Sportbiographien

He is the most ornery, cantankerous rule-breaker the sports world has ever seen. Seventy million people witnessed his pioneering event. While his athleticism is unparalleled, it is his persona - as The Destroyer and later Doctor X - that earns the reverence of people worldwide...yet few have seen his face.Masked Decisions paints an in-depth portrait of Dick Beyer's unexpected journey from a working-class Buffalo upbringing to a sports standout at Syracuse University to a world class wrestling trailblazer. Along the way, readers are given front-row seats to experiences and decisions that took a Depression-era boy into a euphoric future. An inspirational story of family, personal resolve and making the best of situations, it resonates with today's headlines.Researched and written over three years, the book presents the never-before-revealed backstory of the athletically gifted Beyer. While working toward two college degrees, Beyer inadvertently morphed into one of the most compelling amateur sports stars of his era. He co-captained his football team to its first bowl appearance, was chosen Syracuse University's 'athlete of the year', medaled in national wrestling tournaments, and while on the coaching staff of Ben Schwartzwalder, mentored freshman Jim Brown, helped guide the 1959 team to a national championship, and developed the offensive line that propelled Ernie Davis to the Heisman Trophy, before taking up professional wrestling full time.Through early television broadcasts of wrestling, Beyer gained respect, but not marquee status, until a Los Angeles promoter put him in a mask and named him The Destroyer. At first, Beyer detested the gimmick, but soon realized he had an opportunity for something unique. However, even Beyer could not foresee how his life would dramatically change after a match with the father of Japanese wrestling thrust him into the spotlight. The Destroyer became an international star and Japan's biggest media celebrity, but soon his world would be rocked. More than a celebrity sports bio, Masked Decisions underlines the human emotions and consequences associated with fame, faults and fortitude. Ultimately, Beyer's most significant and lasting achievement is realized not in the ring but outside it. His example influenced many, and his story will inspire many more.

Trials to Triumph is the autobiography of Arthur "Flash" Johnson. Journey with him through his physical and spiritual bouts, as he grows from poverty in East Saint Louis to prominence in the Olympic boxing ring. Sit with him as fights Leukemia in the quietness of the hospital room long after the crowds are gone, and be inspired by his faith in God, which brought him from Trials to Triumph time and time again.

Growing up in Kinston, Alabama, Rick Wood had two goals: to play high school basketball for his role model, Creigh Purnell, and to become a high school coach and teacher himself.Though he was never able to make Coach Purnell's varsity, he enjoyed a stellar coaching career. Rick Wood retired with 662 wins -- at the time, the most by any active coach in North Carolina. His players were known for their teamwork, hustle, and sportsmanship. They were also known for being true student-athletes, receiving two awards for having the best team GPAs in the entire state.40 Seasons chronicles how one small town boy turned his dream into a lifetime of achievements. Through his eyes, we discover universal lessons about winning, losing, teaching, and living.

Les Woodland climbed aboard his old Carlton bike to take a nostalgia trip across Belgium and Holland to visit some of cycling's greatest riders. "Cycling Heroes: The Golden Years" tells the story of that journey he took in the early 1990s and the time he spent with some of the finest riders from the 1950s, '60s and '70s. Rik van Steenbergen, Rik van Looy, Jan Janssen, Wim van Est, Hennie Kuiper and Peter Post were some of the most colorful and dominating riders of an era that produced many of the sport's greatest-ever champions. In this book Woodland has collected their and other riders' precious and fascinating recollections, some going back to a time of leather saddles, cloth caps and spare tires wrapped over riders' shoulders; when screaming fans packed smoke-filled velodromes to see their heroes up close; when a stage of the Tour de France could take more than eleven hours. Woodland has filled in his portrait of racing's golden years with the stories of those riders who were either too far away or time got there first, including Fausto Coppi, Louison Bobet, Jacques Anquetil and Raymond Poulidor. Join Les Woodland on a captivating journey back to the golden age of racing.

When legendary Red Sox hitter Ted Williams died on July 5, 2002, newspapers reviewed the stats, compared him to other legends of the game, and declared him the greatest hitter who ever lived. Richard Ben Cramer, Pulitzer Prize winner and acclaimed biographer of Joe DiMaggio, decodes this oversized icon who dominated the game and finds not just a great player, but also a great man.In 1986, Richard Ben Cramer spent months on a profile of Ted Williams, and the result was the Esquire article that has been acclaimed ever since as one of the finest pieces of sports reporting ever written. Given special acknowledgment in The Best American Sportswriting of the Century and adapted for a coffee-table book called Ted Williams: The Seasons of the Kid, the original piece is now available in this special edition, with new material about Williams''s later years. While his decades after Fenway Park were out of the spotlight -- the way Ted preferred it -- they were arguably his richest, as he loved and inspired his family, his fans, the players, and the game itself. This is a remembrance for the ages.

Robert Lindley ¿Lin¿ Murray, a middle-distance runner and tennis player and a Phi Beta Kappa chemical engineer at Stanford University, went east after graduating in 1914 to play tennis. He beat the top intercollegiate players, won several tournaments, and earned a fourth place national ranking. Murray won the 1916 U.S. Indoor title and joined Hooker Electrochemical in Niagara Falls, New York. Reluctant to play in the 1917 and 1918 national championships due to wartime contracts, Murray was persuaded by Hooker¿s president to play and he won them both, the latter over Bill Tilden. Murray rose through the ranks of Hooker to president, CEO, and chairman of the board and was elected to the International Tennis Hall of Fame a year before retiring. Leading into Murray¿s exploits is a concise history of tennis, when and where the game was introduced to the United States, and American tennis through Lin Murray¿s brief but brilliant career. Also included is a review of California tennis and the significant impact of its players during the second decade of the twentieth century. The book concludes with short biographies of Murray¿s female and male contemporaries, before shorts and skirts replaced flannels and petticoats.

Over the years, I have reviewed and edited many types of writing, as well as written many articles for papers and magazines. Creating a Story Line and maintaining a continuing sense of continuity throughout can be a difficult dilemma. However, some authors don't seem to understand or comprehend that...they just can't seem to smell the coffee!!Bud Grounds can smell the Coffee ! Bud Grounds has enough material to fill several books if he would choose to do so. His writing is informative, yet, interesting, thought provoking. From the beginning of the editing process, his Romantic side could be seen and his writing style is fresh, alive, here-and-now, real life stuff. From the first page, where he admits his trepidation at writing, to the last Romantic paragraph about Sara, the real love of his life, we see him chat about the joys and sorrows of both the Civilian life and the Military life in a plethora of situations, all of which, for those not having ever been in the Military, are both informative and true to the real events of his life.....some of them rather Romantic, some disturbing, some just dumb! His dilemmas with the numerous Civilian jobs he had are occasionally funny, often cute, but always filled with interest. His chatter about his children invoke the typical Grandfather. But the conversations about Sara are always fresher, clearer and you can almost see her!As you engorge yourself in its pages, let your mind travel with Bud as he journeys about - enjoy the trip with him; see and hear what he saw and heard......I did. And I had a good trip!......Hope yours is just as fun and informative as mine.Get a drink, something to munch on, sit back, and.....ENJOY !! Dr.David Abe

Tells the story of how Michael Francis McTigue left Kilnamona, Co Clare, to seek fame and fortune in the United States, only for circumstances to bring him back to Dublin where he would win one of the strangest world title fights in boxing history.

Stella Walsh was a Polish-American Olympic track and field icon of the 1930s. When Walsh was murdered years after her track career had ended, the autopsy brought her sex-and her legacy-into question. This first biography of Walsh reveals in detail her personal struggles, athletic triumphs, and tragic death.

Born in Austin, Texas in 1899, Bibb August Falk was a classic stereotype of a tall Texan; a man who brimmed with confidence and played the game of baseball with a swagger. Retiring from major league baseball after a brilliant playing career following the 1931 season, Falk returned to the University of Texas in 1940 as head baseball coach and proceeded to become a Longhorn legend.

Glenn Scobey "Pop" Warner (1871-1954) stands among the giants of the coaching profession, alongside Knute Rockne, Amos Alonzo Stagg, George Halas and Vince Lombardi. This career retrospective traces Warner's rise to become one of the most influential coaches in football, who helped refine the sport from a tedious, push-and-shove affair into the dynamic, high-speed game of today.

For three decades, Louis Norman "Bobo" Newsom (1907-1962) was one of the most well-known pitchers in baseball. Drawing on interviews with family, friends and former teammates, this first full-length biography of Newsom takes an entertaining look at the life and career of one of sports' most memorable characters.

George Herman "Babe" Ruth knew he could profit from celebrity. He soon with Christy Walsh, baseball's first publicity agent. Walsh sold Ruth's ghostwritten byline to a newspaper syndicate. Walsh's writers made him a hero, crafting his public image as a lovable scalawag. Drawing on primary sources, this book examines the stories, separating exaggerated facts from clear falsehoods.