here shows how this incident can be seen as a pivotal moment in the globalization of the NBA. With some forty percent of its players coming from foreign nations, the idea of race in the NBA has become increasingly multifaceted. Farred explains how allegations of phantom calls, such as Van Gundy's challenge the fiction that America is a post-racial society and compel us to think in new ways about the nexus of race and racism in America.

With unerring insight into the deeper truths of professional sports, John Feinstein explores in riveting detail what happened one night in December 1977 when, as a fistfight broke out on the court between the Houston Rockets and the Los Angeles Lakers, Kermit Washington delivered a punch that nearly killed All-Star Rudy Tomjanovich. The punch - now legendary in the annals of American sports - radically changed the trajectory of both men's lives and reverberates throughout the National Basketball Association to this day. Feinstein's compelling investigation of this single cataclysmic incident and its aftermath casts a light on the NBA's darkest secrets, revealing the true price men pay when they choose a career in sports.

Not only was John Wooden a great basketball coach, he was a master teacher. In fact, he was a great coach because he was a master teacher. What Wooden has learned from others in the classroom and perfected on the practice court are fundamental principles of effective teaching, which are conveyed in this book. Co-author Swen Nater, one of Wooden's former players at UCLA, provides insightful first-hand accounts on the many life lessons he learned from Wooden that he has applied to his life since becoming a teacher himself. Wooden's principles conveyed by Nater and co-author Ronald Gallimore in this book can be studied and applied by teachers, coaches, parents, and anyone else who is responsible for, works with, or supervises others. In this revised version of the book, the authors include an Afterword, in which specific examples and anecdotes are provided of how the book has impacted people in the teaching, coaching, and business industries.

On November 15, 1993, a white-haired, 72-year-old gentleman named Dr. Amberry stepped up to the free throw line and into the Guinness Book of World Records by sinking 2,750 shots in a row. He ended his 12-hour streak without a miss, stopping only because they had to close the gym for the night.

In Free Throw, he reveals his secrets. Beginning with the proper mechanics of the shot, he then explains the importance of the mental game and shares his techniques to help players stay on target even while under pressure. Combining these mental and physical elements, he presents a unique and straightforward 7-step method that teaches readers how to become a 90% free throw shooter.

The free throw is the Achilles heel of the basketball player -- many players are great from the floor but lousy at the line. Free Throw is the only book to address this important skill. Clearly written, with principles that are easy to put into practice, it is an indispensable manual for all basketball players and coaches.

The ConverseR® All Sta^TM team scores with this jam-packed book on the basics of basketball. From jump ball to jump shot, layup to slam dunk, you'll learn the techniques, the terms, and the teamwork you need to master:

• Dribbling
• Passing
• Receiving
• Shooting
• Rebounding
• Freestyle Offense
• Zone Defense
• The Fast Break
• Game Strategies
• And much more

This fact-filled guide to full court fundamentals delivers dazzling action shots, step-by-step diagrams, drills, and games to play with others or on your own. Here's everything you need to be your best at this exciting sport.