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Books > Sport & Leisure > Sports & outdoor recreation > Track & field sports, athletics
When John McDonnell began his coaching career at the University of
Arkansas at Fayetteville--choosing it over Norman, Oklahoma,
because Fayetteville reminded him of his native Ireland--he could
hardly have imagined that he would become the most successful coach
in the history of American collegiate athletics. But, in thirty-six
years at the university, he amassed a staggering resume of
accomplishments, including forty national championships (eleven
cross country, nineteen indoor track, and ten outdoor track), the
most by any coach in any sport in NCAA history. His teams at
Arkansas won the triple crown (a championship in cross country,
indoor track, and outdoor track in a single school year) a record
five times. The Razorbacks also won eighty-three conference
championships (thirty-eight in the Southwest Conference and
forty-six in the Southeastern Conference), including thirty-four
consecutive conference championships in cross country from 1974 to
2008. McDonnell coached 185 All-Americans, fifty-four individual
national champions, and twenty-three Olympians. And from 1984 to
1995, his Razorback teams won twelve consecutive NCAA Indoor Track
Championships, the longest streak of national titles by any school
in any sport in NCAA history. This biography tells the story of the
McDonnell's life and legacy, from his childhood growing up on a
farm in 1940s County Mayo, Ireland, to his own running career, to
the beginnings of his life as a coach, to all the great athletes he
mentored along the way.
Seen around the world, John Carlos and Tommie Smith's Black Power
salute on the 1968 Olympic podium sparked controversy and career
fallout. Yet their show of defiance remains one of the most iconic
images of Olympic history and the Black power movement. Now John
Carlos tells his own version of the story, in conjunction with Dave
Zirin, author of the groundbreaking People's History of Sports in
the United States (The New Press, 2009, available from Turnaround).
Carlos' eye-opening and immensely readable autobiography finally
introduces the man behind the salute.
Chris Thrall set out to run an ultramarathon a day from John
O'Groats to Land's End, solo, unsupported and sleeping in a tent by
the side of the road. He'd not trained for two years, having been
disabled whilst awaiting major spinal surgery. His backpack alone
for the 999-mile slog Weighed over fifteen kilograms. Most said
Chris couldn't do it. The former commando promised he would.
Because to a Royal Marine success is simply a State of Mind ...
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