Steve Cauthen commenced his 14-year 'English Odyssey' in April 1979. The erstwhile 'Kentucky Kid' had taken American racing by storm. A champion jockey at 17 and a Triple Crown winner at 18, the teenage prodigy became a bona fide celebrity but a slump of 110 consecutive losers saw him cross the Atlantic seeking to resurrect his career. Within weeks of his arrival 'The Kid' won an English Classic, the 2000 Guineas. He'd go on to become the only jockey to win both the Derby and the Kentucky Derby (plus those of Ireland, France and Italy); be the most recent jockey to win an English Triple Crown courtesy of Oh So Sharp in 1985; and secure three jockeys' championships - making him the only man to win titles in both America and England. Moreover, Cauthen was a supreme stylist who transformed English race-riding: his streamlined American toe-in-the-iron seat and clock-in-the-head judgement of pace sparking widespread imitation. The list of household names benefiting from his sublime talents are legion and this most articulate of jockeys recalls every one of them in his own inimitable style along with all the attendant highs and lows in this first complete retelling of his 'English Odyssey'.

What was it that made Steve Bloomer, the 'Destroying Angel' so special? A remarkable goalscoring record and a supreme ability count for much, but so do an enigmatic personality and incident-packed life that has never been fully explored - until now. In this marvellously entertaining story of his life, we accompany Bloomer on his dramatic rise from tough Black Country beginnings in 1874 to goalscoring feats straight out of Boy's Own Paper. His famous playing career shares the stage with remarkable episodes in Bloomer's life never before fully researched, including his sorrow and bravery through four years in a German prison camp, and his first tentative steps into the pioneering world of coaching in Germany. Holland and Spain, where his triumphant managerial spell brought glory to 'the Accrington Stanley of Spanish football', not to mention a novel use for olive oil. Then there are the twilight days as a scout, respected pundit and honorary old un at the Baseball Ground. Steve Bloomer died in 1938 but 60 years later, at their new Pride Park Stadium, Derby County ran out to the unique anthem Steve Bloomer's Watching. Over a century since he made his debut, his name is still the most famous in the club's history.

This the the first biography ever written on Marvin Hart, the forgotten heavyweight champion from the South. Hart gained popularity as a middleweight and light-heavyweight in the Louisville, Kentucky area before moving up to heavyweight and defeating the highly touted top contender Jack Johnson. Hart then won the vacant world's heavyweight championship in a fight to the finish against Jack Root. Like other books in Pollack's "In the Ring" series, this book is meticulously researched using next-day local primary source materials, and details Hart's boxing career.

This volume provides a cumulative index to the highly acclaimed multi-volume Biographical Dictionary of American Sports, listing all items alphabetically for the first five volumes, published from 1987 to 1992. The five volumes, classified by sport, provide comprehensive biographical information on over 2,700 of the nation's most extraordinary sports figures. A majority of the index applies to baseball, football, and basketball entries, but other sports covered include auto racing, golf, harness and thoroughbred racing, lacrosse, skiing, soccer, tennis, track and field, bowling, boxing, gymnastics, ice hockey, figure and speed skating, swimming and diving, weight lifting, and wrestling. Five letter classifications indicate the volume where particulars can be located, (e.g.: B: Baseball volume, F: Football volume, I: Basketball and other Indoor Sports, O: Outdoor Sports volume, S: Supplement volume). This index will save users considerable time.

The remarkable story of three Yorkshire cricketers from the Golden Age - George Hirst, Wilfred Rhodes and Schofield Haigh - who transformed their county's fortunes, inspired a generation of cricketers and left a unique legacy on the game. Between them, Hirst, Rhodes and Haigh scored over 77,000 runs and took almost 9000 wickets in a combined 2500 appearances, helping Yorkshire to seven County Championship triumphs. The records they set will never be beaten, yet the three men - known throughout England as The Triumvirate - were born in two small villages just outside Huddersfield, in Last of the Summer Wine country. Hirst pioneered and perfected the art of swing and seam bowling, Rhodes took more first-class wickets than anyone else in history, while the genial Haigh's achievements as a bowler at Yorkshire have been surpassed only by his two close friends; their influence would extend far beyond England, as they all went to India to coach, laying the foundations of cricket in the subcontinent. Pearson, whose biography of Learie Constantine, Connie, won the MCC Book of the Year Award, brings the characters and the age vividly to life, showing how these cricketing stars came to symbolise the essence of Yorkshire. This was a time when the gritty northern professionals from the White Rose county took on some of the most glittering amateurs of the age, including W.G.Grace, C.B.Fry, Prince Ranji and Gilbert Jessop, and when writers such as Neville Cardus and J.M.Kilburn were on hand to bring their achievements to a wider audience. The First of the Summer Wine is a celebration of a vanished age, but also reveals how the efforts of Hirst, Rhodes and Haigh helped create the modern era, too.

Be inspired by Football Legend, Kylian Mbappe! Discover more about this incredible player's journey from his early career at AS Bondy, coached by his father, to his success at Paris Saint-Germain FC and fulfilling his dream of playing for France. Football Legends: Young readers will love finding out all about the lives of their favourite players in this incredible biography series. Packed with footie facts and match stats plus Mbappe's career highlights Also in the series: Harry Kane, Raheem Sterling, Tammy Abraham, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Lionel Messi. Amazing cover artwork illustrated by Stanley Chow, whose iconic work has found worldwide acclaim

Drugs in professional sports. Today''s news? Not to the authors who take you behind the scenes into the backrooms, the board rooms and the high perches of politics where the quest for a state''s profit often outweighs giving the public a fair return for their loyalty and support. This is not your average sports story. It delves into the experiences of two people who defied fierce opposition and personal threat to do the right thing in the management of Thoroughbred Racing and Professional Hockey and in the evaluating and negotiating of Pro Baseball and Football teams. We are not born with integrity. It is the product of our pasts, how we meet life''s challenges, and in our case, the deep faith which gave us the courage to confront our enemies and realize our goals. Biographical in form, you will relive the author''s early years and travel the diverse paths their lives took. You may often ponder how this successful partnership evolved, Man/Woman. Catholic/Jew. Poor Boy/Rich Girl. New England Newspaper columnist/ New York entertainment writer. Running sports facilities, hosting thousands of patrons daily at an arena, stadium or paying field was a unique challenge. Vin Bartimo had the prime responsibility for the action, Roz Muller was the champion of the fans. Together, they made winners of losing entities, shared their largesse with the communities in which they operated and gave the public what they wanted and deserved.

Brian Kinchen was a thirty-eight-year-old father of four and seventh-grade Bible teacher whose professional football career had been over for three years when he received the call of a lifetime. The New England Patriots needed him to fill in for their injured long snapper for the remainder of the 2003 season and the playoffs. In the hands of Pulitzer Prize-winner Jeffrey Marx, Brian's remarkable true story becomes a celebration of the resilience of the human spirit. For all lovers of the game of football, "The Long Snapper" reveals the grit and glory of America's favorite sport.

Author Cornel Vena was just a teenager when World War II ended, changing life in the tiny Transylvanian village of his childhood forever. A ruthless Bolshevik army swarmed over the land, and his family faced an uncertain future living under a communist regime. But it soon became clear that the country was keen to promote its athletic prowess on an international stage, offering a glimmer of hope to the young man. If Cornel could shoot, ride, fence, run, and swim well enough, he might be able to find freedom. Success in the sporting arena offered better conditions for athletes and priceless opportunities to escape the constraints of communism; however, the athletes who survived the intense training regimen could not fail. An entire country counted on them to succeed, and losing was not tolerated. The weak would be punished, and those who succeeded would be rewarded. Join Cornel as he prepares to confront superhuman physical challenges in this inspiring true story of one man's quest for freedom, set against the backdrop of the 1956 Olympic Games. Romanians, history students and athletes alike will find important lessons that continue to resonate today in "Barbed Circles: The Perfect Score."

David 'Bumble' Lloyd is one of cricket's great characters - hilarious, informative and insightful, and filled with boundless enthusiasm for the game. Now, in Cricket Characters, he tells the stories of the most important, influential, talented and entertaining characters he has come across in sixty years in the game. Following on from the bestselling successes of Last in the Tin Bath and Around the World in 80 Pints, in his new book Bumble looks back at the cricketers who have had the greatest impact on him throughout his career. From the gnarly veterans he first played against as a teenager in the Lancashire League, through the old pros he met on the county circuit while at Lancashire on to a revealing insight into life alongside Mike Atherton, Ian Botham, Nasser Hussain and Shane Warne in the commentary box, this book reveals Bumble at his best: telling great stories about his favourite people. Along the way, the reader not only learns who have been the funniest or most dangerous players to be around, but also gets an insight into what makes a team gel and players to perform at their very peak. It's the perfect gift for any cricket fan who loves the game and needs something to keep them amused as the autumn draws in and winter takes over.

For fans of Netflix's The Last Dance, this is the definitive account of Michael Jordan's spectacular and disastrous return to basketball. As one of the greatest, most celebrated athletes in history, Michael Jordan conquered professional basketball as no one before. Powered by a potent mix of charisma, near superhuman abilities and a ferocious drive to dominate the game, he achieved every award and accolade conceivable before retiring from the Chicago Bulls and taking an executive post with the Washington Wizards. But retirement didn't suit the man who was once king, and at the advanced age of thirty-eight Michael Jordan decided it was time to reclaim the court that was once his. Having closely followed Jordan's final two seasons, Michael Leahy draws a fascinating portrait of an intensely complex man hampered by injuries and assaulted by younger players eager to usurp his throne. In this enthralling book Jordan emerges as an ambitious, at times deeply unattractive character with, unsurprisingly, a monstrous ego. WHEN NOTHING ELSE MATTERS is an absorbing portrait not only of one athlete's overriding ambition, but also of a society so in thrall to its sports stars that it is blind to all their faults.

Former Australian rugby union legend and World Cup winner, now acclaimed television sports pundit, on his glittering career in the game - and how close he came to losing his life. Few players in the history of the game have had as illustrious a career as Wallaby fly-half and captain Michael Lynagh. In an era when Australia took the rugby world by storm with their glittering array of mercurial talent, in chief orchestrator and courageous captain Lynagh they had a pivotal figure at fly-half who shaped their style of play and at the same time played a major ambassadorial role in the world game. Yet fast forward to that April day in 2012, as Lynagh lay partially blinded in intensive care at the Royal Brisbane Hospital, his life hanging by a thread following a major stroke, his wife and three young boys on the other side of the world. The day that defined the rest of his life. Lynagh's story is one of corruscating highs and crippling lows. It's the personal tale of a sportsman playing to the extremes of his profession, but also a human tale of surviving debilitating trauma and finding a new meaning to life.

The sixth volume of the "Biographical Dictionary of American Sports," this supplement provides biographies for 616 athletes, coaches, managers, officials, administrators, writers, and broadcasters who have played an active role in American sports or helped to promote them. Most of the entries are from team sports, including baseball (202), football (181), and basketball (58). Some entries treat individual sports, including track and field (29), golf (14), and tennis and other racquet sports (16). Other sports covered include ice hockey, horse racing, boxing, swimming, bowling, skating, shooting, wrestling, skiing, and cycling. Thirty women athletes are included.

Born with 'learning difficulties' and all but abandoned by his schools, Neil went on to become kit man to Stoke City FC. Lou Macari, the club's then manager, described him as 'my best-ever signing'. But who is Neil Baldwin? As a boy in a working-class part of the Potteries in the fifties and sixties, the education system wrote him off. But Neil, who believes you can just 'get things by asking for them', knows his late Mum wanted him to have a happy life, and it's his duty to her to have one. So he does. At Keele University, they hold regular celebrations and services for the decades he's been a friend to the students, academics and vice-chancellors; but he's never been a student, a teacher, or had any formal connection with the place. At Stoke City Football Club, he's 'more famous than the players'. He's even got a dialogue going with the Queen - though that one's still a little one-sided. This is the inspiring, moving and at times hysterically funny story of Neil Baldwin's marvellous life.

The gripping biography of one of the most successful managers in the game, Jose Mourinho, giving rare insight into the man and the manager - now completely revised and updated to include the tumultuous 2020-21 season. Jose Mourinho is undoubtedly one of football's most charismatic and controversial characters. His name is never far from the headlines and having worked at some of the biggest clubs in the world - Porto, Chelsea, Inter Milan, Real Madrid, Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur - despite the challenges he has faced, he knows how to deliver when it matters. But is the way he conducts himself on the touchline and in front of the cameras the real Mourinho, or an act he puts on for the watching world? In this highly acclaimed biography, author and award-winning sports correspondent Robert Beasley reveals the man behind the scenes. Granted privileged access into the Special One's inner sanctum, Beasley delves into the workings of the famed manager's mind, as well as backroom antics and transfer sagas at some of the game's greatest clubs. Revealing the untold stories behind how close Mourinho came to getting the England job, his at times tumultuous relationships with the football establishment, his trials and tribulations at Tottenham and why he will always put family and friends before football, this is a side to Jose Mourinho you never thought you'd see.

Phil shares his personal ecstasy and anguish in learning the lessons of life through wrestling. The vivid and intimate descriptions of his hilarious and sometimes terrifying experiences keep you wanting to read more about his life.

The Tiger Woods of his day, legendary professional golfer HARRY VARDON (1870-1937), from Jersey in the Channel Islands, was the sport's first superstar. He won six British Open championships-a record that stands to this day-and was the first British golfer to win the U.S. Open. Some consider him the best player in the history of the game. In this classic work of sports literature, Vardon offers his stupendous and invaluable insight into the game. Part biographical, part instructional, part inspirational, Vardon's advice covers: the makings of a player the mistakes of the beginner the choice and care of clubs "concerning caddies" the pleasure of a good drive individuality in putting the proper attitude toward your opponents "golf for ladies" tips for the left-handed player and much more. First published in 1904, this beautiful replica edition features all of the essential original diagrams and photographs. It will delight and encourage the modern golfer, no matter how seriously-or lightheartedly-one takes the game.

He is the larger-than-life figure who bounced back from rejection at 16 and graduated from parks pitches to become a Premier League goalkeeper, and later represent his country. Paddy Kenny's career was certainly not straightforward... just like his life. In his autobiography, Kenny lifts the lid on his time on and off the football field - including dressing-room rucks, being beaten for the Premier League's most famous goal and having his eyebrow bitten off in a curry house, just days before he faced Cristiano Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney and Manchester United. This is Kenny's story... and the gloves are well and truly off.