Download or read book The Greatest Athlete You ve Never Heard Of written by Mark Hebscher and published by Dundurn. This book was released on 2019-02-16 with total page 248 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Canada's first Olympic gold medallist couldn't walk until he was ten, and became the greatest runner of his generation. Who was the first Canadian to Win an Olympic Gold Medal? When Mark Hebscher was asked this simple trivia question, he had no idea that it would lead him on a two year odyssey, researching a man he had never heard of. Paralyzed as a child and told he would never walk again, George Washington Orton persevered, eventually becoming the greatest distance runner of his generation, a world-class hockey player, and a brilliant scholar. A sports pioneer, Orton came up with the idea of numbered football jerseys and introduced ice hockey to Philadelphia. Orton's 1900 Paris Olympic medals were credited to the United States for seven decades before the mistake was uncovered and rectified. Yet he is virtually unknown in Canada. Finally, his story is being told.

Download or read book The Greatest Athlete You ve Never Heard Of written by Mark Hebscher and published by Dundurn. This book was released on 2019-02-16 with total page 248 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Canada’s first Olympic gold medallist couldn’t walk until he was ten, spoke nine languages, became the greatest runner of his generation, and was mistaken for an American for seventy years because the Americans wanted to keep him.

Download or read book The Greatest Texas Sports Stories You ve Never Heard written by Al Pickett and published by TX A&m-McWhiney Foundation. This book was released on 2007 with total page 212 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The longest field goal in the history of football was kicked in Texas. But did you know it was love that first led a Swedish soccer player to Texas, where he still lives more than thirty years after his record-setting 69-yard field goal? That story is just one of dozens of unusual and behind-the- scenes stories veteran sports writer and broadcaster Al Pickett has compiled in more than twenty years of covering sports in Texas. Did you know that a tragedy on that same day that Ove Johansson kicked his record field goal changed University of Houston coach Art Briles' life forever? Did you know the greatest high school football coach in Texas history never played high school football himself? Or a case of déjà vu helped a Texan win the Masters golf championship? After each chapter of The Greatest Texas Sports Stories You've Never Heard, sports fans in the Lone Star State are certain to say, "I didn't know that." AL PICKETT writes for Dave Campbell's Texas Football, Red Raider Sports, and Total Texas Baseball magazines, and he hosts a daily radio show in Abilene. He is also the author of Team of the Century: The Greatest High School Football Team in Texas (State House Press, 2004) and Wishbone Wisdom, Emory Bellard: Texas Football Visionary as Told to Al Pickett (State House Press, 2010).

Download or read book Clearing Hurdles written by Dan O'Brien and published by . This book was released on 2012 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Only one man, the Olympic Gold Medalist in the decathlon, is officially deemed the World's Greatest Athlete. As an orphan who has never met his biological parents, as a recovering alcoholic, as the subject of a timelessly infamous advertising campaign, as the athlete of maybe the most publicised and shocking failure in the history of sports, and as a man who persevered through it all to dominate his sport like few athletes ever have, it is no wonder Track & Field News calls Dan's life, the stuff movies are made of. Dan's meteoric rise to prominence saw him take the No.1 world ranking less than two years removed from his only college season, and he became an overnight celebrity when cast alongside Dave Johnson in Reebok's massive Dan & Dave ad campaign. The commercials debuted during the Super Bowl, but when O'Brien infamously failed to qualify for the Olympic team it was called the most shocking moment in U.S. Olympic history, and to this day ESPN ranks it as one of the all-time sports busts. Undeterred, O'Brien went on to capture his record-tying fifth national championship in addition to a third consecutive world championship the first decathlete in history to do so. Then at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, with what seemed like an entire country in his corner, O'Brien completed his tale of redemption by becoming the oldest decathlete to ever win an Olympic gold medal. Now, through the pages of this profoundly inspiring and fast-paced memoir, Dan will chronicle his extraordinary career. This book also offers a window into the world of the decathlon and an inside look at some of its most influential athletes. O'Brien offers an insiders view of some of the greatest Olympic decathletes -- of Bill Toomey the intellectual artist, Milt Campbell the most inspirational, and Bruce Jenner as the man most driven.

Download or read book One Yard Short written by Les Steckel and published by Thomas Nelson. This book was released on 2008-09-14 with total page 224 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Coach Les Steckel understands that life is difficult. It's marked by disappointments and defeats. But what's important is what you do with those defeats. One Yard Short is the amazing story of Les Steckel. A coach for 32 years, with 23 of those seasons coaching in the NFL, Steckel has been through his shares of ups and downs, having experienced the pain and disappointment of job loss time and time again in a way that only professional sports coaches know. A lesser man would have given up and become bitter, but in the midst of each disappointment, each "failure," God was there, picking him up, dusting him off, telling Coach Steckel that He believed in him and that there was a special plan for his life. In One Yard Short, Coach Steckel teaches readers through his own life lessons and football experiences how to hear God's voice in the midst of disappointments and failures.

Download or read book Major Taylor written by Conrad Kerber and published by Skyhorse. This book was released on 2014-05-06 with total page 552 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the wake of the Tour de France’s fallen heroes, the story of one of history’s most legendary cyclists provides a much-needed antidote. In 1907 the world’s most popular athlete was not Cy Young or Ty Cobb. Rather, he was a black bicycle racer named “Major” Taylor. In his day, Taylor became a spiritual and athletic idol. He was the fastest man in America and a champion who prevailed over unspeakable cruelty. The men who aided him were among the most colorful to emerge from the era. When hotel and restaurant operators denied Taylor food and lodgings, forcing him to sleep in horse stables and to race hungry, there was a benevolent racer-turned-trainer named Birdie Munger, who took Taylor under his wing and into his home. Then along came Arthur Zimmerman, an internationally famous bike racer, who gently mentored Taylor when some riders drew the color line and refused to race against him. Taylor’s manager, pugnacious Irishman and famed Broadway producer William Brady, stood up for him when track owners tried barring him from competition. From the Old World came a rakishly handsome, mustachioed sports promoter named Victor Breyer, who lured Taylor overseas for a dramatic, Seabiscuit versus War Admiral–like match race that would be widely remembered a quarter century later. With a foreword by World Champion and three-time Tour de France winner Greg LeMond, this spellbinding saga of fortitude, grace, forgiveness, and a man’s unyielding will to win against the greatest of odds is sure to become a classic that will be enjoyed by everyone. Skyhorse Publishing, as well as our Sports Publishing imprint, is proud to publish a broad range of books for readers interested in sports—books about baseball, pro football, college football, pro and college basketball, hockey, or soccer, we have a book about your sport or your team. In addition to books on popular team sports, we also publish books for a wide variety of athletes and sports enthusiasts, including books on running, cycling, horseback riding, swimming, tennis, martial arts, golf, camping, hiking, aviation, boating, and so much more. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are committed to publishing books on subjects that are sometimes overlooked by other publishers and to authors whose work might not otherwise find a home.

Download or read book Jewish Jocks written by Franklin Foer and published by Twelve. This book was released on 2012-10-30 with total page 237 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A collection of essays by today's preeminent writers on significant Jewish figures in sports, told with humor, heart, and an eye toward the ever elusive question of Jewish identity. Jewish Jocks: An Unorthodox Hall of Fame is a timeless collection of biographical musings, sociological riffs about assimilation, first-person reflections, and, above all, great writing on some of the most influential and unexpected pioneers in the world of sports. Featuring work by today's preeminent writers, these essays explore significant Jewish athletes, coaches, broadcasters, trainers, and even team owners (in the finite universe of Jewish Jocks, they count!). Contributors include some of today's most celebrated writers covering a vast assortment of topics, including David Remnick on the biggest mouth in sports, Howard Cosell; Jonathan Safran Foer on the prodigious and pugnacious Bobby Fischer; Man Booker Prize-winner Howard Jacobson writing elegantly on Marty Reisman, America's greatest ping-pong player and the sport's ultimate showman. Deborah Lipstadt examines the continuing legacy of the Munich Massacre, the fortieth anniversary of which coincided with the 2012 London Olympics. Jane Leavy reveals why Sandy Koufax agreed to attend her daughter's bat mitzvah. And we learn how Don Lerman single-handedly thrust competitive eating into the public eye with three pounds of butter and 120 jalapeño peppers. These essays are supplemented by a cover design and illustrations throughout by Mark Ulriksen. From settlement houses to stadiums and everywhere in between, Jewish Jock features men and women who do not always fit the standard athletic mold. Rather, they utilized talents long prized by a people of the book (and a people of commerce) to game these games to their advantage, in turn forcing the rest of the world to either copy their methods -- or be left in their dust.

Download or read book Native American Son written by Kate Buford and published by Knopf. This book was released on 2010-10-26 with total page 709 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The first comprehensive biography of the legendary figure who defined excellence in American sports: Jim Thorpe, arguably the greatest all-around athlete the United States has ever seen. With clarity and a fine eye for detail, Kate Buford traces the pivotal moments of Thorpe’s incomparable career: growing up in the tumultuous Indian Territory of Oklahoma; leading the Carlisle Indian Industrial School football team, coached by the renowned “Pop” Warner, to victories against the country’s finest college teams; winning gold medals in the 1912 Olympics pentathlon and decathlon; defining the burgeoning sport of professional football and helping to create what would become the National Football League; and playing long, often successful—and previously unexamined—years in professional baseball. But, at the same time, Buford vividly depicts the difficulties Thorpe faced as a Native American—and a Native American celebrity at that—early in the twentieth century. We also see the infamous loss of his Olympic medals, stripped from him because he had previously played professional baseball, an event that would haunt Thorpe for the rest of his life. We see his struggles with alcoholism and personal misfortune, losing his first child and moving from one failed marriage to the next, coming to distrust many of the hands extended to him. Finally, we learn the details of his vigorous advocacy for Native American rights while he chased a Hollywood career, and the truth behind the supposed reinstatement of his Olympic record in 1982. Here is the story—long overdue and brilliantly told—of a complex, iconoclastic, profoundly talented man whose life encompassed both tragic limitations and truly extraordinary achievements.

Download or read book The Mindful Athlete written by George Mumford and published by Parallax Press. This book was released on 2015-04-17 with total page 238 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The all-star advisor to athletes like Kobe Bryant and Michael Jordan shares his revolutionary mindfulness-based program for elevating athletic performance—featuring a foreword by legendary NBA coach Phil Jackson. “George helped me understand the art of mindfulness. To be neither distracted or focused, rigid or flexible, passive or aggressive. I learned just to be.” —Kobe Bryant Michael Jordan credits George Mumford with transforming his on-court leadership of the Bulls, helping Jordan lead the team to six NBA championships. Mumford also helped Kobe Bryant, Andrew Bynum, and Lamar Odom and countless other NBA players turn around their games. A widely respected public speaker and coach, Mumford is sharing his own story and the strategies that have made these athletes into stars in The Mindful Athlete: The Secret to Pure Performance. His proven, gentle but groundbreaking mindfulness techniques can transform the performance of anyone with a goal, be they an Olympian, weekend warrior, executive, hacker, or artist. When Michael Jordan left the Chicago Bulls to play baseball in 1993, the team was in crisis. Coach Phil Jackson, a long-time mindfulness practitioner, contacted Dr. Kabat-Zinn to find someone who could teach mindfulness techniques to the struggling team—someone who would have credibility and could speak the language of his players. Kabat-Zinn led Jackson to Mumford and their partnership began. Mumford has worked with Jackson and each of the eleven teams he coached to become NBA champions. His roster of champion clients has since blossomed way beyond basketball to include corporate executives, Olympians, and athletes in many different sports. With a charismatic teaching style that combines techniques of engaged mindfulness with lessons from popular culture icons such as Yoda, Indiana Jones, and Bruce Lee, Mumford tells illuminating stories about his larger-than-life clients. His writing is down-to-earth and easy to understand and apply. The Mindful Athlete is an engrossing story and an invaluable resource for anyone looking to elevate their game, no matter what the pursuit, and includes a foreword by Phil Jackson.

Download or read book Born to Run written by Christopher McDougall and published by Profile Books. This book was released on 2010-12-09 with total page 296 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A New York Times bestseller 'A sensation ... a rollicking tale well told' - The Times At the heart of Born to Run lies a mysterious tribe of Mexican Indians, the Tarahumara, who live quietly in canyons and are reputed to be the best distance runners in the world; in 1993, one of them, aged 57, came first in a prestigious 100-mile race wearing a toga and sandals. A small group of the world's top ultra-runners (and the awe-inspiring author) make the treacherous journey into the canyons to try to learn the tribe's secrets and then take them on over a course 50 miles long. With incredible energy and smart observation, McDougall tells this story while asking what the secrets are to being an incredible runner. Travelling to labs at Harvard, Nike, and elsewhere, he comes across an incredible cast of characters, including the woman who recently broke the world record for 100 miles and for her encore ran a 2:50 marathon in a bikini, pausing to down a beer at the 20 mile mark.

Download or read book A Sporting Chance written by William Humber and published by Dundurn. This book was released on 2004-11-22 with total page 171 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Over the years, Canadians have smugly asserted their country's more tolerant culture in race relations. Yet as this story of African-Canadian participation in sports demonstrates, the record is far more troubling. In reality, Canada's record in matters of race was a disturbing blend of occasional good intentions and ugly practices. The study of the Black athletic experience in Canada is not only a revealing portrait into our past, but also one more demonstration of some time-honoured truths about human achievement and the necessity of the public will to provide open and fair forums for equal access to participation. Presented in a chronological sequence, individual sports are presented along with the leading athletes who brought grace and a determination to achieve. Included are George Dixon, Sam Langford, Reuben Mayes, Ray Lewis, Sam Richardson, Dr. Phil Edwards, Jackie Robinson, Harry Jerome, Earl Walls, Donovan Bailey, Sylvia Sweeney, Molly Killingbeck, Herb Carnegie, Jamaal Magliore, Perdita Felicien and Jarome Iginla, to name but a few of the fine athletes who form a part of Canada's sports heritage. "As Canada's foremost baseball historian, Bill Humber has chronicled another fascinating chapter from Canada's rich sports history. This is an excellent read – entertaining, educational and expertly researched." – Brian McFarlane, Sports Family Ltd.

Download or read book What Made Maddy Run written by Kate Fagan and published by Little, Brown. This book was released on 2017-08-01 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The heartbreaking story of college athlete Madison Holleran, whose life and death by suicide reveal the struggle of young people suffering from mental illness today in this #1 New York Times Sports and Fitness bestseller *Instant New York Times Bestseller* #1 New York Times Monthly Sports and Fitness bestseller If you scrolled through the Instagram feed of 19-year-old Maddy Holleran, you would see a perfect life: a freshman at an Ivy League school, recruited for the track team, who was also beautiful, popular, and fiercely intelligent. This was a girl who succeeded at everything she tried, and who was only getting started. But when Maddy began her long-awaited college career, her parents noticed something changed. Previously indefatigable Maddy became withdrawn, and her thoughts centered on how she could change her life. In spite of thousands of hours of practice and study, she contemplated transferring from the school that had once been her dream. When Maddy's dad, Jim, dropped her off for the first day of spring semester, she held him a second longer than usual. That would be the last time Jim would see his daughter. WHAT MADE MADDY RUN began as a piece that Kate Fagan, a columnist for espnW, wrote about Maddy's life. What started as a profile of a successful young athlete whose life ended in suicide became so much larger when Fagan started to hear from other college athletes also struggling with mental illness. This is the story of Maddy Holleran's life, and her struggle with depression, which also reveals the mounting pressures young people, and college athletes in particular, face to be perfect, especially in an age of relentless connectivity and social media saturation.

Download or read book Changing Your Story written by Bill Beswick and published by Penguin UK. This book was released on 2021-08-26 with total page 208 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 'Bill offers you an opportunity to grow your mind and think like a champion. I recommend it to you!' Adam Peaty ****** We all love stories. They make us feel, help us connect, relate to one another, and make sense of our lives. Bill Beswick is a storyteller who has 20 powerful life lessons to share from his work with his clients at the top of their fieldsto help us all overcome our fears, boost our performance and achieve success. Leading sports and performance psychologist, Bill Beswick, sees sport as a story of human connection. When faced with physical challenges, pressure and fatigue, the mind is the athlete and the body is simply the means. With an exclusive foreword written by British gold-medal Olympian Adam Peaty, Changing Your Story explores how the way we think and feel is vital for releasing positive energy and improving our performance. Beswick's 20 lessons will bestow resilience and guide you through the process of harnessing the full power of your physical abilities. This is a book about change. Bill Beswick's advice is guaranteed to equip you with new, more efficient ways to think. Through his powerful storytelling, he will help you let go of a negative mind-set and embrace a much stronger, positive and determined one. Anything is possible when you realise it's never too late to switch direction and change your story.

Download or read book The Revolt of the Black Athlete written by Harry Edwards and published by University of Illinois Press. This book was released on 2017-05-02 with total page 232 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Revolt of the Black Athlete hit sport and society like an Ali combination. This Fiftieth Anniversary edition of Harry Edwards's classic of activist scholarship arrives even as a new generation engages with the issues he explored. Edwards's new introduction and afterword revisit the revolts by athletes like Muhammad Ali, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Tommie Smith, and John Carlos. At the same time, he engages with the struggles of a present still rife with racism, double-standards, and economic injustice. Again relating the rebellion of black athletes to a larger spirit of revolt among black citizens, Edwards moves his story forward to our era of protests, boycotts, and the dramatic politicization of athletes by Black Lives Matter. Incisive yet ultimately hopeful, The Revolt of the Black Athlete is the still-essential study of the conflicts at the interface of sport, race, and society.

Download or read book TV Guide written by and published by . This book was released on 2005-10 with total page 794 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Collier s written by and published by . This book was released on 1904 with total page 786 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Letters to a Young Athlete written by Chris Bosh and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2021-06-01 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A legendary NBA player shares his remarkable story, infused with hard-earned wisdom about the journey to self-mastery from a life at the highest level of professional sports Chris Bosh, NBA Hall of Famer, eleven-time All-Star, two-time NBA champion, Olympic gold medalist, and the league’s Global Ambassador, had his playing days cut short at their prime by a freak medical condition. His extraordinary career ended “in a doctor’s office in the middle of the afternoon.” Forced to reckon with moving forward, he found himself looking back over the course he'd taken, to the pinnacle of the NBA and beyond. Reflecting on all he had learned from a long list of basketball legends, from LeBron and Kobe to Pat Riley and Coach K, he saw that his important lessons weren’t about basketball so much as the inner game of success—right attitude, right commitment, right flow within a team. Now he shares that journey, giving us a view from the inside of what greatness feels like and what it takes. Letters to a Young Athlete offers a proven path for taming your inner voice and making it your ally, through the challenges of failure and success alike.