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Books > Biography > Sport
The raw, candid, unvarnished memoir of an American icon. In 2008,
Paul Newman tasked his best friend with interviewing the people who
had shaped his life, in order to create an oral history of it.
After hearing and reading what they had to say, Newman dictated his
own version. Now, this long-lost memoir will be published. Full of
wonderful stories and recollections by his family, friends, and
such luminaries as Elia Kazan, Tom Cruise, George Roy Hill and
Martin Ritt, this book will surprise and shock readers as it
reveals Newman's previously unknown sides. In this extraordinary
memoir, Newman details his fascinating story: from troubled
beginnings, marked by fraught relationships with both his mother
and father, to the iconic film roles (both good and bad) that
cemented his status as a Hollywood icon and heartthrob, and the
complicated relationships that were formed along the way.
Geoff Shreeves is a giant of football. From reporting pitchside on
the biggest matches to his iconic appearances in EA's FIFA series,
Geoff's warmth, humour and expertise have made him a constant
fixture of the sport. In Cheers Geoff! he shares hilarious, bizarre
and moving stories from across his incredible career. A The Times
Sports Books of the Year 'Cracking read . . . loved it' - Piers
Morgan 'Packed with brilliant anecdotes about the biggest names' -
The Mirror There are just a handful of people who have been
ever-present for the thirty years of the Premier League, but only
one person has been at the very epicentre for the entire period:
Geoff Shreeves. From signalling the very first ball to be kicked on
Sky's Premier League coverage to facing down Sir Alex Ferguson's
wrath (on countless occasions), Geoff is an integral part of the
football fabric, respected by everybody in the game while still
asking the toughest questions. Geoff's interviews with the likes of
Cristiano Ronaldo, Arsene Wenger, Frank Lampard and Alan Shearer
have become the stuff of legend, but it is his close personal
relationships with the game's star names that really sets him
apart. Packed full of hilarious stories on and off the pitch -
including trying to teach Sir Michael Caine how to act, a
frightening encounter with Mike Tyson, as well as getting a lift
home from the World Cup with Mick Jagger - Cheers, Geoff! is a
must-read autobiography for any fan of the beautiful game. A
natural storyteller, Geoff brings an astonishing catalogue of tales
to life with his unique brand of experience, insight and humour. 'A
legend' - Arsene Wenger 'No one handles the big moments better' -
Jordan Henderson With a foreward from Alan Shearer.
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.
For the first time, Real Madrid galáctico and Croatian legend Luka
Modric tells the story of his journey from a childhood in his war-torn
homeland to becoming a serial UEFA Champions League winner and one of
the most celebrated footballers in the world.
Regarded as one of the great midfield players of the last 20 years,
Luka reveals the difficulties of growing up during the Croatian War of
Independence and his beginnings as a footballer. The FIFA World Cup
finalist sets the record straight regarding key moments at Dinamo
Zagreb, Tottenham Hotspur and Real Madrid; he gives us intimate
insights into his treasured home life; and he brings us his personal
account of his career peak - Croatia's dramatic path to the 2018 FIFA
World Cup Final.
What were his thoughts during decisive matches? What was his
relationship with key players and coaches? What is the inner
determination that keeps him on the pitch? What does it take to become
the best footballer in the world?
Luka was consistently underestimated in his early career, but through
grit and determination he has defied the expectations of everyone who
doubted him, and reached the ultimate heights of world football. This
is Luka Modric in his own words.
Little did a young Alan Williams know when he received his first
bike-a fat-tire, red and white Columbia with only a single
gear-that he would one day ride a bicycle across the northern
United States. In his narrative, Williams chronicles his two-month
cycling trip from Oregon to New Hampshire, where he would celebrate
the fulfillment a lifelong dream by dipping his bicycle wheels in
the Atlantic Ocean.
Williams shares the emotions and moments that led up to his
decision to ride across the country and chronicles his subsequent
3,700-mile journey that included laboring up switchbacks on
mountain roads, speeding down from mountain passes, bucking
headwinds across a seemingly endless prairie, fearing that a tender
derriere might derail the mission, and experiencing the elation of
reaching the Atlantic coast. While sharing descriptions of places
of interest, photographs, and training tips, Williams also offers a
glimpse into the physical and mental effort required to complete
such a journey.
For anyone considering undertaking a bicycle expedition of any
length, "From Sea to Shining Sea" provides guidance, advice, and
inspiration from a man who sacrificed and persevered in order to
achieve a successful cross-country bike ride he will never
forget.
African-American athletes have played a significant role in the
development and popularity of American professional sports, and
have encountered numerous obstacles on the road to athletic
success. This is the first comprehensive multi-sport biographical
dictionary of African Americans who reached the pinnacles of
success in their sport. It contains more personal and career
profiles of African-American sports greats than are found in any
other single source. Biographical profiles of 166 noted athletes,
coaches, and administrators in team and individual sports include
both Ristorical figures such as Jesse Owens and Satchel Paige and
contemporary stars such as Charles Barkley, Ken Griffey, Jr.,
Michael Jordan, Jackie Joyner-Kersee, Shaquille O'Neal, and Emmitt
Smith. Forty-four sports historians contributed the colorfully
written biographies, which blend both personal background
information and athletic career accomplishments. All information is
current through the middle of 1995. The dictionary covers the
contributions made by African-American greats in football,
baseball, basketball, track and field, boxing, wrestling, auto and
stock car racing, golf, thoroughbred racing, tennis, cycling, and
figure skating. More than two-thirds of the entries represent team
sports. The dictionary is organized alphabetically by person. Each
colorfully written profile is 800-1,000 words in length and traces
the subject's personal life, family and educational background,
personal struggles, career accomplishments, records set,
statistical data, awards and honors, and overall impact; and
features lively quotations by and about the sports luminaries. Each
entry contains a handy bibliography of books and articles about the
subject. Biographies of managers, coaches, and club executives
describe their teams, statistical achievements, accomplishments,
strategy, and sports impact. A general introduction traces the
historic struggle of African-American athletes in professional and
Olympic sports and appendices provide alphabetical listings of
biographical entries and entries by sport. A selection of photos
complement the profiles. For the sports fan or librarian, this is a
first stop for biographical information that captures the
personality of the athlete and includes all the pertinent
information about his or her accomplishments. It is an essential
addition to the reference sections of junior high, high school, and
public libraries.
An extraordinary account of the life of unknown club boxer, Frank
Steele, who sparred with legendary boxing greats like Muhammad Ali,
George Foreman, Joe Frazier and Ernie Shavers. Impoverished from
birth and poorly educated, Frank did the best he could to parlay
his boxing prowess and brute strength into fame and fortune. Hired
as Foreman's chief sparring partner to help prepare the champ for
the Ali "Rumble in the Jungle" fight in Africa, he was fired after
doing his job too well -- beating up Foreman and knocking his
headgear into the audience. When Ali heard about the incident, he
paid Frank $3,000 for the secret to defeating the unbeaten and
seemingly invincible champion. This is the untold story of what
lead to the greatest upset in boxing history.Ben Clement's research
for this book included nine months of interviews with Frank Steele,
researching boxing history, and speaking with one of Frank's
promoters and the residents of Gary who remembered "The Man of
Steel." Ben believes that Frank represents all of the nobodies out
there whose lives lack notoriety or infamy, but still have dignity,
value and importance nonetheless. He's inspired most by his
parents, Fanny & Thestal Clement, and others in their
generation who braved the dangers and indignities of racism and
inequality while raising black children to become responsible,
productive, successful, influential, and patriotic Americans. Ben
grew up, and still lives, in Gary, Indiana.
"To Be Still and Know "is the third book of the Back Roads and
Bridges series by Randy Eason. In these pages, he continues to
share his outdoor adventures with family, friends, and God, and the
life lessons learned through these experiences, where the heart of
the hunter is openly portrayed for all to see.
It is said that God speaks to us all, if we just learn to
listen. Author Randy Eason has found in nature the place where
God's will reveals itself within him, where he can clear his mind
of the day-to-day clutter and his spirits are lifted.
He employs a descriptive style that puts you right there in the
tree stand with him, and a respect for all of nature, especially
the animals he pursues. These stories are a refreshing read for
hunters of all ages, even those whose feet have never left the
pavement.
Mountaintops have long been seen as sacred places, home to gods and
dreams. In one climbing year Peter Boardman visited three very
different sacred mountains. He began in the New Year, on the South
Face of the Carstensz Pyramid in New Guinea. This shark's fin of
steep limestone walls and sweeping glaciers is the highest point
between the Andes and the Himalaya, and one of the most
inaccessible, rising above thick jungle inhabited by warring Stone
Age tribes. During the spring Boardman was on more familiar, if
hardly more reassuring, ground, making a four-man, oxygen-free
attempt on the world's third highest peak, Kangchenjunga.
Hurricane-force winds beat back their first two bids on the
unclimbed North Ridge, but they eventually stood within feet of the
summit - leaving the final few yards untrodden in deference to the
inhabiting deity. In October, he was back in the Himalaya and
climbing the mountain most sacred to the Sherpas: the twin-summited
Gauri Sankar. Renowned for its technical difficulty and spectacular
profile, it is aptly dubbed the Eiger of the Himalaya and
Boardman's first ascent of the South Summit took a committing and
gruelling twenty-three days. Three sacred mountains, three very
different expeditions, all superbly captured by Boardman in Sacred
Summits, his second book, first published shortly after his death
in 1982. Combining the excitement of extreme climbing with acute
observation of life in the mountains, this is an amusing, dramatic,
poignant and thought-provoking book, amply fulfilling the promise
of Boardman's first title, The Shining Mountain, for which he won
the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize in 1979.
Longlisted for the William Hill Sports Book of the Year 2014 After
finishing high school in New York, Oliver Horovitz was accepted to
Harvard University. But there was a problem; he couldn't start
until the following year. With time on his hands and a
long-standing love of golf, the solution was obvious: a gap year at
the University of St. Andrews, alongside the iconic Old Course,
known around the world as 'the home of golf'. At the end of term,
Ollie joined the St. Andrews caddie trainee programme and spent the
summer lining up at the caddie shack, looping two, sometimes three,
rounds a day, with the notoriously gruff veteran caddies. And so
began an adventure that would change his life in unexpected ways.
This is a trilogy about three separate epic climbs. Climbs that are
difficult enough by themselves, but were made more grueling by the
common thread of life-threatening heat. The insidious sun sucking
energy, water, and even your willpower from a well-conditioned man
made the hard climbs a more arduous task. Included in these stories
are many other true-to-life adventures and narrow escapes for the
author. Three Days of the Condor talks about camaraderie and the
accomplishment of doing something difficult that few could
accomplish. According to Jeff Lowe, "There is a certain purity in
engaging in what some would call a useless activity. When the
climber confronts the overhang, he does so with the knowledge that
no material gain will result from the competition of the task. He
is confident that when he is done, the satisfaction will outweigh
the effort." I have always returned to the mountains for
introspection. It must be at least partially genetic for man to
seek the "high ground," for protection, exploration, or an attempt
at communion with a higher power. Occasionally, the only reason is
"because it's there," but even Mallory expanded on this when he
explained, "It is the struggle of life itself, forever upward. What
we get from this adventure is sheer joy." But if we can look down
on ourselves from above, from the proverbial mountaintop, often we
may be more objective-if not more rational. The ensuing vignettes
recount the pursuit of my pilgrimage, my coming-of-age. It seemed
like my endeavor for the exceptional view, and my own
independence-truly a phenomenal golden period in my life. I learned
how I felt about my own survival when on many of those summits. In
these stories I strive to return to those times and mountains, in
search of truth on the rocky temples. This is the visionary
perspective I seek. These accounts of rock climbing are more than
about climbing rocks-it is about that one thing in life that truly
sets you free.
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