Many Indiana University fans have heard the name Branch McCracken, after whom the hallowed court at Assembly Hall is named, but how many of them know about the legendary coach himself? Before Tom Crean, before Bob Knight, IU basketball relied on this man to make the school famous for its hoops stars. And boy did he--with two national titles, four Big Ten titles, and numerous other accolades, McCracken defined Hoosier Hysteria for a generation. However, his greatest legacy remains the example of good character he set and the way he touched the lives of everyone around him. Fans remember him as the coach who helped IU break the color barrier in Big Ten basketball, and players remember him as a second father. If, as McCracken once wrote, "A coach is not paid in money or winning teams, but in the men his players become," he was a rich man, indeed. Branch McCracken made Indiana University basketball a force to be reckoned with, and this is his story.

The Sunday Times bestselling autobiography from the greatest tennis player of his generation.

No tennis player since Andre Agassi has captivated the world like Rafael Nadal. He's a rarity in today's sporting arena - a true sportsman who chooses to let his raw talent, dedication and humility define him. Rapidly closing in on his friend and rival Roger Federer's record haul of 16 grand slam victories, Nadal is an extraordinary competitor whose ferocity on court is made even more remarkable by his grace off it. This book takes us to the heart of Nadal's childhood, his growth as a player, and his incredible career.

It includes memorable highs and lows, from victory in the 2008 Wimbledon final - a match that John McEnroe called the 'greatest game of tennis ever played' - to the injury problems that have frequently threatened his dominance of the sport, to becoming the youngest player of the open era to complete a career Grand Slam in 2010. It transports us from Nadal's lifelong home on the island of Majorca to the locker room of Centre Court as he describes in detail the pressures of competing in the greatest tournament in the world.

It offers a glimpse behind the racquet to learn what really makes this intensely private person - who has never before talked about his home life - tick. And it provides us with a story that is personal, revealing and every bit as exciting as Nadal himself.

Geoffrey Boycott is undoubtedly one of England's greatest ever batsmen. Playing 108 Test matches between 1964 and 1982, the hugely controversial opener scored a then record 8,114 runs at 47.72 - the highest completed average of any English player since 1970 - against some of the greatest bowlers the world has ever seen. When the first lockdown came, finding himself without cricket for the first time in his life, Geoffrey Boycott sat down and began to write a retrospective warts-and-all diary of each of his Test match appearances. It is illuminating and unsparing, characterised by Boycott's astonishing memory, famous forthrightness and unvarnished, sometimes lacerating, honesty. That 100,000 word document forms the basis for Being Geoffrey Boycott, a device that takes the reader inside Geoffrey's head and back through cricket history, presenting a unique portrait of the internal and external forces that compelled him from a pit village in Yorkshire to the pinnacle of the world game. Now 81 and still one of the most recognisable cricketers England has ever produced, Boycott has teamed up with award-winning author Jon Hotten in this catalogue of his tumultuous time with the national side. Dropped for scoring a slow double hundred, making himself unavailable to play for England for several years, captain for eight seasons of a group of strong, stroppy and extremely talented players at Yorkshire, bringing up his hundredth hundred at Headingley against the Old Enemy, seeing David Gower and Ian Botham emerge as future greats, playing under Mike Brearley in the 1981 Ashes, in this enlightening book Boycott reveals a host of never-before-heard details regarding his peers and his playing days.

A riveting, revealing portrait of tennis champion and global icon Serena Williams that combines biography, cultural criticism, and sports writing to offer "a deep, satisfying meditation" (The New York Times) on the most consequential athlete of her time. There has never been an athlete like Serena Williams. She has dominated women's tennis for two decades, changed the way the game is played, and-by inspiring Naomi Osaka, Coco Gauff, and others-changed, too, the racial makeup of the pro game. But Williams's influence has not been confined to the tennis court. As a powerful Black woman who struggled to achieve and sustain success, she has emerged as a cultural icon, figuring in conversations about body image, working mothers, and more. Seeing Serena chronicles Williams's return to tennis after giving birth to her daughter-from her controversial 2018 US Open final against Naomi Osaka through a 2020 season that unfolded against a backdrop of a pandemic and protests over the killing of Black men and women by the police. Gerald Marzorati, who writes about tennis for The New Yorker, travels to Wimbledon and to Compton, California, where Serena and her sister Venus learned to play. He talks with former women's tennis greats, sports and cultural commentators-and Serena herself. He observes Williams from courtside, on the red carpet, in fashion magazines, on social media. He sees her and writes about her prismatically-reflecting on her many, many facets. The result is an "enlightening...keen analysis" (The Washington Post) and energetic narrative that illuminates Serena's singular status as the greatest women's tennis player of all time and a Black woman with a global presence like no other.

In a span of 81 days in 1978, Henry Rono broke four world records, committing the most ferocious assault on the track-and-field record books by a middle-distance runner in the history of the sport. This is what Henry Rono is known for. However, it is not who Henry Rono is. Henry Rono was born a poor Nandi in Kenya's Rift Valley. After an accident when he was two, doctors believed he would never again walk. This would be the first of countless obstacles Rono would have to overcome in order to pursue his two life goals: to first become the greatest runner in the world and then to become the best teacher he could be. Rono's first goal was accomplished in 1978, when he was considered not only the greatest track-and-field athlete in the world, but also by many to be the world's greatest athlete period. His second and greater goal, to become a teacher, was more difficult in coming. Once Rono became a star, coaches, agents, meet directors, and corrupt Kenyan athletic officials (whose boycotts of the 1976 and 1980 Olympics turned Rono's dreams of Olympic gold into Olympic smoke rings), wanted him to serve as their personal moneymaker, and so they did everything they could to discourage Rono's pursuit of an education and dream of teaching. The corruption and discouragement Rono encountered, as well as his alienation and exile from his homeland and family, pushed him to 20 years of alcoholism and even occasional homelessness. This is the life story of Henry Rono, whose descent from triumph to abyss, and whose subsequent ascent from abyss to triumph, are perhaps steeper than those of any track-and field athlete in history.

There is only one Arsène Wenger - and for the very first time, in his own words, this is his story.

In this definitive autobiography, the world-renowned, revolutionary football manager discusses his life and career, sharing his leadership principles for success on and off the field. At Arsenal, Wenger won multiple Premier League titles, a record number of FA Cups, and masterminded the historic 'Invincibles' season of 2003-2004. He changed the game in England forever, popularising an attacking approach and changing attitudes towards nutrition, fitness and coaching methods - and towards foreign managers. The book charts his extraordinary career, from his rise in France and Japan where he managed Nancy, Monaco and Nagoya Grampus Eight - clubs that also play in red-and-white - to his twenty-two years at the helm in north London.

A must-read not only for Arsenal supporters but football fans everywhere, MY LIFE IN RED AND WHITE illuminates the mystique surrounding one of the most respected managers in the world's most popular sport.

""Dream Team" proves there really are saints and gentle souls capable of hitting home runs, pitching shutouts, and scoring touchdowns."-Brian Schneider, catcher, Washington Nationals

Former Marquette University basketball coach Al McGuire retired from coaching in 1977, just months after leading Marquette to the NCAA championship. When announcing his departure, McGuire explained, "There's more to life than coaching guys in short pants." Baseball great Roberto Clemente was even more to the point: "Anytime you have an opportunity to make a difference in this world and you don't, then you are wasting your time on Earth."

With a voice that exudes his love of sportsmanship and his faith in God's plan, attorney Frederick J. Day presents the fascinating and uplifting true stories of athletes, coaches, and sportswriters who, like McGuire and Clemente, recognized that life matters well beyond what takes place on a court or field. Showcasing the goodwill of dozens of sports heroes from the last century, Day proves that athletes can serve as powerful inspiration for positive contributions to society. "Dream Team" pays tribute to athletic pillars who understood, as did tennis player Arthur Ashe, that "the purest joy in life comes with trying to help others."

Huddle with Rudy into the heart of college football in this true story of a young athlete achieving success against all odds. A story that will be familiar to athletes, coaches and everyone that listens and pursues that inner voice that tells you never to give up.

The Cameroon Indomitable Lions soccer team has much to be proud of. Touted as the best African soccer team of the twentieth century, ten of its players have won Player of the Year awards. In addition, the team has participated in: Sixty-one Africa Nations Cup games, four of them in the championship game Five World Cup Soccer Championships Seventeen World Cup games Eight Confederations Cup games Nine Olympic games matches Two Afro-Asian Cup games

Passionate soccer analyst Raphael Ebanga-Mballa recaps all of these accomplishments and more in this fascinating book. With an amazing attention to detail, he shares more than fifty years of success, including discussions on the team's victories and defeats, as well as anecdotes and testimonials

Reflecting meticulous research, "The Lion's Share" also contains an astonishing amount of data on teams and players. Soccer fans will find much to appreciate about Cameroon's leading team, including greats such as Roger Milla, Thomas Nkono, and Samuel Eto'o.

"The Lion's Share" is a moving tribute to Africa's most successful soccer team, a perfect companion for fans and players alike.

100 years of Wembley Stadium told through 100 matches. The 1923 FA Cup final - aka the White Horse final - was the first football match played at the British Empire Exhibition Stadium. Although best-remembered for non-playing reasons - notably its vast, well-beyond-capacity crowd, which had to be marshalled by a policeman atop a white horse - that afternoon marked the historic opening chapter of the stadium's long and eventful history, of the stadium soon to be known simply as Wembley. Over the 100 years since that overcrowded day, Wembley has established itself as the home of the beautiful game and, almost certainly, the world's most famous football stadium. Wembley occupies a special place in the hearts of players and punters alike. Watching your team at Wembley is the highlight of a fan's lifetime of support; playing there the fulfilment of a childhood dream. Its sacred pitch has been the crucible of so many classic matches across the decades. World Cups have been won here, as have European Championships, FA Cups, European Cups, play-off finals, home internationals and more. Nige Tassell chooses 100 matches - from the well known to the unusual - that have shaped Wembley's legacy and tells a lively and original alternative history of the past 100 years of football, and of Britain. We hear a ball boy's perspective on the FA Cup Final when Bert Trautmann broke his neck, and from the other commentator of the 1966 World Cup Final. Field of Dreams is the story of how football found its home.

On a stormy night, as a hurricane raced up the Gulf Coast and created havoc in its path, Betty Gilliland was born on a corn shuck mattress in a barn at the foot of Sand Mountain. As soon as the midwife wrapped her in a blanket and gently laid her in a cow manger, Gilliland began a journey through life that would eventually test her spirit, courage, and, most of all, her power to forgive. Gilliland begins by chronicling her growing up years during a challenging time in America's history. Her father was drafted into the war and then abandoned his family, leaving Gilliland and her mother to eke out a life for themselves in their tiny cabin, surviving on a diet of wild greens, nuts, and roots. As she weaves through the threads of her life's tapestry, Gilliland recalls the challenges she confronted during her difficult coming-of-age journey as she suffered through hardships, physical abuse, emotional abandonment, and her own self-destructive behavior. Yet through it all, she never lost the faith. What's more, she used that faith to begin building a new life and to discover her roots. Destiny's Tapestry shares one woman's poignant memories of moving from the darkness of abuse into the light of healing.

Winner of the Telegraph Sports Book Awards Rugby Book of the Year Among the best stories in modern British team sport has been the rise of Exeter Chiefs. How, exactly, did an unfashionable rugby team from Devon emerge from obscurity to become the double champions of England and Europe? What makes them tick? What are their secrets? Exe Men is a compelling story of regional pride, fierce rural identity, larger-than-life local heroes, remarkable characters, epic resilience, big city snobbery, geographical separation, steepling ambition and personal sacrifice which will strike a chord with anyone who enjoys a classic underdog story. This is not any old rugby book, it is the inside story of Exeter's incredible journey from the edge of nowhere to the summit of the English and European club game.

There has never been a fighter like Billy Conn. Handsome as a movie star and tough as a junkyard dog, Conn threw combinations with the beauty and speed of later masters Sugar Ray Robinson and Muhammad Ali. The kid from the East Liberty section of Pittsburgh began boxing professionally at age 16, as his manager Johnny Ray fed him older, more experienced pros in a "baptism of fire." Conn developed quickly. At age 19 and 20 he defeated most of the world's best middleweights, a division rich with talent. Still growing, by age 21 he won the world light-heavyweight title. After dominating that division, he sought greater challenge in the heavyweight division. He beat three of the best heavyweights, one by knockout and two by easy decision. Only one challenge remained - the great heavyweight champion Joe Louis. Their first fight remains one of boxing's all-time classics, ranked by some as the greatest fight ever. Conn's story transcends boxing. He pursued and eloped with the love of his life, the beautiful Mary Louise Smith, despite her father's vehement and public opposition. Conn and his father-in-law tangled in a chaotic brawl at a lavish christening party at the Smith home. Billy starred in a Hollywood movie, The Pittsburgh Kid, and developed friendships with big stars like Bob Hope, Robert Taylor, and Frank Sinatra. Through all the glamour Billy remained the unpretentious "kid" from gritty Pittsburgh, the city he loved. He became an icon of that city, of the downtrodden Depression-era working class, and of the American Irish. Conn's place in boxing and American folk history has been neglected and forgotten in recent decades. His story of a poor kid with talent and spirit who went for it all is one worth reading.

African Americans and Latino Americans have played an increasingly significant role in the ongoing saga of American sports-and not just in popular sports like basketball and baseball. This is the first comprehensive, multisport biographical resource to concentrate exclusively on the accomplishments, achievements, and personal struggles of notable African American and Latino American athletes of the last quarter century. A total of 175 important contemporary athletes-113 African Americans and 62 Latino Americans-are profiled. Most made significant contributions to their sport since 1990. Athletes include Roberto Alomar, Oscar De La Hoya, Forence Griffith Joyner, Evander Holyfield, Michael Johnson, Michael Jordan, Jackie Joyner-Kersee, Ray Lewis, Sammy Sosa, Serena and Venus Williams, Tiger Woods, and many more. Eighteen sports, from baseball to bobsledding, are covered. The profiles of the men and women include personal background information and athletic career achievements through 2002. Each athletic career is traced, including entrance into sport, major accomplishments, records set, awards and honors, and overall impact. Quotations from the athletes enrich each profile. Bibliographies and photos complement the entries.

A coach is part teacher, part parent, part student, part mentor, and part guru. He must possess a stern hand and a comforting touch-and the wisdom to discern when each is needed. Each decision he makes is a part of a perilous high wire act that can propel a team forward or send a season tumbling downward. But when does a coach truly become a coach? Is it after some athletic director looks across the desk, offers his hand, and says, "Congratulations, you've got the job?" Is it after that first win? That first championship? Or is it when all those nagging questions in the back of the mind finally stop nagging? Scott Illiano, head baseball coach of the West Essex High School Knights, chronicles his incredible journey from waiter in a chain restaurant to championship coach in Our Time. Discover how an unproven coach and a patchwork group of underdogs battle injuries, biting cold temperatures, and fierce competition in their quest to win the Greater Newark Tournament, the oldest and most prestigious baseball tournament in the state of New Jersey. Fifteen kids and four coaches share a dream and a whole lot of heart. Through their journey, in victory and defeat, struggle and success, readers will find out when a coach becomes a coach.