In a book that is part memoir and part history, David Roberts looks back at his personal relationship to extreme risk and tries to make sense of why so many have committed their lives to the desperate pursuit of adventure. In the wake of his diagnosis with throat cancer, Roberts seeks the answer with sharp new urgency. He explores his own lifelong commitment to adventuring, as well as the cultural contributions of explorers throughout history. He looks at what it meant in 1911 for Amundsen to reach the South Pole or in 1953 for Hillary and Norgay to summit the highest point on earth. And he asks what the future of adventure is in a world we have mapped and trodden all the way to the most remote corners of the wilderness.

Tim Ryan is no doubt the only sportscaster who has crash-landed in the Namib desert, been charged by a rhino in Zimbabwe, herded sheep at the beginning of a Winter Olympics telecast, and dodged flying bottles at a professional boxing match. In his new memoir, On Someone Else's Nickel, Ryan recounts all of these tales and more in the lively, trustworthy voice that sports fans will recognize from televised sporting events of the past fifty years. Armchair travelers and sports enthusiasts alike will be taken on a riveting journey as Ryan shares anecdotes from his adventures in broadcasting that span thirty sports in more than twenty countries over fifty years. And while the events themselves are impressive-ten Olympic Games, more than three hundred championship boxing matches, Wimbledon and U.S. Open tennis, World Cup Skiing, just to name a few-it's the lesser-known stories that happened along the way to the big events that really stand out in Ryan's telling. As he details how he came to call the first Ali-Frazier fight for the Armed Forces Network, or hosted a tennis tournament featuring the McEnroe brothers to raise money for the Alzheimer's Association, Ryan shines a light on sports and the world beyond sports-the world of family, friends, colleagues, and connections that endure when the game has been won, the medals awarded, the champion crowned, and the mic turned off.

Waterman is the first comprehensive biography of Duke Kahanamoku (1890-1968): swimmer, surfer, Olympic gold medalist, Hawaiian icon, waterman. Long before Michael Phelps and Mark Spitz made their splashes in the pool, Kahanamoku emerged from the backwaters of Waikiki to become America's first superstar Olympic swimmer. The original "human fish" set dozens of world records and topped the world rankings for more than a decade. Kahanamoku used his Olympic renown to introduce the sport of "surf-riding," an activity unknown beyond the Hawaiian Islands, to the world. No American athlete has influenced two sports as profoundly as Kahanamoku did, and yet he remains an enigmatic and underappreciated figure: a dark-skinned Pacific Islander who encountered and overcame racism and ignorance long before the likes of Joe Louis, Jesse Owens, and Jackie Robinson. Kahanamoku's connection to his homeland was equally important. He was born when Hawaii was an independent kingdom; he served as the sheriff of Honolulu during Pearl Harbor and World War II and as a globetrotting "Ambassador of Aloha" afterward. In Waterman award-winning journalist David Davis examines the remarkable life of Duke Kahanamoku, in and out of the water.

Kick back and take a trip in time to meet some of baseball's all-time greats, with one of them as your personal guide.

'Crazy' Chris Lewis played in thirty-two Test Matches and fifty-three One-Day Internationals for England. At one point he was regarded as one of the best all-round cricketers the country has ever produced. However, feeling at odds with the middle-class nature of the sport, he regularly courted controversy when off the field - and the tabloids happily lapped it up. His naming of England players involved in a match-fixing scandal led to his early retirement at the age of just 30. After this, he withdrew from the limelight until, in 2008, he was arrested for importing cocaine from the Caribbean and sentenced to thirteen years in prison. In Crazy, Lewis recounts his remarkable, redemptive story, from his arrival in England from Guyana, through his colourful cricketing career, his arrest and subsequent trial, his time in prison and how he finally put his life back together.

The first biography of the enigmatic coach who has completely transformed the England rugby team. After Eddie Jones began coaching England's rugby team, they won 22 of their next 23 matches. The side that limped out of the 2015 World Cup was thoroughly revitalised. But who was the unconventional figure responsible for this change of fortune? And, given recent setbacks, will Eddie be able to inspire England to bring their best to the 2019 World Cup? From his school days playing alongside the legendary Ella brothers to his masterminding of Japan's jaw-dropping World Cup victory over South Africa, Eddie Jones has always been a polarising figure, known for his punishing work ethic. Constantly controversial, never complacent, Jones has truly shaken up English rugby. Drawing on over a hundred interviews with former teammates, players, administrators, coaching colleagues and Jones himself, veteran rugby writer Mike Colman brings a rare level of insight to his biography of this singular man.

The definitive biography of Yogi Berra, the New York Yankees icon, winner of 13 World Series championships, and the most-quoted player in baseball history Lawrence Peter "Yogi" Berra is at once one of America's best-loved and least known heroes. The Yankees' Everyman to Joe DiMaggio's Royalty, he is famous for winning titles--13 World Series championships--his leadership, and the superlative play that put him in the Hall of Fame. And his paradoxical quotes are nothing less than national touchstones. He is the quintessential American success story: a first generation immigrant from a poor but determined family who went on to become one of the greatest players in baseball history. Now, Jon Pessah, founding editor of ESPN the Magazine and author of The Game, will tell the definitive story of the greatest Yankee catcher, war hero, ferocious competitor, 15-time All Star, and legend who has yet to receive the full treatment.

Sir Learie Constantine was an extraordinary figure by any yardstick. One of the greatest and most popular of all West Indian cricketers, he left the game to become, among other things, a barrister, cabinet minister, diplomat, broadcaster, author and journalist. The first black man to enter the House of Lords, he was a tireless campaigner for racial equality and West Indian self-government whose forthright response to racial discrimination led to a celebrated legal case that laid the foundations for Britains first Race Relations Act. Above all, however, he was an immensely popular public figure throughout his life.

The 1980s were arguably the NBA's best decade, giving rise to Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, and Michael Jordan. They were among the game's greatest players who brought pro basketball out of its 1970s funk and made it faster, more fluid, and more exciting. Off the court the game was changing rapidly too, with the draft lottery, shoe commercials, and a style driven largely by excess. One player who personified the eighties excess is Micheal Ray Richardson. During his eight-year career in the NBA (1978-86), he was a four-time All-Star, twice named to the All-Defense team, and the first player to lead the league in both assists and steals. He was also a heavy cocaine user who went on days-long binges but continued to be signed by teams that hoped he'd get straight. Eventually he was the first and only player to be permanently disqualified from the NBA for repeat drug use. Tracking the rise, fall, and eventual redemption of Richardson throughout his playing days and subsequent coaching career, Charley Rosen describes the life-defining pitfalls Richardson and other players faced and considers key themes such as off-court and on-court racism, anti-Semitism, womanizing, allegations of point-shaving within the league, and drug and alcohol abuse by star players. By constructing his various lines of narration around the polarizing figure of Richardson-equal parts basketball savant, drug addict, and pariah-Rosen illuminates some of the more unseemly aspects of the NBA during this period, going behind the scenes to provide an account of what the league's darker side was like during its celebrated golden age.

"The Red Rose Crew is in fact a classic and it belongs on any number of lists: a list of sports thrillers (it's a great read, almost impossible to put down); a list of the changes wrought by the women's sports movement that began in the sixties; and finally a list of good books on American history-for it is a book that tells how things really happened and describes the formidable forces aligned against the women who led the way.
"from the Foreword by David Halberstam
"The Red Rose Crew is a terrific book. It's not just for rowers-it's as universally appealing as The Horse Whisperer."
"John Casey, author of Spartina
In 1975, a group of amazing women rowed their way to international success and glory, battling sexual prejudice, bureaucracy, and male domination in one of the most grueling and competitive sports around. Among the members of the first international women's crew team-and one of the first women's teams anywhere-were Gail Pearson, the soft-spoken MIT professor who fought equally hard off the water to win the political battles necessary for her team to succeed; lead rower Carie Graves, a statuesque bohemian from rural Wisconsin who dropped out of college and later became the most intense rower of the crew; and Lynn Stillman, a tiny sixteen-year-old coxswain from California.
On hand to guide them was Harry Parker, the legendary Harvard men's crew coach who overcame his doubts about the ability of women to withstand the rigors of hard training. From their first dramatic bid at the 1975 World Championships to their preparations for their first Olympic Games in 1976, this gripping story of bravery, determination, and indomitable spirit captures a compelling momentin the history of sports and of America.

In 1988, then struggling writer Davis Miller drove to Muhammad Ali's mother's modest Louisville house, knocked on the door and introduced himself to his childhood idol. Nearly thirty years later, the two friends have an uncommon bond, the sort that can be fashioned only in serendipitous ways and fortified through shared experiences. Miller now draws from those remarkable moments to give us a beautifully written portrait of a great man physically devastated but spiritually young-playing tricks on unsuspecting guests, performing sleight of hand for any willing audience and walking ten miles each way to get an ice cream. Following in the tradition of writers such as Gay Talese and Nick Hornby, Miller gives us a series of extraordinary stories that coalesce to become a moving introduction to the human side of a boxing legend.

A cult football figure, Vince Hilaire's career spanned over 600 games and took in spells at Crystal Palace, Portsmouth, Leeds United and Stoke City, playing in every professional division as well as for England at Youth and Under 21 levels. Hilaire shared a dressing room with some of the stars of the era including Kenny Sansom, Mick Channon, Gordon Strachan and Vinnie Jones, and was managed by some of the biggest figures in British football - Malcolm Allison, Terry Venables, Alan Ball and Howard Wilkinson. This book offers a fascinating insight into the methods of these managers - Allison and Venables' desperation to produce a side that rivalled the free-flowing football of the famous `Busby Babes', contrasting with the dourness and rigidity of Wilkinson's Leeds. One of the first black players to break into the professional game, Vince made his professional debut at seventeen and was a member of the famous `Team of the `80s at Palace that topped the First Division table. He details exactly why that team fell apart so quickly and the chaos that subsequently engulfed the club. Vince also outlines the regular abuse that he faced as a young black player making his way in football and the dread he felt playing at certain grounds. This massively entertaining autobiography gives a fascinating insight into the beautiful game as it used to be played.

2019 SABR Baseball Research Award Few people have influenced a team as much as did Tom Yawkey (1903-76) as owner of the Boston Red Sox. After purchasing the Red Sox for $1.2 million in 1932, Yawkey poured millions into building a better team and making the franchise relevant again. Although the Red Sox never won a World Series under Yawkey's ownership, there were still many highlights. Lefty Grove won his three hundredth game; Jimmie Foxx hit fifty home runs; Ted Williams batted .406 in 1941, and both Williams and Carl Yastrzemski won Triple Crowns. Yawkey was viewed by fans as a genial autocrat who ran his ball club like a hobby more than a business and who spoiled his players. He was perhaps too trusting, relying on flawed cronies rather than the most competent executives to run his ballclub. One of his more unfortunate legacies was the accusation that he was a racist, since the Red Sox were the last Major League team to integrate, and his inaction in this regard haunted both him and the team for decades. As one of the last great patriarchal owners in baseball, he was the first person elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame who hadn't been a player, manager, or general manager. Bill Nowlin takes a close look at Yawkey's life as a sportsman and as one of the leading philanthropists in New England and South Carolina. He also addresses Yawkey's leadership style and issues of racism during his tenure with the Red Sox.

Dan Carter's last game as an All Black culminated with him declared Man of the Match following the 2015 Rugby World Cup final at Twickenham - an unforgettable ending to the career of the greatest fly-half of all time. But along with the triumphs of his signature World Cup win, his performance against the Lions in 2005, and an unprecedented run of Bledisloe Cup successes, there was also the pain and doubt he felt during a prolonged period of injury and rehab following the 2011 World Cup. He watched that victory from the sidelines, as he had the All Blacks' defeats in two previous tournaments. Indeed, heading into the 2015 World Cup he had never finished the competition on his own terms. His autobiography tells of that redemption, and gets you up close and personal with one of the most celebrated sportsmen of our time. Threaded throughout the book is an intimate diary of his final year as a Crusader and All Black, during which he worked tirelessly to make one last run at that elusive goal: a World Cup victory achieved on the field. Dan Carter's autobiography is essential reading for all sports fans.

Women's soccer has come a long way. The first organized games on record -- which took place three hundred years ago in the Scottish Highlands -- were exhibition matches, where single women played against married women while available men looked on, seeking a potential mate. Today, champions like Mia Hamm, Abby Wambach, Brazil's Marta and China's Sun Wen, have inspired girls around the world to pick up the beautiful game for love of the sport. Inevitably, given the hardships and discrimination they face, women who play soccer professionally are so much more than elite athletes. They are survivors, campaigners, political advocates, feminists, LGBTQ activists, working moms, staunch opponents of racial discrimination and inspirational role models for many. Based on original interviews with over 50 current and former players and coaches, this book celebrates these remarkable women and their achievements against all odds.

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.

""It's not so surprising that on the day of my fifth wedding anniversary I would be crouched in the open door of an airplane, thirteen thousand feet above the Colorado plains, about to jump out. That coincidence of timing really wasn't.""
Steph Davis is a superstar in the climbing community and has ascended some of the world's most awe-inspiring peaks. But when her husband makes a controversial climb in a national park, the media fallout--and the toll it takes on her marriage--suddenly leaves her without a partner, a career, a source of income . . . or a purpose.
In the company of only her beloved dog, Fletch, Davis sets off on a search for a new identity and discovers skydiving. Though falling out of an airplane is completely antithetical to the climber's control she'd practiced for so long, she turns each daring jump into an opportunity to fly, first as a skydiver, then as a base jumper, and finds herself indelibly changed. As she opens herself to falling, she also finds the strength to open herself to love again, even in the wake of heartbreak. And before too long, she fortuitously meets someone who shares her passions.
"Learning to Fly "is Davis's fascinating account of her transformation. From her early tentative skydives, to zipping into her first wingsuit, to surviving devastating accidents against the background of breathtaking cliffs, to soaring beyond her past limits, she discovers new hope and joy in letting go. "Learning to Fly "isn't just an adventure but a woman's story of risk-taking and self-discovery, with love at its heart.

Bob Backlund began life as a poor farm boy in the little village of Princeton, Minnesota, with a population of just over 2,000 people. He was a below-average student with a lackluster work ethic and a bad attitude, who hung with the wrong crowd and made a lot of bad choices. He was a kid whose life was headed for disaster until a local coach took interest in him, suggested that he take up amateur wrestling, and offered to work with him if he promised to stay out of trouble. It was in North Dakota that Bob Backlund had the first of several chance encounters that would shape his destiny. While working out at the YMCA gymnasium in Fargo, North Dakota, where he wrestled for North Dakota State, Backlund met a well-known professional wrestler, "Superstar" Billy Graham. The men talked, and at Graham's suggestion, Backlund was inspired to pursue a career in professional wrestling. Less than five years from that day, on February 20, 1978, Backlund would find himself halfway across the country, standing in the middle of the ring at Madison Square Garden with his hand raised in victory as the newly crowned World Wide Wrestling Federation Heavyweight Champion. The man Backlund pinned for the championship that night was none other than Superstar Billy Graham. Featuring contributions from Bruno Sammartino, Harley Race, Terry Funk, Pat Patterson, Ken Patera, Sergeant Slaughter, The Magnificent Muraco, George "The Animal" Steele, "Mr. USA" Tony Atlas, The Iron Sheik, and many others, this book tells the incredible story of the life and nearly forty-year career of one of the most famous men to ever grace the squared circle. Skyhorse Publishing, as well as our Sports Publishing imprint, is proud to publish a broad range of books for readers interested in sports books about baseball, pro football, college football, pro and college basketball, hockey, or soccer, we have a book about your sport or your team. In addition to books on popular team sports, we also publish books for a wide variety of athletes and sports enthusiasts, including books on running, cycling, horseback riding, swimming, tennis, martial arts, golf, camping, hiking, aviation, boating, and so much more. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are committed to publishing books on subjects that are sometimes overlooked by other publishers and to authors whose work might not otherwise find a home.

Ben Smith: Professional footballer. Recognise the name? Of course you don't. That's because most of Smith's years in the game were spent outside the vaunted, big-money environs of the Premier League - and this sporting memoir is all the more entertaining as a result.1995: an adolescent Ben arrives at the training ground of one of England's biggest clubs to begin his journey and realise his dream of playing top-flight professional football. Aged just sixteen, he shares pre-season sessions at Arsenal with the likes of Dennis Bergkamp and Ian Wright. Surely this is the start of a stellar career?Instead, the next seventeen years saw the bright young star descend the ranks from Highbury to obscurity. With seasons playing for the likes of Reading, Yeovil, Southend, Hereford, Shrewsbury and Weymouth - and a career including three promotions, one relegation and some very memorable FA Cup games - Ben's story is one of a quintessential journeyman footballer.Candidly describing the negotiations, insecurities, injuries, relocations, personal implications and wet Saturday afternoons playing in front of 500 people, Journeyman offers a unique insight into the unvarnished life of a lower-league player - so far removed from the stories of pampered Premiership stars - as well as documenting the many teammates, opponents, managers and coaches who left an indelible mark on Ben's eclectic career. Refreshingly unsentimental and often hilarious, Smith's story is essential reading for all true fans of the not-always-so-beautiful game.

To Liverpool fans, Robbie Fowler was 'God'. He is the sixth-highest goal scorer in the history of the Premier League and notched 183 goals for Liverpool alone. But before all of that, he was a Liverpool lad who loved the game, the Kop and everything that came with it. My Life In Football is the story of a boy who became a legend. Born in Liverpool in 1975, Robbie Fowler became a club icon by the time he was 18. Now, he takes us through the games that have shaped his life and football philosophy, over 25 years after he first signed as a professional for Liverpool. Engaging, personal and revealing, Robbie opens up about his astounding achievements, the price of fame and the regrets and struggles of being a professional footballer. From Hillsborough to Madrid, via the cup treble, that goal line celebration, hundreds of goals, Houllier, Benitez, Klopp and more, Robbie explains his thinking about the modern game. Inviting readers inside the dressing room, he shares stories of legendary teammates like Rush, Owen and Gerrard, as well as his rise to football's top table. How did he get back up so many times after the injuries that blighted his career? What gave him the drive to keep going and pursue his dreams? Robbie's My Life In Football harks back to a simpler time when fans and players shared the same story, and when the local boy really could dream of scoring a hat-trick for his home club when Saturday came.

Paul Ritter's autobiography tells the story of the early days of Superbike racing. Ritter raced a Ducati 750SS and 900SS during the formative days of American Superbike racing. Paul shocked the racing community by winning the first AMA pro Superbike race he entered. His quick success, good nature, and competitive spirit made him one of racing's beloved characters. His account of those days gives readers an up close and personal look into the days when professional racers in the sport were weekend warriors who traveled on shoestring budgets and fueled their bikes with passion and (if they were good) a few dollars of winnings. Ritter tells of racing with legends like Reg Pridmore, Wes Cooley, Mike Baldwin, and Keith Code. Nearly 20 years after retiring from top-level racing, Ritter was hurt in tragic accident at a vintage race that left him without the use of his legs. His story of dealing with a tragic loss is as powerful and inspiring as his remarkable success on the race track.