Kategoria BISAC: Biography & Autobiography >> Sports

In 1963, Willi Unsoeld became an international hero for his conquest of the West Ridge of Everest. A charismatic professor of philosophy, Unsoeld was one of the greatest climbers of the twentiethth century, a man whose raw physical power and casual fearlessness inspired a generation of adventurers.

In 1976, during an expedition to Nanda Devi, the tallest peak in India, Unsoeld's philosophy of spiritual growth through mortal risk was tragically tested. The outcome of that expedition continues to fuel one of the most fascinating debates in mountaineering history.

Fatal...

This is the first collection of dramatic, first-person accounts of commercial fishing written by the men and women who work in the nation's most dangerous occupation. Nineteen diverse fisher-writers, from the famous to the unknown, take the reader swordfish harpooning on the Georges Banks, winter crabbing in the Bering Sea, sea-urchin diving off Maine, herring fishing in Alaska, shark-harpooning off Scotland and points between. Together, they plumb the extremes of living, working, and sometimes dying at sea, creating the most intensely personal portrait of fishing and fishermen to...

In California, a team of talented young men begin pursuing the most elusive dream in sports, the Olympic Games. The pressure steadily increases as two best friends (a mentor and his protege) reach the top of the world rankings and unexpectedly find themselves direct competitors. Their teammates include an emerging star methodically plotting to retrace his father's path to Olympic glory, as well as a super-extraordinary athlete desperate to walk away from it all. Led by one of the most passionate coaches in sports, a brilliant and explosive strategist on a personal quest for redemption,...

Few people in sports have had more books written about them. This is the first by Bob Knight---one of the most literate, candid, quoted, and outspoken men in American public life telling in this first-person account of his full, rich life. Much of that life has been in basketball, most of it because of basketball, but it also has brought him forward as a coach, who has proved academic responsibility and production of championship college athletic teams not only can coexist but should. His excitement as things start anew for him at Texas Tech is matched here by his characteristic frankness...

As a kid caddying for his father on the sunburned links of West Texas, Turk Pipkin had dreamed of great achievements in golf. Unfortunately, life got in the way. A lack of talent didn't help much either. It was not until his father passed away that Turk realized he'd forgotten his childhood dream and had lost the simple joy he'd once found in the game.
Deciding that the time for all his pitiful golf excuses was past, Turk embarked upon the golf quest of a lifetime. For twelve months, he'd ignore work and other distractions, and dedicate himself to the game. He'd seek instruction from...

In the 1970s, a decade before bumper stickers and T-shirts bearing the phrase Eddie Would Go began popping up all over the Hawaiian islands and throughout the surfing world, Eddie Aikau was proving what it meant to be a "waterman." As a fearless and gifted surfer, he rode the biggest waves in the world; as the first and most famous Waimea Bay lifeguard on the North Shore, he saved hundreds of lives from its treacherous waters; and as a proud Hawaiian, he sacrificed his life to save the crew aboard the voyaging canoe Hokule'a.

Eddie Would Go is the compelling story of Eddie...

It was love at first sight . . . One day I picked up a basketball, and it never let me go.

For fifty seasons Lute Olson has been teaching young athletes the skills of basketball---and life. Starting as a high school coach, he worked his way to the top of the basketball world---winning more than a thousand games, a national championship and world championship, producing some of the NBA's biggest stars, and eventually being enshrined in the basketball Hall of Fame.

But Lute is far more than a basketball story. His partner for forty-seven years in building championship...

Woody Hayes was one of the greatest football coaches in history---and one of the most fascinating. More than a brilliant coach, he was a complicated, contradictory man. The former history teacher ran his football empire as an absolute monarchy, but had a surprisingly altruistic side, hidden from the public, . and author John Lombardo uses his extensive sports-writing experience to craft an accurate portrait of one of the most complex and fascinating figures in football.
First and foremost, Woody Hayes was a coach---and his achievements are stunning. While at Ohio State, he won five...

African Americans and Latino Americans have played an increasingly significant role in the ongoing saga of American sports--and not just in popular sports like basketball and baseball. This is the first comprehensive, multisport biographical resource to concentrate exclusively on the accomplishments, achievements, and personal struggles of notable African American and Latino American athletes of the last quarter century. A total of 175 important contemporary athletes--113 African Americans and 62 Latino Americans--are profiled. Most made significant contributions to their sport since 1990....

Lou Gehrig's record for consecutive games played stood for decades until Cal Ripken Jr. broke it in 1995. Most people remember Gehrig for this record, or for the disease that claimed his life (and now bears his name). But what many forget is how prolific a hitter he was. The son of German immigrants, Gehrig rose from inauspicious beginnings to become a scholar-athlete at Columbia University, and then moved to Major League Baseball, where he knocked in almost 2,000 runs and helped his team win six world championships. William Kashatus recounts the perserverance and poise of a life which...

The last player to hit .400 in the Major Leagues, Ted Williams approached hitting as both an art and a science. Through his discipline, drive, and extraordinarily keen eyesight, "The Splendid Splinter" became the best hitter in baseball. From his early days as a cocksure rookie for the Boston Red Sox, through his two Triple Crown seasons, six batting titles, his service in two wars, and his tenure as a Major League manager, Ted Williams forged an indelible image in the minds of baseball fans. Yet Williams's public resentment toward fans and, especially, the media, made him few friends....

When the National Baseball Hall of Fame inducted its first class of players in 1936, Ty Cobb received more votes than any other player--even more than did fellow inductee Babe Ruth. Cobb, known as the Georgia Peach, was universally recognized as the best player from the dead ball era. He also had the reputation of being its most ferocious player. His fierce determination to succeed helped Cobb equal or surpass more offensive records than any other player, and his career average of .367 is still the highest of all time. Cobb's unyielding and often ferocious work ethic, though, made him many...

Rogers Hornsby has the highest career batting average of any right-handed hitter and the second highest career mark overall. The Rajah won seven batting titles and hit over .400 three times. He was also one of baseball's most successful player-managers, leading the St. Louis Cardinals to a historic World Series triumph over the Yankees in 1926. Hornsby had an unrivaled passion for baseball; as a young player, he once even donned a disguise to play in a women's league. But his unyielding drive to succeed often alienated him from lesser players, and his penchant for the racetrack made him...