Anyone who has spent time in Syracuse, New York, knows that basketball season is the most wonderful time of the year. And while the local popularity of the sport is known nationwide, the region also has a long and rich basketball history. Sports historian Mark Baker traces the evolution of Syracuse's "hoops roots," beginning in the early days, when local, national and college basketball organizations were primitive institutions. It was during this time that one of the first teams to gain a national following was founded here by an Italian immigrant, Danny Biasone, and it was in Syracuse that the 24 second clock was invented. From the outset, Syracuse residents and fans were hooked, and this love of the game has endured, feeding the fanaticism that sustains the sport today.

Among the best pound-for-pound fighters of all time, Willie Pep (1922-2006) was a virtuoso of the squared circle. A two-time World Featherweight Champion, his International Boxing Hall of Fame professional record stands at 230 wins, 11 losses and one draw, with 65 knockouts and two winning streaks of more than 62 victories-each longer than most modern fighters' careers. During his 26 years in the ring, he appeared on cards with everyone from Fritzie Zivic to Joe Frazier. A scientific boxer with balletic defensive skills and a stiff jab, Pep-known as "Will o' the Wisp"-so masterfully evaded his opponents, one remarked it was like battling a man in a room full of mirrors. This book covers his remarkable career, with highlights of each bout.

For six decades the World Colored Heavyweight Championship was a useful tool of racial oppression--the existence of the title far more important to the white public than its succession of champions. It took some extraordinary individuals, most notably Jack Johnson, to challenge "the color line" in the ring, although the title and the black fighters who contended for it continued until the reign of Joe Louis a generation later. This history traces the advent and demise of the Championship, the stories of the 28 professional athletes who won it, and the demarcation of the color line both in and out of the ring.

Born Luigi d'Ambrosio, Lou Ambers grew up in Herkimer, New York, during the Great Depression. He and his nine siblings watched their father lose his business. Then they lost their father. Taking to the ring as a "bootleg" boxer to support his family, "The Herkimer Hurricane" soon became an undefeated contender, losing only one of more than fifty fights in his first three years as a professional. A keen judge of distance with prodigious hand speed, he worked just within punching range, busily slipping and feinting, then slashing in with hooks and uppercuts. In 1936, he faced his idol and mentor, Tony Canzoneri, and defeated him to capture the world lightweight championship. Ambers held the title for twenty-three months, losing it in a historic fight with the formidable Henry Armstrong (1938) but regaining it in a rematch the following year. As the 1930s ended, so did Amber's impressive career. This book chronicles the life of one of the great 20th century lightweights, who retired with a Hall of Fame record of 90-8-6 with 30 KOs.

Inside Madison Square Garden, the City Ring was the altar of pugilism from 1925 until 2007. Hosting countless championship fights, historic main events and memorable undercards, it was center stage of boxing history. The ring now rests at the International Boxing Hall of Fame in Canastota, New York-its 132 assembled pieces memorializing a key facet of 20th century American life. While many books have been written about great fistic contests that took place at Madison Square Garden, this is the first to focus on its Holy Grail.

Abraham Washington Attell (1883-1970) was among the cleverest, most scientific professional boxers ever to enter the ring. The native San Franciscan fought 172 times in his career-scoring 127 wins, 51 by knockout-and successfully defended his World Featherweight Champion title 18 times between 1906 and 1912, defeating challengers who included Johnny Kilbane and Battling Nelson. Attell's success inspired his brothers Caesar and Monte to take up the sport-Abe and Monte both held simultaneous world titles for a time. This first ever biography covers Attell's life and career. Growing up poor and Jewish in an predominantly Irish neighborhood, he faced his share of adversity and anti-Semitism in and out of the ring. He was charged for alleged involvement in the 1919 Black Sox Scandal. The charges were dropped but Attell was branded by association for the remainder of his life.

Oscar Battling Matthew Nelson was without question the toughest and most durable professional boxer ever to enter a ring. Obscure, although he was selected by the Hall of Fame as part of their third induction class, unheard of yet often appropriately called the most hardwearing boxer in ring history, overlooked, yet many boxing historians rank him among the 100 greatest boxers ever. From the moment he set foot in the ring, he presented himself as a man's man, a Danish immigrant of integrity who never smoked, drank or took a dive, and in both his pugilistic exploits and his often very public behavior established a heroic image of himself as an athlete-a world lightweight champion-and sportsman, reporter, entertainer, real estate mogul, businessman and lady's man. As the first champion in his division to ever mount a comeback, he broke new ground, even if it wasn't always pretty, or ultimately successful. In the years since his death in 1954, there has been little disagreement over the significance of his life: A bona fide ring champion, whose endurance was second to none, and whose trilogy with Joe Gans was one of the greatest in sports history.