Pappy: The Gentle Bear is the story of a coach who won chapionships at Kansas State, Northwestern and Cal, then moved on to the San Francisco 49'ers as personnel guru. He became perhaps the most important catalyst for coooperation between university communities and the fledgiling NFL.

Bart Starr was the quarterback of the Green Bay Packers from 1956 to 1971, the most meaningful and successful era of one of football's most storied franchises. Starr was named MVP of the first two Super Bowls and to the Pro Bowl four times. He threw for more than 24,000 yards in his career and holds the Packer record for most games played. But the awards and impressive statistics are not what fans remember most about Bart Starr. As his legendary coach, Vince Lombardi, once said, "Bart Starr stands for what the game of football stands for: courage, stamina and coordinated efficiency. You instill desire by creating a superlative example. The noblest form of leadership is by example and that is what Bart Starr is about." Bart Starr: When Leadership Mattered shows with clarity and stunning insight just how true Lombardi's compliment was. Drafted in the seventeenth round out of the University of Alabama after a checkered collegiate career, Starr was just hoping to catch the eye of an NFL team. As the 199th selection in the 1956 draft, his expectations and those of the team and fans were limited. But Bart Starr rose above everyone's expectations to will his way to the starting job, aided by the encouragement of Lombardi, who became Packer head coach in 1959. This book reveals all the details of Starr's improbable rise to stardom. It explores his relationship with Lombardi and his guidance of the Packers from a downtrodden franchise to five-time World Champions to two-time Super Bowl winners. His epic battles with rivals such as the Bears and Lions and the famous Ice Bowl are also recalled in unforgettable fashion. But most of all, Bart Starr: When Leadership Mattered is about a modestly talented football player who with uncommon intelligence, grit, and leadership elevated his play and that of his teammates. The Packers would not have been the Packers without Bart Starr.

Up-close, behind-the-scenes biography of the winningest coach in college basketball history.

Thando Manana was the third black African player to don a Springbok jersey after unification in 1992, when he made his debut in 2000 in a tour game against Argentina A.

His route to the top of the game was unpredictable and unusual. From his humble beginnings in the township of New Brighton, Port Elizabeth, Thando grew to become one of the grittiest loose-forwards of South African rugby, despite only starting the game at the age of 16. His rise through rugby ranks, while earning a reputation as a tough-tackling lock and later openside flanker, was astonishingly rapid, especially for a player of colour at the time. Within two years of picking up a rugby ball, he represented Eastern Province at Craven Week, and by 2000 he was a Springbok. But it isn’t solely Thando’s rugby journey that makes Being A Black Springbok a remarkable sports biography. It’s learning how he has negotiated life’s perils and pitfalls, which threatened to derail both his sporting ambitions and the course of his life.

He had to negotiate an unlikely, but fateful, kinship with a known Port Elizabeth drug-lord, who took Thando under his wing when he was a young, gullible up-and-comer at Spring Rose. Rejected by his father early in his life, Thando had to deal with a sense of abandonment and a missing protective figure and find, along the way, people to lean on.

Thando tells his story with the refreshing candour he has become synonymous with as a rugby commentator, pundit and member of the infamous Room Dividers team on Metro FM. He has arguably become rugby’s strongest advocate for the advancement of black people’s interests in the sport, and his personal journey reveals why.

When barefoot running guru Christopher McDougall takes in a neglected donkey, his aim is to get Sherman back to reasonable health. But Sherman is ill-tempered, obstinate and uncooperative - and it's clear his poor treatment has made him deeply fearful of humans. Christopher knows that donkeys need a purpose - they are working, pack animals - and so when he learns of the sport of Burro Racing or running with donkeys, he sets out to give Sherman something worth living for. With the aid of Christopher's menagerie on his farm in rural Pennsylvania, his wife Mika and their friends and neighbours including the local Amish population, Sherman begins to build trust in Christopher. To give him a purpose, they start to run together. But what Sherman gains in confidence and meaning is something we all need: a connection with nature, the outdoors, with movement. And as Christopher learns, the side benefits of exercise and animal contact are surprising, helping with mental and physical health in unexpected ways.

As one of the first voices of the University of Kentucky men's basketball program, Claude Sullivan (1924--1967) became a nationally known sportscasting pioneer. His career followed Kentucky's rise to prominence as he announced the first four NCAA championship titles under Coach Adolph Rupp and covered scrimmages during the canceled 1952--1953 season following the NCAA sanctions scandal. Sullivan also revolutionized the coverage of the UK football program with the introduction of a coach's show with Bear Bryant -- a national first that gained significant attention and later became a staple at other institutions. Sullivan's reputation in Kentucky eventually propelled him to Cincinnati, where he became the voice of the Reds, and even to the 1960 Summer Olympic Games in Rome.

In Voice of the Wildcats: Claude Sullivan and the Rise of Modern Sportscasting, Claude's son Alan, along with Joe Cox, offers an engaging and heartfelt look at the sportscaster's life and the context in which he built his career. The 1940s witnessed a tremendous growth in sportscasting across the country, and Sullivan, a seventeen year old from Winchester, Kentucky, entered the field when it was still a novel occupation that was paving new roads for broadcast reporting. During the height of his career, Sullivan was named Kentucky's Outstanding Broadcaster by the National Association of Sportscasters and Sportswriters for eight consecutive years. His success was tragically cut short when he passed away from throat cancer at forty-two

Featuring dozens of interviews and correspondence with sports legends, including Wallace "Wah Wah" Jones, Babe Parilli, Cliff Hagan, Ralph Hacker, Jim Host, Billy Reed, Adolph Rupp, and Cawood Ledford, this engaging biography showcases the life and work of a beloved broadcast talent and documents the rise of sports radio during the twentieth century.

As a promising high school basketball player in Georgia, Jeff Sheppard was initially overlooked by Kentucky basketball coach Rick Pitino, who was looking for hardworking players to lead the Wildcats to the top of the college basketball world. But fate eventually brought them together and the rest is history, with the Wildcats winning a pair of national championships.

Heart of a Champion tells of a ballplayer who wouldn't quit and whose hard work earned him MVP honors in the 1998 Final Four as he led his Kentucky teammates in one of the most memorable comeback stories in college basketball history.

In this collection of anecdotes from the announcers of pro football, the Voices reminisce about a time before television, when the NFL was just making its floundering start and college ball held all the attraction. With the spread of television broadcasting, the Voices gain faces and the NFL gains an audience. Recall with the broadcasters the excitement of pivotal moments, the glory of the victors, and the great men who coached those champions. With their love of the work and lots of lighthearted memories about everything from the Heidi game to the glory of Green Bay to the birth of "Monday Night Football," these men and women bring football to life.

'It's a preposterous plan. Still, if you do get up it, it'll be the hardest thing that's been done in the Himalayas.' So spoke Chris Bonington when Peter Boardman and Joe Tasker presented him with their plan to tackle the unclimbed West Wall of Changabang - the Shining Mountain - in 1976. Bonington's was one of the more positive responses; most felt the climb impossibly hard, especially for a two-man, lightweight expedition. This was, after all, perhaps the most fearsome and technically challenging granite wall in the Garhwal Himalaya and an ascent - particularly one in a lightweight style - would be more significant than anything done on Everest at the time. The idea had been Joe Tasker's. He had photographed the sheer, shining, white granite sweep of Changabang's West Wall on a previous expedition and asked Pete to return with him the following year. Tasker contributes a second voice throughout Boardman's story, which starts with acclimatisation, sleeping in a Salford frozen food store, and progresses through three nights of hell, marooned in hammocks during a storm, to moments of exultation at the variety and intricacy of the superb, if punishingly difficult, climbing. It is a story of how climbing a mountain can become an all-consuming goal, of the tensions inevitable in forty days of isolation on a two-man expedition; as well as a record of the moment of joy upon reaching the summit ridge against all odds. First published in 1978, The Shining Mountain is Peter Boardman's first book. It is a very personal and honest story that is also amusing, lucidly descriptive, very exciting, and never anything but immensely readable. It was awarded the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize for literature in 1979, winning wide acclaim. His second book, Sacred Summits, was published shortly after his death in 1982.

A hilarious tale of growing up in team sports and the author's entry into the humorous world of Little League umpiring.

A Bike Ride through My Life chronicles the life of author Frank Clements with bicycles-following the twists and turns that his life has taken in pursuit of his passion for riding. Clements is the younger brother of Ernie Clements, winner of several British Cycling Championships and a Silver Medal in the 1948 Olympic Games Bicycle Race. Despite his love of cycling, he first chose to join National Service in the RAF to establish a unique place for himself-and spent virtually all of his final twelve months of service riding a bike. After his tour of duty ended, he began training to become the best cyclist in the world, his life's ambition since his success as a potential world class cyclist as a teen. Clements has had many ups and downs in his cycling life. At a young age, he came in second in the British under-eighteen championships and just missed being a member of the British Olympic Cycling team for the 1956 Olympics in Melbourne, Australia. He also designed, built, and loaned five special Cross country bikes to Roger Hammond and he won the World's Cyclo Cross Championship with them. This memoir follows Clements from youth to retirement, offering a fascinating trip through an amazing life.

Sultan is the official biography of Wasim Akram, the "sultan of swing", one of the greatest fast bowlers in the history of cricket. For twenty years, Wasim Akram let his cricket do the talking - his electrifying left-arm pace, his explosive left-handed striking, his leadership and his inspiration. For another twenty years he kept his own counsel about those days, full of drama, controversy and even mystery, in a country, Pakistan, that to outsiders is a constant enigma. Until now. Sultan tells the story of cricket's greatest left-arm bowler, and one of its greatest survivors, who was chosen from the streets of Lahore and groomed by Imran Khan to become champion of the world - man of the match in the final of the 1992 World Cup. Along the way were unforgettable rivalries with the greatest of his time, from Viv Richards and Ian Botham to Sachin Tendulkar and Shane Warne. Along the way, too, a backdrop of conspiracy and intrigue over ball tampering and match fixing about which Wasim finally sets the story straight. But there's more: Sultan goes frankly into the crumbling and rebuilding of Wasim's private life, marred by the tragedy of his first wife's death and the torment of addiction. The result is an unprecedented insight into the life of a cricketer who revolutionised the game with his speed and swing, and a patriot buoyed and burdened by the expectation of one of the game's most fanatical publics.

Steve Williams, arguably the greatest caddie in golf history, teams up with renowned golf journalist Evin Priest to give his definitive account of his 12-year partnership with the legendary Tiger Woods, sharing personal, never-before-told moments of their friendship on and off the course.

When Tiger Woods went on an extraordinary majors run between 1999 and 2008, one man stood at his side: his caddie Steve Williams. Together Steve and Tiger dominated the PGA Tour and won an astonishing 13 major championships, their sights set on breaking Jack Nicklaus’s record 18 majors. Before they could overtake Nicklaus, however, their partnership ended abruptly, and a 12-year period without talking began. Years later, the two reconnected.

Steve, with PGA Tour journalist Evin Priest, reflects fondly on his years as Tiger’s caddie and their relentless pursuit of greatness. He revisits all their best moments, from Tiger’s iconic shot on the 16th hole at the 2005 Masters to the famed Tiger Slam of 2000 and 2001, to his against-the-odds victory on a broken leg at the 2008 US Open. Steve goes behind the scenes of their on-course success and shows their friendship off the course, like Tiger caddying for Steve on his wedding day and Tiger giving a heartfelt best man speech. Steve also shares fascinating, never-before-seen photos and ephemera.

Together We Roared offers an inside look at what it is like to ride alongside greatness and is a heartfelt ode to the friendship that produced one of the winningest duos in golf history.

Dare to Tri is the amazing story of TV presenter Louise Minchin's journey from the BBC Breakfast sofa to representing Great Britain at the World Triathlon Championships. This is a warmly written and wonderfully honest adventure-through-sport that will both entertain and inspire.

'I didn't even know what a triathlon was before 2012. When I took up the sport three years ago I didn't imagine for a second then, that, one day, I would be able to represent my country internationally.' Louise Minchin

What started out as a fun television cycling stunt culminated in BBC Breakfast's Louise Minchin wearing the colours of Great Britain at the World Triathlon Championships in her age group. This is the story of how a newly discovered sport became a passion - and then an obsession.

Dare to Tri is Louise's candid memoir of her incredible journey, recounting her rediscovery of competitive sport after nearly 30 years and her first tentative steps as a triathlete. In a story encompassing equal measures of determination and self-doubt, Louise has to overcome personal nerves, a brutal training regime, the odd bike crash and the occasional drama. Her adventure as she strives to represent Great Britain in triathlon is an inspiration for sporting late-starters everywhere.

In 2000, Alonzo Mourning was on top of the world: He had a fat new NBA contract, an Olympic gold medal, and a second beautiful child-plus the fame and wealth he had earned playing the game he loved. But in September of that year he was diagnosed with a rare and fatal kidney disease. Over the next couple of years, as his health faltered, he retired, unretired, and retired again-and sought to make sense of what remained of his life. Finally in 2003, after a frantic search for a donor match, Mourning had a new kidney and a new outlook. He vowed to make this second chance count by dedicating his life to others.
By sharing his experiences of the chasms and peaks of illness and recovery, Mourning delivers a message of faith and fire, trust and triumph. Resilience is a story of both meaningful everyday lessons and the things, great and small, that truly matter in life.

How did an ancient spiritual practice become the preserve of the privileged? Nadia Gilani has been practising yoga as a participant and teacher for over twenty-five years. Yoga has saved her life and seen her through many highs and lows; it has been a faith, a discipline, and a friend, and she believes wholeheartedly in its radical potential. However, over her years in the wellness industry, Nadia has noticed not only yoga's rising popularity, but also how its modern incarnation no longer serves people of colour, working class people, or many other groups who originally pioneered its creation. Combining her own memories of how the practice has helped her with an account of its history and transformation in the modern west, Nadia creates a love letter to yoga and a passionate critique of the billion-dollar industry whose cost and inaccessibility has shut out many of those it should be helping. By turns poignant, funny, and shocking, The Yoga Manifesto excavates where the industry has gone wrong, and what can be done to save the practice from its own success.

Lawrence"Yogi" Berra was never supposed to become a major league ballplayer. That's what his immigrant father told him. That's what Branch Rickey told him, too-right to Berra's face, in fact. Even the lowly St. Louis Browns of his youth said he'd never make it in the big leagues. Yet baseball was his lifeblood. It was the only thing he ever cared about. Heck, it was the only thing he ever thought about. Berra couldn't allow a constant stream of ridicule about his appearance, taunts about his speech, and scorn about his perceived lack of intelligence to keep him from becoming one of the best to ever play the game-at a position requiring the very skills he was told he did not have. Drawing on more than one hundred interviews and four years of reporting, Jon Pessah delivers a transformational portrait of how Berra handled his hard-earned success-on and off the playing field-as well as his failures; how the man who insisted "I really didn't say everything I said!" nonetheless shaped decades of America's culture; and how Berra's humility and grace redefined what it truly means to be a star. Overshadowed on the field by Joe DiMaggio early in his career and later by a youthful Mickey Mantle, Berra emerges as not only the best loved Yankee but one of the most appealingly simple, innately complex, and universally admired men in all of America.