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With 363 victories, Warren Spahn is the winningest lefty in
baseball history. Over 21 years, he won 20 or more games 13 times,
was a 17-time All Star, won a Cy Young-award, then, of course, was
elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame. Spahn was also a war
hero, serving in World War II and awarded the Purple Heart. To say
Spahn lived a storied life is an understatement. In Warren Spahn,
author Lew Freedman tells the story of this incredible lefty. Known
for his supremely high leg kick, Spahn became one of the greatest
pitchers in baseball history. However, the road wasn't as easy as
it would seem. Struggling in his major-league debut at age twenty,
manager Casey Stengel demoted the young left. It would be four
years before Spahn would return to the diamond, as he received a
calling of a different kind--one from his country. Enlisting in the
Army, Spahn would serve with distinction, seeing action in the
Battle of the Bulge and the Ludendorff Bridge, and was awarded a
battlefield commission, along with a Purple Heart. Upon his return
to the game, he would take the league by storm. Spahn dominated for
over two decades, spending twenty years with the Braves (both
Boston and Milwaukee), as well as a season with the New York Mets
and San Francisco Giants. Pitching into his mid-forties, he would
throw two no-hitters at the advanced ages of thirty-nine and forty.
From his early days in Buffalo and young career, through his time
and the military and all the way to the 1948 Braves and "Spahn and
Sain and Pray for Rain," author Lew Freedman leaves no stone
unturned in sharing the incredible life of this pitching icon, who
is still considered the greatest left-handed pitcher to ever play
the game.
The Whalers are the only football team above the Arctic Circle: 330
north to be exact, a place with no grass, no trees, and plenty of
permafrost. Of the 44 Eskimo, Tongan, Samoan, Asian-American,
African-American and Caucasian teenagers who signed up for this
experiment, only four had ever played organized football before.
Seasoned journalist Lew Freedman captures this inspiring story.
AÂ one-stop record containing everything White Sox fans want
to know about their favorite baseball team, this resource is packed
with anecdotes, history, explanations of traditions, statistics,
trivia, and photos.
Loyola University Chicago was ahead of its time when racial matters
were forefront in a long overdue revolution in civil rights. The
Ramblers of the 1962-1963 NCAA college basketball season were
pioneers in race relations in sport, though most of the time they
were simply playing the sport they loved. When the NCAA tournament
began in March, the Ramblers engaged in a series for the ages,
daring to be the first NCAA Division I school to play five black
athletes on the court at once and capturing the most prestigious
title in college basketball at a time when states below the
Mason-Dixon line still had laws on the books preventing black and
white athletes from mixing even in pick-up games. Records were set,
rivals faced and one of the most famous and significant contests in
college basketball playoff history played out in what incidentally
became a model showcase for race relations. Nearly every time the
Ramblers took the court, the game was unique in its magnitude.
Relying significantly on exclusive interviews with surviving
players, now in their seventies, Lew Freedman chronicles the entire
journey, the adventure of the season that bound tight for a
lifetime the group of men who lived through it.
The quarterback pass is one of the leading offensive components of
today's National Football League and college football's top level
of play. This was not always the case. In early American football,
the strategy focused entirely on advancing the ball one running
play at a time, with the player tucking the then-roundish ball on
his hip and sprinting ahead until tackled by a swarm of defenders.
The revolution that transformed the sport began in 1906, when
passing was first legalized. The passing weapon made the game
safer, altered strategy, turned the quarterback into a key
offensive player, and made possible the high-scoring games of
today. Lew Freedman traces football's passing game from its
inception to the present, telling the tale through the stories of
the quarterbacks whose arms carried (and threw) the changes
forward. Freedman relies especially on the biography of
i?1/2Slingin' Sammyi?1/2 BaughaEURO"who hailed from Sweetwater,
TexasaEURO"as a framework. Baugh, perhaps the greatest all-around
football player in history, came along at just the right time to
elevate the passing game to unprecedented importance in the eyes of
the sports world.
Ernie Banks, Ron Santo, and other legendary Cubbies share their
greatest moments - newly updated! Whether they wore white stockings
or blue helmets, the baseball players of Chicago's North Side have
always had great stories to tell. Now fans of this loveable
franchise will finally get to hear from twenty-eight of the best
players as they relive that singular moment which defined their
Cubs career. In this newly updated edition of Game of My Life
Chicago Cubs, veteran sportswriter Lew Freedman brings readers off
the bench and onto the field with such greats as: Billy Williams
Ernie Banks Ferguson Jenkins Don Kessinger Ken Holtzman Milt Pappa
Rick Monday Milt Pappas Mark Gracy Ryne Sandberg Kerry Wood And
more. Filled with classic stories of Wrigley field and of legendary
Cubs, this is a must-read for every real fan.
Hoyt Wilhelm's intriguing baseball career lasted two decades. A
veteran of the Battle of the Bulge, the eight-time All-Star from
Huntersville, North Carolina was a standout for the New York
Giants, Baltimore Orioles, Chicago White Sox and Atlanta Braves,
though he did not reach the majors until he was nearly 30.He
pitched a no-hitter as a starter, won as many as 15 games a season,
was the first reliever to win more than 100 games and save more
than 200, and broke Cy Young's record for most games on the mound.
Along the way, he relied almost entirely on his baffling skill with
a rare weapon of choice--the knuckleball. This first full-length
biography covers the life and career of the first relief pitcher in
the Hall of Fame.
For the first time, Alaska musher and tribal leader Mike Williams
shares his remarkable life story with veteran sports writer Lew
Freedman. Williams is a man of many parts, a sports figure, a
government figure, a leader of his people, a husband, a father, and
a Native man with one foot firmly planted in the twenty-first
century and another firmly planted in the roots of a culture that
dates back 10,000 years in Alaska. Williams competed in the
Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race fifteen times, and was once the only
Yup’ik Eskimo musher, a symbol to all Natives around the state.
Although he was never a top contender for the Iditarod title, he
was a competitor whom everyone cheered because he resolved that to
shed light on one of Alaska’s greatest threats to the health and
future of its Native people, he would carry in his dog sled
pages—pounds worth—of signatures of people who had pledged
sobriety. A Yup’ik Eskimo, Williams saw firsthand how alcohol
could devastate people as surely as if they had contracted a deadly
flu: each of his brothers had succumbed to alcohol-related
accidents, incidents, or illnesses. Williams describes how he
recovered from his dependence on alcohol through religion, loved
ones, and racing dogs. For many years Williams carried those
sobriety pledges in his sled, focusing attention on a troubling,
seemingly intractable problem. Williams gained national attention,
being profiled by CNN, Sports Illustrated, and Good Morning
America. Fellow Iditarod competitors have voted him “the most
inspirational musher.â€
In IDITAROD ADVENTURES, mushers explain why they have chosen this
rugged lifestyle, what has kept them in long-distance mushing, and
the experiences they have endured along that unforgiving trail
between Anchorage and Nome. Renowned sports writer Lew Freedman
profiles 23 mushers—men, women, Natives, seasoned veterans, and
some relatively new to the demanding sport, many of whom are so
well-known in Alaska that fans refer to them only by their first
names. The book also features interviews with administrators who
organize the event and make sure it happens every year, volunteers,
and others whose connection to the Iditarod is self-evident even if
they don’t have an official title.
Lowell Thomas Jr. is a famed Alaskan who made his mark as a Bush
pilot and by serving in state government, but who also has had a
lifetime’s worth of adventures that have taken him around the
world. Thomas, now eighty-nine, and living in Anchorage, is the son
of one of the most widely known Americans of the twentieth century,
and his connection to Lowell Thomas Sr. (1892-1981) enabled him to
jump-start his life of adventure at a very early age. From the time
he was fifteen, Lowell Thomas Jr. has been involved in a series of
journeys that have seen him cross paths with many famous lives and
take part in many historic events.
The Kenai is a world-class salmon river that attracts fishermen
from all over the world, but is also the "everyman" river of the
great fishing paradise of Alaska because of its accessibility. The
Kenai River is special not only because world-record salmon are
caught in its stunning green waters, but because it is on the road
system and thus can be accessed by the average fisherman, not
merely the well-to-do who pay huge sums to fish in remote Alaskan
areas controlled by private lodges and that are approachable only
by small planes.
In a state that takes at least a share of its identity from its
image as The Last Frontier and concurrently as a fishing haven, the
Kenai River is the lifeblood of a sporting world and industry that
offers an incomparable fishing experience to the resident, the
tourist, the hardcore fisherman, the beginner, and the expert.
Fishermen in the Lower 48 states, seduced by images of gigantic
fighting salmon, dream of some day fishing the picturesque waters
of the Kenai River. Fishermen who live in Southcentral Alaska,
including Alaska's largest city of Anchorage, plot their fishing
seasons around the arrival of king salmon, red salmon, and silver
salmon. To all of them, the Kenai is a magical river.
Not only is it the place of dreams, where an angler might catch a
world record or world-class fish, it is, despite its nearness to
the small cities of Kenai and Soldotna, still a wilderness. At one
bend in the river there might be a hotel, a private summer home, or
a forest since the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge also swallows the
Kenai River.
The eighty-file-mile-long Kenai River is, more or less, two
rivers. The upper river prohibits motorized boats altogether. The
lower river features them. The upper river invites rafters and
fly-fishermen. The lower river offers savvy guides who know each
turn of the river, each rock's placement, and the opportunity to
fish for 70-, 80-, or 90-pound salmon through specially developed
styles appropriate to the area and the species. The upper river
allows for Dolly Varden and rainbow trout fishing. The lower river
emphasizes big salmon.
Each summer thousands of anglers fish the Kenai River. They bring
millions of dollars worth of business to the Kenai Peninsula while
following their dreams and bringing home stories of wilderness
fishing adventures.
In an inspirational biography, Lew Freedman chronicles Redington's
birth on the Chisholm Trail and his boyhood in the Depression --
homeless, motherless, roaming the country looking for work. Alaska
was his rebirth in 1948. On his own piece of dirt, a man could
raise a family, hunt, fish, run dogs, and stand up for what he
believed.
William F. "Buffalo Bill" Cody (1846-1917) rose from humble origins
in Iowa to become one of the most famous and most photographed
people in the world. He became a leading scout during the American
Indian Wars, winner of the Congressional Medal of Honor, and a
renowned show business fixture whose traveling Wild West
exhibitions played to millions of spectators the world over for 30
years. He hobnobbed with presidents, kings, queens and European
heads of state, befriending many legendary individuals of the West,
from General George Armstrong Custer and Sitting Bull to Wild Bill
Hickok and Annie Oakley. Aside from these achievements, Cody's most
important legacy may be how he shaped the world's enduring views of
the American West through his shows, which he considered to be
educational events rather than entertainment. This biography is a
fresh look at the life of Buffalo Bill.
In Iditarod Adventures, mushers explain why they have chosen this
rugged lifestyle, what has kept them in long-distance mushing, and
the experiences they have endured along that unforgiving trail
between Anchorage and Nome.
Renowned sports writer Lew Freedman profiles 23 mushers men,
women, Natives, seasoned veterans, and some relatively new to the
demanding sport, many of whom are so well-known in Alaska that fans
refer to them only by their first names. The book also features
interviews with administrators who organize the event and make sure
it happens every year, volunteers, and others whose connection to
the Iditarod is self-evident even if they don t have an official
title."
Kenny Sailors was a basketball star, and the inventor of the jump
shot. He attended the University of Wyoming and was MVP in 1943 in
college AA basketball. After WWII, he spent five years as an early
player in the new NBA. As a youngster, Kenny was five-foot-seven
but his older brother was six-foot-two so when playing basketball,
Kenny had to jump up over his brother to get off a shot. That is
how the jump shot was born, and Kenny used it in college and
professional basketball. He played in Denver and several other
cities whose team names have now changed, but he also played for
the Boston Celtics with Bob Cousy. After he left the NBA, he moved
to Alaska and in 1965 settled in the Glennallen area, where he was
a fishing and hunting guide in the Wrangle Mountains for
thirty-five years. He now lives in Idaho, and his son lives and
flies aircraft from Antioch, California.
Excellent choice for sports/basketball buffs
Popular historic sports hero thanks to recent features in "Sports
Illustrated" and "Denver Post."
Inducted into the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame
2012
Early in the 2008-9 basketball season, Wyoming designated
Sailors's No. 4 jersey as the first to be retired and hung in the
field house. His fans are advocating for Kenny to be inducted into
the National Basketball Hall of Fame.https:
//www.facebook.com/pages/Get-Kenny-Sailors-into-the-Basketball-Hall-of-Fame/107319762637644
Sailors led Wyoming to its only national championship, in 1943,
when he was named the NCAA tournament's Most Outstanding Player as
well as college basketball's player of the year.
For two years in the NBA he was the top scorer for the original
Denver Nuggets in 1949--50
His innovative jump shot landed him in "LIFE" magazine in
1946.
Indie Christian Film Festival piece on Kenny by Jacob Bryan
Hamilton, Austin, TX: http:
//www.atticfilmfest.org/portfolio-item/jumpshot/
Featured in Wyoming PBS Documentary in 2012
Released in time for NCAA March Madness
Excerpt from "Sports Illustrated" 3/06/13: Sailors was also a
revolutionary who changed the game by developing and ultimately
popularizing the modern-day jump shot. . . . "Once I started using
the jumper], I realized I could get this shot off over anybody,"
says Sailors, who was five-foot-ten in college. "It paid off every
time I ran into a six-foot-five player who could give me trouble."
Here at last is the thrilling memoir of the legendary mountaineer
Bradford Washburn, one of the last explorers and adventurers of the
twentieth century. Drawing from decades of memories, journals, and
an exquisite photographic collection, Washburn completes the
self-portrait of a man drawn to altitude, from his first great
climb of Mount Washington at age eleven, through numerous first
ascents of peaks all over the world, to handily scaling a climbing
wall at eighty-eight. Â Â Â Â Â Indeed,
Washburn also became renowned for his pioneering work in aerial
photography, his dedication to science and cartography, his decades
of leading Boston’s Museum of Science, and his close association
with the National Geographic Society.
     This mountaineering icon
candidly offers an intimate look at a life devoted to the world’s
highest places, to the friends who challenged the mountains with
him, and to wife Barbara, who shared his adventures for nearly
sixty-five years.
An early celebrity pitcher, Denton "Cy" Young (1867-1955)
established supreme standards on the mound. A small-town Ohio
farmer made good, he set Major League pitching records in the late
19th and early 20th centuries that will likely last forever. The
winner of 511 games - nearly one hundred more than the
second-ranked hurler - Young pitched the first perfect game of the
modern era, as well as three no-hitters. His talents helped
establish the American League in 1901. Among the Hall of Fame's
first inductees, he remained a sought-after interviewee decades
after retirement. A year after his death, the Cy Young Award was
dedicated as baseball's most prestigious honor for pitchers.
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