Showing titles in Sports History

The spring of 1971 heralded the greatest geopolitical realignment in a generation. After 22 years of antagonism, China and the United States suddenly moved toward a détente - achieved not by politicians but by ping-pong players. The Western press delighted in the absurdity of the moment and branded it "Ping-Pong Diplomacy". But for the Chinese, ping-pong was always political, a strategic cog in Mao Zedong's foreign policy.

Available once again for a new generation of audiences, the second volume in Arthur Ashe’s epic trilogy that chronicles the remarkable legacy of Black athletes in the United States—a major addition to our understanding of American history and the fulfillment of this legendary sports star and global activist’s lifelong dream.

Hockey sprang to life in Waterloo, Iowa, when the Black Hawks and the United States Hockey League arrived in 1962. Immediate success on the ice allowed the franchise to put down deep roots. Paul Johnson, Jim Coyle, Bill Dobbyn, and a full cast led the Hawks to five consecutive championships in the 1960s against rival teams featuring players like Herb Brooks, Bill Masterton, and Paul Coppo. The Hawks' early accomplishments built a tradition that helped the sport through many leaner seasons in Waterloo.

Every sports fan recalls with amazing accuracy a pivotal winning moment involving a favorite team or player - Henry Aaron hitting his 715th home run to pass Babe Ruth, Christian Laettner's famous buzzer-beating shot in the NCAA tournament for Duke. Yet lost are the stories on the other side of these history-making moments, the athletes who experienced not transcendent glory but crushing disappointment: the cornerback who missed the tackle on the big touchdown, the relief pitcher who lost the series, the world-record holding Olympian who fell on the ice.

Why is the athlete so important to us? Few public figures can dominate the public imagination with such power and authority. Drawing from art, literature, politics, and history, Something like the Gods explores the powerful grip the athlete has always held on the Western imagination. Amidon examines the archetype of the competitor as it evolved from antiquity to the present day, from athlete-warriors such as Achilles and Ulysses to global media icons like Ali, Jordan, and Tiger Woods.

Introducing Bouncing Through Time: The Fascinating Story of Basketball's Evolution From its humble beginnings in a YMCA in Massachusetts, to the dazzling courts of the NBA, basketball has come a long way since its inception in the late 1800s. Bouncing Through Time is an engaging and comprehensive eBook that takes readers on a riveting journey through the sport's storied history, from its origins to the present day. This eBook is packed with fascinating anecdotes, insights, and trivia about basketball. Beginning with Chapter One, you'll learn about the sport's origins and how it took root in...

In State of Play, 12-year Major League veteran, Emmy Award-winning MLB Network analyst, and best-selling author Bill Ripken breaks down these modern statistical methods to explain which ones make sense in the game's historical context, bringing them together with proven old-school strategies. He simplifies those sabermetric terms hastily added to the baseball lexicon without being fully realized, taking new-school confusion out of old-school baseball's tried-and-true common sense.

Your first kiss. The birth of a child. Your first big job. These indelible memories shape our identity. Great sports moments do that, too. Join one of America’s most prolific sports history writers and relive 15 spectacular sports moments that transfixed and inspired a nation. David L. Hudson, Jr. is the author of more than 40 books, an award-winning professor, and a judge for professional boxing events. In this audio series, he explores unforgettable sports moments spanning football, baseball, golf, basketball, tennis, soccer, and more.

Michael Jordan, LeBron James, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Bill Russell, Wilt Chamberlain, Shaquille O'Neal, Tim Duncan, Kobe Bryant. Now, let's dive into the detailed analysis.

Fewer people have rowed across the Atlantic Ocean than have climbed Mount Everest. Adam Rackley is among them. For s70 days, he and his rowing partner ate, slept, and rowed in a boat seven meters long and two meters wide, in one of the world's most extreme environments. This is his story of adventure, endurance, and self-discovery. They were following in the wake of pioneers.

In celebration of the Women’s Tennis Association’s 50th anniversary, this updated and expanded edition—based on the 1988 original We Have Come a Long Way: The Story of Women's Tennis—includes more than 33 years’ worth of stories about inspiring women and their achievements. The book arrives 53 years after King and eight other women players broke with the male tennis establishment and launched their own professional tour.

Catching up with the greatest Aggies players - newly updated! Since the beginning of A & M football, in 1894, the Aggies have produced some of the greatest athletes to ever come out of Texas. Legendary players have plowed their way to greatness while carving their names into the heart of Texas fans under the Aggies banner. But what happened to these juggernauts after the final score was tallied and the game was over? The answer can only be found in this newly updated edition of Texas A & M Where Have You Gone?

The most popular college football team in the early 20th century belonged to an institution called the Carlisle Indian Industrial School. Its story begins with Lt. Col. Richard Henry Pratt, a fierce abolitionist who believed that Native Americans deserved a place in American society. In 1879, Pratt made a treacherous journey to the Dakota Territory to recruit Carlisle's first students. Years later, three students approached Pratt with the notion of forming a football team.

The Olympic Games have become the single greatest festival of a universal and cosmopolitan humanity. Seventeen days of sporting competition watched and followed on every continent and in every country on the planet. Simply the greatest show on earth. Yet when the modern games were inaugurated in Athens in 1896, the founders thought them a 'display of manly virtue', an athletic celebration of the kind of amateur gentleman who would rule the world. How was such a ritual invented?

In 1967, a Cleveland businessman had a brilliant idea: Why not start a women's football team? It was conceived as a gimmick and a publicity stunt in the vein of the Harlem Globetrotters. He recruited women to compete as a traveling football troupe; much to his surprise, he learned that women really wanted to play — and play hard. Hail Mary is the story of the unlikely rise of the National Women's Football League and the players who loved a game that society told them they shouldn't be playing.

Volume 1 of The Story of the Giro d'Italia tells of Italy's most celebrated riders: Costante Girardengo, the first campionissimo, or “Champion of Champions”; Alfredo Binda, who so dominated the Giro that one year he was paid by the organizers not to enter; Gino Bartali, who looked to become the dominating rider of his era; and Fausto Coppi, a fascinating personality and Bartali's great rival, who became not only Italy's, but the world's finest rider.

These days, swimming may seem like the most egalitarian of pastimes, open to anyone with a swimsuit - but this wasn't always the case. In the 19th century, swimming was exclusively the domain of men, and access to pools was a luxury limited by class. Women were (barely) allowed to swim in the sea, as long as no men were around, but even into the 20th century they could be arrested and fined if they dared dive into a lake. It wasn't until the 1930s that women were finally granted equal access.

With over 30 years' experience, there is perhaps no one better qualified in the art of carp fishing than angling legend John Wilson. In this essential carp fishing guide, John covers everything you need to know, providing beginners and experts alike with invaluable hints and tips. Along the way John offers advice on the best equipment for each scenario as he passes on a wealth of knowledge that can come only from a lifetime of fishing.

From the High Sierra to the Adirondacks and the Everglades, Dan White travels the nation to experience firsthand - and sometimes face-first - how the American wilderness transformed from the devil's playground into a source of adventure, relaxation, and renewal. Whether he's camping nude in cougar country, being attacked by wildlife while "glamping", or crashing a girls-only adventure for urban teens, White seeks to animate the evolution of outdoor recreation.

The Paris-Roubaix bicycle race, nicknamed "The Hell of the North," is famous for sending riders over brutal cobblestone roads. Only the strong, brave and lucky survive the hours of bone-shaking racing without suffering some mishap or catastrophe. It is so difficult no one wins it by accident, and winning Paris-Roubaix automatically puts a rider among the immortals of the sport. Why did Paris-Roubaix emerge to be such a special race? Les Woodland tells the inside story of one of cycling's classics.