As a member of the 1992 world-champion Chicago Bulls, a dashiki-clad Hodges delivered a handwritten letter to President George H. W. Bush demanding that he do more to address racism and economic inequality. Hodges was also a vocal union activist, initiated a boycott against Nike, and spoke out forcefully against police brutality in the wake of the Rodney King beating. But his outspokenness cost him dearly. In the prime of his career, after ten NBA seasons, Hodges was blackballed from the NBA for using his platform as a professional athlete to stand up for justice. In this powerful, passionate, and captivating memoir, Hodges shares the stories-including encounters with Nelson Mandela, Coretta Scott King, Jim Brown, R. Kelly, Michael Jordan, and others-from his lifelong fight for equality for African Americans.

"Ducking and Diving" delves into the fall of British basketball popularity by looking at the history of basketball, or Brunel University, and Britain in the 1980s. Basketball is the world's second most popular sport. So why did it never take off in Britain? It could have been so different. Thirty years ago basketball was the flagship sport of Channel Four television - awash with marketing, millionaires and even Manchester United. Within five years, it had all gone wrong. Amidst the chaos, British basketball acquired its strangest ever national champions. How this happened is part of the history of basketball, of Brunel University, and the Britain of the 1980's - a country where attitudes towards work and money were revolutionised, confused and ultimately discarded. Just like basketball itself.

The late 1960s and early 1970s, in New York City and America at large, were years marked by political tumult, social unrest . . . and the best professional basketball ever played. Paradise, for better or worse, was a hardwood court in midtown Manhattan.

Harvey Araton has followed the Knicks, old and new, for decades--first as a teenage fan, then as a young sports reporter with the New York Post, and now as a writer and columnist for the New York Times. When the Garden Was Eden is the definitive account of the New York Knicks in their vintage pomp. With measured prose and shoe-leather reporting, Araton relives their most glorious triumphs and bitter rivalries, and casts light on a team all but forgotten outside of pregame highlight reels and nostalgic reunions at the Garden.

This book examines the American Basketball League and its short-lived history, beginning with its conception in 1959-60 and its two seasons of play, 1961-1963. The league was the first to use a trapezoidal, wider lane and a 30-second shot clock, as well as the 3-point shot. With a team in Hawaii, the league created an adjusted schedule to accommodate the outsize distance. Many players such as Connie Hawkins and Bill Bridges and coaches such as Jack McMahon and Bill Sharman later found their way to the NBA after the collapse of the league, but it took more than 15 years for wide acceptance of the 3-point shot. John McLendon and Ermer Robinson were the first two African American coaches in a major professional league as they both debuted in the ABL.

Now in paperback! More than half a century after the Boston Celtics' legendary first championship, here is a riveting inside account of one of sports' greatest franchises-between 1957 and 1969, winners of eleven titles, including a record eight in a row starting in 1959. Lew Freedman, who grew up attending Celtics games and eventually befriended the players and team management, chronicles the team's glory years under coach Red Auerbach, star player Bill Russell, and a legendary lineup of other talents. Revealing how he was swept up in dramatic moments both on and off the court, Dynasty is a great book about a vibrant sports town, the greatest players in basketball, and an unprecedented run of championships rarely challenged before or since in team sports.

The National Basketball Association (NBA) is widely recognized as an entertaining and innovative league whose teams play regular season and postseason games in packed arenas at home and away sites in the United States and Canada. This book discusses the development, growth, and success of the 61-year-old NBA from a business perspective. Covering the late 1940s to 2009, it focuses on the league's expansions and mergers, team territories and relocations, franchise organizations and operations, basketball arenas and markets, and NBA domestic and international affairs. Readers will gain an insight into when, how, and why the NBA emerged, reformed, and gradually matured to become one of the world's most dominant, prosperous, and popular professional sports organizations today.

The NBA has gained worldwide popularity with its high-flying stars and slam-dunking giants, but the early professional hoops game was played below the rim. This book provides the first history of the National Basketball League, which held court from the mid - 1930s until its merger with the Basketball Association of America in 1949. Originally formed in Akron and Indianapolis, the league operated mainly in the Midwest but extended as far east as Rochester and Syracuse and west to Denver, building major franchises with hometown loyalties. Most of its stars were college graduates, a major change from previous professional leagues, and it was the first modern major professional league to integrate. Features include photographs, maps of league franchises, and tables of team standings, MVPs, and scoring leaders.

Hoop Dreams on Wheels is a life-history study of wheelchair athletes associated with a premier collegiate wheelchair basketball program. The book, which grapples with the intersection of biography and history in society, situates the study in broader context with background on the history and sociology of disability and disability sports. It documents the development and evolution of the basketball program and tells the individual life stories of the athletes, highlighting the formative interpersonal and institutional experiences that influenced their agentive actions and that helped them achieve success in wheelchair sports. It also examines divisions within the disability community that reveal both empowering and disempowering aspects of competitive wheelchair athletics, and it explores some of the complexities and dilemmas of disability identity in contemporary society. The book is intended to be read by a general audience as well as by students in college courses on disability, sports, social problems, deviance, medical sociology and anthropology, and introductory sociology. It also will be of interest to scholars in the sociology of disability, sociology of sports, and medical humanities, as well as life-history researchers and professionals in the fields of physical education, therapeutic recreation, and rehabilitative counseling.

The word legend is thrown around all too easily these days, but there can be no doubt that the NBA players featured in this book are the very best to have ever graced a basketball court. They are true legends of the game. Spanning the decades and covering all the league's most iconic eras, this book uncovers the fascinating stories and incredible accomplishments of the greatest basketball players. From the game's first superstars, Wilt Chamberlain, Bill Russell, and Jerry West, to the modern-day greats of the late Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, and Kevin Garnett. There are also in-depth features on Lakers legends Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and Shaquille O'Neal, as well as Celtics great Larry Bird, while it also explores 23 reasons why Michael Jordan is the greatest of all time. It's not just about great players, though. Without great coaches there would be no great players, legendary teams, or memorable matchups. That's why this book also runs down the 10 most successful and influential coaches from NBA history, looks back at the 10 greatest championship-winning teams, and relives 10 of the best ever games. It also includes a review of the 50 most iconic NBA players of all time.

In 1905, Lawrence Peter Hollis went to Springfield, Massachusetts, before beginning his job as the secretary of the YMCA at Monaghan Mill in Greenville, South Carolina. While there, he met James Naismith, the inventor of basketball, and learned of the fledgling game. Armed with Dr. Naismith's rules of the game and a basketball he bought in New York, Hollis returned to the mill and changed the face of athletics in South Carolina. Lawrence Peter Hollis was one of the first to introduce basketball south of the Mason-Dixon line, and the game quickly gained popularity in the textile mill villages throughout South Carolina. In 1921, Hollis and others organized a tournament to determine the best mill team, and thus the southern Textile Basketball Tournament was born. Over the years, some of the south's top cage talent played in the tourney, including ""Smokey"" Barbare, Lucille Foster Thomas, Bert Hill, Earl Wooten, Billy Cunningham. Pete Maravich, Sue Vickers and Tree Rollins. Decade-by-decade, the history of one of the longest running basketball tournaments is provided, along with profiles of many prominent participants. Full rosters for all teams in all tournaments are given in the appendices, along with all-tournament selections and members of the Southern Textile Athletic Hall of Fame.

The story of the University of Kentucky's basketball teams, told by the players, coaches, opponents, fans, and media, weaves a tapestry of heroes and characters, headlines, saluting great players, teams, traditions and moments, as well as rosters from all seven NCAA championship squads.

Comprehensive, authoritative, controversial, hilarious, and impossible to put down, this book offers every hardwood fan a courtside seat beside the game's finest, funniest, and fiercest chronicler.

Six years after Michael Jordan won his last NBA championship, American basketball hit rock bottom.  The perception of NBA players reached an all-time low.  Team USA lost three times, disgracing the nation at the 2004 Olympics.   With great historical sweep, bringing in the voices of all-time greats like Jordan, Bill Russell, Julius Erving and Jerry West, the book will show how American basketball bottomed out.  It will chart the path of Jerry Colangelo, a great sportsman who set out to change the stained image of USA Basketball.  And with great insight and fresh detail, it will show how two of the best players in history – Kobe Bryant and LeBron James – spun their own tails of redemption in while winning gold medals.

Tall, powerful athletes surge toward the goal in the last seconds of a fiercely fought game, providing excitement to an arena full of basketball fans. Increasingly, challenging games like this are being played by women's college teams. With the passage of Title IX and the success of the WNBA (Women's National Basketball League), women's college teams have received more support and attention both from academic institutions and basketball fans. One of the primary reasons for the growing interest in women's college basketball is the dedication of the women who coach these student athletes to personal and athletic success. Women currently coach nearly 65 percent of the womens basketball teams in all divisions of the NCAA. Their commitment to their sport and to their athletes has resulted in a game and a generation of athletes unlike any other. This analysis of the role of women coaches in college basketball provides a detailed history of women's involvement in college sports, as well as insights into the work of the great women coaches of the past and present, all highlighted through interviews with some of the most important women coaches of today.

Iceland is a tiny Nordic nation with a population of just 330,000 and no professional sports leagues, and yet its soccer, basketball and handball teams have all qualified for major international tournaments in recent years. This fascinating study argues that team sport success is culturally produced and that in order to understand collective achievement we have to consider the socio-cultural context. Based on unparalleled access to key personnel, including top coaches, athletes and administrators, the book explores Icelandic cultural capital as a factor in sporting success, from traditions of workmanship, competitive play and teamwork to international labour migration and knowledge transfer. The first book to focus specifically on the socio-cultural aspects of a small nation's international sporting success, this is an original and illuminating contribution to the study of the sociology of sport. Sport in Iceland: How small nations achieve international success is fascinating reading for team sport enthusiasts, coaches, managers and organisers, as well as for any student or scholar with an interest in the sociology of sport, strategic sports development, sports policy or sports administration.

Overtime Kids is an inspiring account of the smallest school to ever win the Kentucky State High School Basketball Championship, knocking out the highest scoring player in history in the process! Discover with Dr. Don Miller how this humble coal-mining town produced some of the state's most determined players ever and the tremendous lifelong principles that guided them to the championship and beyond. This story of the Carr Creek High 1956 Kentucky State Champions is truly an inspiration to students and sports fans everywhere.

'Lakers Glory' captures the enormity of Minneapolis-Los Angeles Lakers basketball: the great players, teams, magical moments, riveting rivalries, an all-time Lakers team (imagine picking a center for that group!), rosters of all fifteen championship squads, and more, as told by Lakers players, managers, coaches, opponents, fans, and the media.

Pete Marvich might not have been the greatest basketball player of his generation, but he was unquestionably the most exciting and entertaining. A magician at handling or shooting the ball and the most prolific scorer in college basketball history, Pistol Pete"" was as recognizable as he was flashy. If the mop of brown hair and floppy gray socks didn't give him away, the behind-the-back dribbling and between the-legs passes did. Maravich first captured the nation's attention while playing basketball for his father at Louisiana State University, averaging an incredible 44.2 points per game over three years and earning college player-of-the-year honors in 1970. He went on to play for ten years in the NBA for the Atlanta Hawks, New, Orleans Jazz, and Boston Celtics, garnering NBA First Team honors twice and Second Team honors two other times. In 1976-77 he led the league in scoring with an average of 31.1 points, including a 68-point outburst in a game against the New York Knicks. ""Pistol Pete"" was elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1987. Less than a year later, at the age of 40, he collapsed while playing basketball with friends and died an hour later. While he has been gone for more than fifteen years, his on-court showmanship and of-court charisma endure for millions of basketball fans who fondly remember him. In ""Pete Maravich: Magician of the Hardwood, players, coaches, friends, fans, and relatives recall the soft-spoken man who turned away from heavy drinking and turned toward God. Maravich's life is an inspiration for all who love the game of basketball and appreciate the contributions made by one of the best ever to play it.""

Even today, 33 years after retiring from coaching basketball at UCLA, John Wooden remains America's coach. JOHN WOODEN: AN AMERICAN TREASURE is the definitive book on his extraordinary life, from his early years as a small-town legend from Martinsville, Indiana, and an All-American guard at Purdue to his legendary years at UCLA and the fruitful years following his retirement. In the year of the 44th anniversary from his first national championship at UCLA, and more than 35 years after his autobiography, JOHN WOODEN: AN AMERICAN TREASURE reveals why this kind, endearing, and unbelievably intelligent coaching legend, even at age 98, remains one of the more fascinating, extraordinary, yet humble men of this, or any, generation. Ultimately he has become America's Teacher as much as its most celebrated coach.

The most iconic moments and stories of the NBA. In NBA 75, sports writer and basketball super fan Dave Zarum tells the story of the NBA, all 75 years - from its early barnstorming days to the multi-billion-dollar sports league it is today. Readers are treated to all the biggest moments and greatest superstars, with over 75 stories ranging from Jerry West's 33-win streak Lakers, through Jordan's repeat three-peat Bulls, to Steph Curry and the 73-win Warriors and beyond. But this retrospective doesn't shy away from the league's controversies, covering its struggles with racial bigotry, Magic Jonson's HIV diagnosis, Len Bias's tragic draft-night death, and the league's cocaine-fuelled late seventies when the Finals were broadcast tape-delayed. Each story is fully illustrated with iconic photos and accompanied by stat boxes and side stories of some of the Association's more curious and overlooked moments. Some of the events covered in NBA 75: 1946: The first professional basketball game between the New York Knicks and the Toronto Huskies; 1969: The legendary duels between Wilt Chamberlain and Bill Russell; 1976: The merger of the ABA and NBA; 1980: The arrival of Larry Bird and Magic Jonson; 1993: Air Jordan and his Bulls dynasty; 2006: Kobe Bryant scores 81 points; 2010: Lebron James makes his Miami decision; 2016: Steph Curry and the Warriors blow a 3-1 lead; 2020: The COVID-19 stoppage in place and the Bubble. NBA 75 is the definitive guide to the history of the NBA - perfect for anyone who wants to learn more about the league they love or simply catch up on what they've been missing.

A brilliant, entertaining deconstruction of basketball, drawing on the expertise of board-game creators, winemakers, therapists, and more Basketball is the second-most popular sport in the world-an insanely complicated game built on a combination of athleticism, craftiness, rules, intangibles, and superstardom. However, while it's enjoyable to watch, the real reason it works is because it's a game of culture, art, and all the things that make us human.How to Watch Basketball Like a Genius deconstructs the sport from top to bottom and then puts it back together again, detailing its intricacies through reporting and dozens of interviews with experts. These experts, however, are a diverse group: wine critics weighing in on LeBron's ability to delegate on the fly, magicians analyzing Kyrie Irving's mystifying dribbling techniques, SpaceX rocket scientists breaking down Steph Curry's deadeye three-point shooting. Every chapter treats basketball to a multi-disciplined study that adventures far beyond the lines of the court, examining key elements of the sport from some surprising and revealing angles. There's a reason it has conquered the world, and every game is a chance to learn about pop culture, fashion, history, science, art, and anything else that bounces our way.