|
Books > Language & Literature > Biography & autobiography > Sport
In It for the Long Run is ultrarunner Damian Hall's story of
running a first marathon aged thirty-six, dressed as a toilet, and
representing Great Britain four years later. His midlife-crisis
running problem escalated to 100-mile ultramarathons and
record-breaking bimbles, culminating in his 261-mile Pennine Way
run in July 2020. In 1989, Mike Hartley set a record/Fastest Known
Time (FKT) for the Pennine Way, running Britain's oldest National
Trail in two days and seventeen hours, without stopping for sleep.
Hartley's record stood for thirty-one years, until two attempts
were made on it in two weeks in the summer of 2020. First, American
John Kelly broke Hartley's record by thirty-four minutes. Then Hall
knocked another three hours off Kelly's time. Hall used his
record-bothering run to highlight concerns for our climate and
ecological emergency: his attempt was carbon negative, he created
no plastic waste, and he and his pacing runners collected litter as
they went, while also raising money for Greenpeace. A vegan, Hall
used no animal products on his attempt. Scrawled on his arm in
permanent marker was 'F F F', standing for Family, Friends, Future.
Packed with dry wit and humour, In It for the Long Run tells of
Hall's nine-year preparation for his attempt, and of the run
itself. He also gives us an autobiographical insight into the
deranged, custard-splattered, hedgehog-dodging world of
ultramarathon running and record attempts.
In this first and only biography of light-heavyweight champion and
boxing legend Joe Choynski, author Chris LaForce chronicles the
life and career of a pioneer of the gloved era of pugilism. Joe
Choynski was one of the greatest, most courageous, brilliant, and
respected Jewish boxers in history. Born in San Francisco,
California in 1868, Joe Choynski fought nearly all of the greatest
heavyweights of that division s first Golden Age, despite weighing
less than 170 pounds. He was one of the few who did not draw the
color line. Included is a complete account of Joe s professional
fights. Come follow Choynski s boxing career in such legendary
matches as the battle on the Sacramento River barge with Gentleman
Jim Corbett, his war with Bob Fitzsimmons, the classic brawls with
Sailor Tom Sharkey, knockout of future heavyweight champion Jack
Johnson, and his 20-round draw with soon-to-be heavyweight king Jim
Jeffries. This book features over 180 photographs, many of them
rare and published here, for the first time, anywhere The book
includes a Foreword by Herbert G. Goldman, former Managing Editor
of Ring magazine and Editor-in-Chief of Boxing Illustrated, and a
testimonial by renowned boxing historian, Tracy Callis. Chris
LaForce has been a member of IBRO (the International Boxing
Research Organization) since 1984. He has written several articles
for the IBRO newsletter, and is a contributing writer for the Cyber
Boxing Zone, Western States Jewish History and other historical
societies.
Est n todos los jugadores: - Con m?'s de 9000 turnos legales al
bat. - Con m?'s de 1900 carreras producidas. - Con m?'s de 500
jonrones conectados. - Con m?'s de 600 bases robadas. Al c tcher
suplemente de mi equipo ideal. Est n tambi n todos los p tcheres: -
Con m?'s de 4000 entradas lanzadas. - Con m?'s de 300 juegos
ganados. - Con m?'s de 3000 ponches recetados. - Con m?'s de 300
juegos salvados. Las siete ligas mayores que han existido.
Once the opinionated, party-going socialite, complete with
celebrity girlfriends and ridiculous haircuts, Kevin Pietersen has
developed into the biggest crowd pleaser in English cricket, some
would say modern sport. This fascinating and well-researched
biography draws on interviews with Pietersen and those who know him
best, including many of his mentors, team-mates and opponents. As
Pietersen prepares for his biggest challenge yet - leading
England's attempt to regain the Ashes from Australia - this unique
appraisal tells, for the first time, the full story behind
Britain's most exhilarating and successful sportsman.
Arthur Wharton was the world's first black professional footballer
and 100 yards world record holder, and was probably the first
African to play professional cricket in the Yorkshire and
Lancashire leagues. His achievements were accomplished against the
backdrop of Africa's forced colonization by European regimes. But
while Arthur was beating the best on the tracks and fields of
Britain, the peoples of the continent of his birth were being
recast as lesser human beings. The tall Ghanaian was an extreme
irritation to many white supremacists because his education and
sporting triumphs refuted their theories. In the late Victorian
era, when Britain's economic and political power reached its zenith
and when the dominant ideas of the age labelled all blacks as
inferior, it was simply not expedient to proclaim the exploits of
an African sportsman. This shaped the way Wharton was forgotten.
'Adrian has a unique gift for understanding drivers and racing
cars. He is ultra competitive but never forgets to have fun. An
immensely likeable man.' Damon Hill The world's foremost designer
in Formula One, Adrian Newey OBE is arguably one of Britain's
greatest engineers and this is his fascinating, powerful memoir.
How to Build a Car explores the story of Adrian's unrivalled
35-year career in Formula One through the prism of the cars he has
designed, the drivers he has worked alongside and the races in
which he's been involved. A true engineering genius, even in
adolescence Adrian's thoughts naturally emerged in shape and form -
he began sketching his own car designs at the age of 12 and took a
welding course in his school summer holidays. From his early career
in IndyCar racing and on to his unparalleled success in Formula
One, we learn in comprehensive, engaging and highly entertaining
detail how a car actually works. Adrian has designed for the likes
of Mario Andretti, Nigel Mansell, Alain Prost, Damon Hill, David
Coulthard, Mika Hakkinen, Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel, always
with a shark-like purity of purpose: to make the car go faster. And
while his career has been marked by unbelievable triumphs, there
have also been deep tragedies; most notably Ayrton Senna's death
during his time at Williams in 1994. Beautifully illustrated with
never-before-seen drawings, How to Build a Car encapsulates,
through Adrian's remarkable life story, precisely what makes
Formula One so thrilling - its potential for the total
synchronicity of man and machine, the perfect combination of style,
efficiency and speed.
In this first and only biography on the life and boxing career of
heavyweight boxing contender Joe Jennette, author Joe Botti
chronicles the life and career of this interracial athlete who
competed in the longest boxing contest of the twentieth century.
From 1904 to 1922 Jennette faced and defeated the most dangerous
fighters of his era, including Jack Johnson, Sam Langford, and Sam
McVea. Jennette was unable to secure a title shot due to the fact
that the world was fixated with finding a Caucasian boxer to defeat
Jack Johnson in the "great white hope" era. The story deals with
the struggles of interracial romance, racism, and the world of
boxing in the early twentieth century. Joe Botti is the Founder and
Head Coach of the Union City Boxing Club in Union City, N.J. He
studied at William Paterson University in Wayne, N.J. A former
amateur boxer, Botti has trained over 30 New Jersey Golden Glove
champions and currently manages and trains professional and amateur
boxers.
In 1992, when Michael Rutter was just 20 years old, he followed in
his dad's footsteps and began a career as a professional motorcycle
racer. He has been racing ever since. This is his story of highs
and lows, survival, luck and persistence, set against the raw,
infectious atmosphere of the racing paddock. It is also a story of
growing up with a global superstar for a Father; Tony Rutter. Read
Michael's account of spending his childhood watching his dad's
career - from fighting for world championships to fighting for his
life after a devastating crash in 1985. Undeterred, Michael would
go on to build his own career and forge his own unique path. This
is the remarkable tale of how Michael has stayed competitive for 30
years, and stepped out of his 4-time world champion dads shadow to
add his own name to the list of all time greats of the sport.
Michael has started 431 British Superbike races, 20 World Superbike
races, and 16 MotoGP races while also competing in road racing,
where he has started 90 Isle of Man TT, 83 Northwest 200 and 24
Macau Grand Prix races. The Life of a Racer is a gripping journey
into the mind and life of someone who was born in to the race
paddock and who has been there ever since.
Steve was born in Ely on 4 May 1960 and lived and worked in the
city for more than 40 years. He played football for Cambridge City,
Kings Lynn, Bury Town, Soham Town Rangers, Ely City, Ely Crusaders
and Ely Park Rangers (plus many other local teams) over four
decades, ending his career on the exact date of his 53rd birthday
in the colours of Littleport Town. In addition to representing the
Civil Service on one occasion, he made more than 50 Lewis Cup
appearances for the Inland Revenue Great Britain & Northern
Ireland team over 17 consecutive seasons and played for the Inland
Revenue Eastern Counties and Cambridge Taxes teams, leading from
the front to help all of those sides to unprecedented successes.
This book recounts his journey from a child to a veteran, and how
that journey impacted on his life.
The Heavyweight Championship has long been the most valued prize in
all of sports. Famous names among the champions include John L.
Sullivan, Jim Jeffries, Jack Johnson, Jack Dempsey, Joe Louis,
Rocky Marciano, Muhammad Ali, Mike Tyson, Vitali Klitschko and
Wladimir Klitschko. A Brief History of the Heavyweights 1881-2010
traces the contests of these champions and other outstanding
fighters of this weight class from the early bare knuckle days to
the present. The author includes his rankings of the best boxers
and bouts of different time periods in history as well as his
all-time best rankings. The book is comprised of 308 pages,
including numerous photographs, bout-by-bout lists of title
contests, and an index. Tracy Callis is a member of the
International Boxing Research Organization, the Director of
Historical Research for The Cyber Boxing Zone, an internet boxing
website, an Elector to the International Boxing Hall of Fame, and a
member of the Advisory Board of the Boxing Hall of Fame - Luxor
Hotel Las Vegas. He is also co-author of the books Philadelphia's
Boxing Heritage 1876-1976 and Boxing in the Los Angeles Area
1880-2005.
Since the early 1930s "MacPhail" has been a big name in baseball.
Three generations of this one family have provided leadership,
innovation and vision for the sport. Larry, Lee and Andy MacPhail,
representing very different eras of American life, have each
addressed baseball's needs and opportunities in his own way. During
the 1930s and 1940s Larry MacPhail served as general manager and
vice president of the Cincinnati Reds, executive vice president and
president of the Brooklyn Dodgers, and part owner and president of
the New York Yankees. He was posthumously inducted into the
Baseball Hall of Fame in 1978. Larry's son, Lee, worked for 13
years in the Yankee organization before serving as general manager
and president of the Baltimore Orioles. Lee later served two
five-year terms as president of the American League and two years
as president of the Player Relations Committee. Lee was inducted
into the Hall of Fame in 1998, becoming the only son ever to join
his father in the Hall. Lee's son, Andy, worked in management
positions for the Chicago Cubs, the Houston Astros and the
Minnesota Twins before becoming president and CEO of the Cubs.
This book is a celebration of the life and adventures of Andy
Jackson, Scottish kayaking legend. In December 2004 the kayaking
community was stunned by the premature death of Andy Jackson. "Tall
Stories" collates accounts and photos of the tall man's adventurous
life. As we follow him around the world, Andy's gregarious good
humour comes across at every turn. From his native Scotland to
Nepal, New Zealand and North America on his 'World Tour' and on to
Iceland and Chile, Andy made a friend of everyone he met.Every
first weekend in September, kayakers from around the world gather
at the Wet West Paddlefest to celebrate his life and paddle two of
his favourite rivers. Andy will remain an inspiration for
generations to come.Ron Cameron first encountered Andy Jackson in
Tain, Easter Ross when Andy was 19 and he was 43 and kayaked, skied
and climbed with him regularly until the time of his death,
suffering no significant injuries as a result. He was stupid/smart
enough to rent Andy a house for about six years. Sometimes he
thinks he should have stuck to climbing but paddling and skiing
with Andy was a life enhancing experience.
From legendary wrestling announcer Jim Ross, this candid, colorful
memoir about the inner workings of the WWE and the personal crises
he weathered at the height of his career is "a must-read for
wrestling fans" (Charleston Post Courier). If you've caught a
televised wrestling match anytime in the past thirty years, you've
probably heard Jim Ross's throaty Oklahoma twang. The beloved
longtime announcer of the WWE "has been a driving force behind a
generation of wrestling fans" (Mark Cuban), and he's not slowing
down, having signed on as the announcer of the starry new wrestling
venture All Elite Wrestling. In this follow-up to his bestselling
memoir Slobberknocker, he dishes out about not only his long
career, which includes nurturing global stars like Stone Cold Steve
Austin, The Rock, and John Cena, but also about his challenges of
aging and disability, his split from collaborator Vince McMahon,
and the sudden death of his beloved wife, Jan. The result is a
gruff, endearing, and remarkably human-scale portrait, set against
the larger than life backdrop of professional wrestling. Ross's
ascent in WWE mirrors the rise of professional wrestling itself
from a DIY sideshow to a billion-dollar business. Under the Black
Hat traces all the highs and lows of that wild ride, in which Jim
served not only as on-air commentator, but talent manager, payroll
master, and even occasional in-ring foil to threats like Paul
"Triple H" Levesque and Undertaker. While his role brought him
riches and exposure he had never dreamed of, he chafed against the
strictures of a fickle corporate culture and what he saw as a
narrow vision of what makes great wrestlers-and great story lines.
When suddenly stricken with Bell's palsy, a form of facial
paralysis that makes it impossible to smile, he started down his
greatest fear-being cast out of the announcing booth for good.
Picking up where Slobberknocker left off and ending on the cusp of
a new career in a reimagined industry, Under the Black Hat is the
triumphant tale of a country boy who made it to the top, took a few
knocks, and stuck around-just where his fans like him. Not only
being one of the greatest wrestlers of the WWE, Ross is also "a
master storyteller, and this book is the perfect forum for his
forty years' worth of tales" (Chris Jericho, former WWE champion).
Warren Edward Armstrong Jabali was my hero. In the hearts of his
family and friends across the country, he was a superstar. Known
for his basketball feats at Central High School (1962-1964),
Wichita State University (1964-1968), and in the American
Basketball Association (ABA) 1968-1976, this book presents an
uplifting story of how a man, labeled as "one of the two meanest
men in the ABA," overcame the vilification of his character. By
positively channeling his energy on the educational empowerment of
African American youth, he became an extraordinary role model and
father figure for many in South Florida. Divided into two sections,
the first part of the book is Warren's incomplete manuscript. He
described the wide ranging cultural attitudes, political
environment and social conditions which motivated his actions and
profoundly affected his basketball career. it is supplemented by
newspaper articles and interviews in which he discussed various
controversial topics and elaborated on the skills and legacies of
his contemporaries. The last half is written by the "love of his
life." A very complex and private person, the section illustrates
multiple aspects of his personality which portray an intimate
understanding of him that only someone he cherished could ever
reveal. This narrative validates the strength of his character as
he boldly faced personal challenges. It demonstrates his unwavering
commitment to education as he persevered in his lifelong pursuit
for equality. Additionally, it highlights how benevolent his
interpersonal relationships were as he journeyed along the road
less traveled
Jan Ullrich: The Best There Never Was is the first biography of Jan
Ullrich, arguably the most naturally talented cyclist of his
generation, and also one of the most controversial champions of the
Tour de France. In 1997, Jan Ullrich announced himself to the world
by obliterating his rivals in the first mountain stage of the Tour
de France. So awesome was his display that it sent shockwaves
throughout the world of cycling and invited headlines such as
L'Equipe's 'The New Giant'. He went on to become Germany's first
ever Tour winner, storming to victory in that edition by almost ten
minutes, a result that was greeted as an era-defining changing of
the guard. Everyone agreed: Jan Ullrich was the future of cycling.
He was soon also voted Germany's most popular sportsperson of all
time, and his rivalry with Lance Armstrong defined the most
controversial years of the Tour de France. Now, Daniel Friebe - who
has covered twenty-one editions of the Tour de France - has gone in
search of the man who was said in 1997 would go on to dominate his
sport for a generation, but never quite managed it. Just what did
happen to the best who never was? This is a gripping account of how
unbearable expectation, mental and physical fragility, the effects
of a complicated childhood, a morally corrupt sport and one
individual - Lance Armstrong - can conspire to reroute destiny.
Daniel Friebe takes us from the legacy of East Germany's drugs
programme to the pinnacle of pro cycling and asks: what price can
you give sporting immortality?
Hall of Famer Charles Albert Bender has been the subject of renewed
interest in recent years, as researchers have usefully described
his experiences as an American Indian who dominated a game played
mostly by whites. Lost in much of the discussion, however, has been
Bender's steady excellence on the mound, where, year in and year
out, he was one of the great pitchers in an age famous for
pitching.
This biography puts the emphasis squarely on Bender the player,
and in particular on the more than 330 regular-season starts in his
16 year major league career, which began and ended in the deadball
era. New attention is also given to his time in the minors and to
his days after major league stardom, when he worked as a coach and
a scout.
Shortlisted for the William Hill Sports Book of the Year In the
summer of 1952 Emil Zatopek became the king of the running world
with an unprecedented distance treble at the Olympic Games in
Helsinki. Together with his wife Dana, who won another gold medal
in the javelin, they were the embodiment of sporting romance. Born
on the same day, they were champions on the same day too. Yet in
1968 this affable but eccentric Czech solider was betrayed by his
Communist paymasters and cast out into wilderness. Hidden from
world view, monitored by the secret police and forced to live in a
caravan in mining country, he became the invisible hero. Endurance
is the first biography to document the remarkable rise, fall and
rehabilitation of a man voted the 'greatest runner of all time' by
Runner's World. It is also the story of a golden age of sport
played out against a backdrop of Cold War politics and paranoia.
From the London Olympics of 1948 to Czech concentration camps, this
is an uplifting and harrowing story of survival. As Emil rises to
global fame, his old coach is locked up and tortured by StB
henchmen. Their diverging paths expose the fickleness of popularity
and eventually cross again when Zatopek's world is torn asunder.
All both men can do is endure. Due to extensive access to those
involved, including Dana herself, Broadbent has written a vivid
history involving blood and guns and a love that sustained the
cruellest twists of fate. From heady nights at White City to the
brave resistance during the Prague Spring, this is a book that
plants the son of a carpenter at the very centre of a revolution.
Whether talking to his rivals on the track or Red Army troops as
tanks roll into Prague, Zatopek's humanity shines through and
carries all.
|
You may like...
Whistle
Linwood Barclay
Paperback
R410
R315
Discovery Miles 3 150
Insects...
David Sharp
Paperback
R756
Discovery Miles 7 560
|