Athlete Biography

For nearly a decade, Simone Biles has dazzled gymnastics fans across the globe with jaw-dropping flips, twists, and dismounts. Her record-breaking performances have catapulted her to the top of the sport and made her a hero to young people. But well before Simone faced Olympic trials on the balance beam and rings, she confronted real-life challenges as a kid, as she moved in and out of foster care. With the support and love of her grandparents, plus her unwavering drive to make history on the ultimate stage in sports, she grew into an incredible role model and activist.

With her shooting range, swagger, and play-making prowess, the electrifying Caitlin Clark became one of the greatest college basketball players of all time and helped skyrocket women’s basketball to a new level of popularity. Now in the WNBA with the Indiana Fever, she’s poised to take professional basketball by storm as well. This inspiring biography recaps Caitlin’s journey from multiple sport star growing up in West Des Moines, Iowa to becoming the all-time leading scorer in college basketball history.

Serena Williams is no stranger to overcoming obstacles. From growing up in a tough neighborhood to combatting racism to weathering severe health issues, there is no challenge she can't defeat, no hurdle that will get in the way of her unwavering desire to be the best tennis player in the world. As a little girl, Serena spent years training at her local court with her father and older sister, Venus, dreaming of one day winning Grand Slam titles and earning the number one ranking in the world.

Fierce competitor. World Cup winner. Role model. U.S. Women's Soccer star Alex Morgan has earned each of these impressive titles throughout her incredible career. As a young girl growing up in Southern California, she dreamed of being a professional soccer player, fighting to compete on the international stage against the world's greatest athletes. Flash forward to the present and Alex Morgan has emerged as the face of U.S. Women's soccer, famous for her clutch, late-game goals, and an inspiration to kids across the country.

Whether you call him King James or simply LeBron, one thing is certain: LeBron James is THE face of the NBA. At just eighteen, and facing sky-high expectations, LeBron headed straight from high school to the pros. Cool under pressure, he went on to shatter the record books and become the most popular athlete in America. Yet nothing was ever handed to LeBron. As a kid, he had to move homes constantly, even separating from his mother for a time. But through all the adversity, he took his natural talent and combined it with hard work to set himself on a path to greatness.

When Ashton Kutcher first heard about 50 Cent's nine-figure Vitaminwater windfall in 2007, the actor realized he'd been missing out. He soon followed the rapper's formula - seeking equity instead of cash for endorsement deals - but with a twist: as the first person to top one million Twitter followers, Kutcher leveraged his social reach to accumulate stakes in a vast range of user-hungry tech startups. A decade later, Kutcher is perhaps the brightest in a firmament of star investors from Beyoncé and Jay-Z to Jennifer Lopez and Alex Rodriguez.

Roderick Sewell was an active kid. Born without tibias in both of his legs Roderick wrestled with his cousins and climbed every surface of his grandmother’s home. When he was two years old his mother, Marian, made the incredibly tough choice to have his legs amputated to save his life. That didn’t stop Roderick, a rambunctious toddler who could hardly sit still while his body healed. But when his mother's modest income couldn’t cover Roderick’s prosthetics, she made another impossible decision: to leave her demanding job working for the US Navy and go on unemployment.

Heroes aren’t just the ones who bring home medals. Hero Redefined delves into the lesser-known stories of Olympic athletes—and a couple of special Olympic venues—that challenge the conventional narrative of glory and gold. In riveting personal profiles exploring herculean feats of strength, perseverance, and sportsmanship, award-winning sports journalist Doug Levy offers a new vision of heroism.

As a kid, Jackie Robinson loved sports. And why not? He was a natural at football, basketball, and, of course, baseball. But beyond athletic skill, it was his strength of character that secured his place in sports history. In 1947 Jackie joined the Brooklyn Dodgers, breaking the long-time color barrier in major league baseball. It was tough being first - not only did "fans" send hate mail but some of his own teammates refused to accept him.

From her start playing paddle tennis on the streets of Harlem as a young teenager to her eleven Grand Slam tennis wins to her professional golf career, Althea Gibson became the most famous Black sportswoman of the mid-twentieth century. In her unprecedented athletic career, she was the first African American to win titles at the French Open, Wimbledon, and the U.S. Open. In this first full-scale biography, Ashley Brown narrates the public career and private struggles of Althea Gibson (1927–2003).

Born in 1888 in what would soon be Oklahoma Territory, Jim Thorpe was a member of the Sac and Fox Nation. After attending the Sac and Fox agency school and Haskell Indian Junior College in Lawrence, Kansas, he transferred to Carlisle Indian Industrial School in Pennsylvania. At Carlisle he led the football team to victories over some of the nation's best college teams—Army, Navy, Pittsburgh, Syracuse, Pennsylvania, and Nebraska. In 1912 he participated in the Olympic Games in Stockholm, winning both the decathlon and pentathlon.

After breaking her foot at the Ultra Marathon, Deborah looks at new ways to challenge herself. She finds a whole set of challenges she never expected via parkrun.

My Hidden Race is the story of Olympic medalist Anyika Onuora, who stood on the podium at every major championship in athletics. This book won't go into detail about the technicalities of her sport or the beauty of the Olympic spirit however. In the era of the Black Lives Matter and Me Too, this is an unflinching testimony of what it takes to pursue your dreams as a Black British woman against all odds. This three-time Olympian will lift the lid on the reality of life as a black female athlete in Britain in a way that nobody else has done before her.

The man they call 'Silk' was the ultimate team player - versatile, highly skilled and hard at the contest, with an enviable reputation for being able to stand up in big moments. Burgoyne is a proud Indigenous man, with a football pedigree that is a story in itself. Starting with his father's time at the Koonibba Roosters, the oldest surviving Indigenous footy club in Australia, the Burgoyne name is directly linked to Gavin Wanganeen, Eddie Betts, Graham Johncock and many other AFL stars. In his 400-plus games, Burgoyne had only two coaches.

From his phenomenal memory, George O. Hallman, Ph.D., describes in fascinating detail what it was like to grow up as a member of the Silent Generation and how a tragic accident on a U.S. Air Force base in Korea led to the loss of his eyesight and the gain of his cherished wife Eileen. With Eileen’s sacrificial support, George became a beloved psychology professor and an extreme marathon runner. George and Eileen raised two sons together and enjoyed a long, happy marriage.

In 1975, a group of amazing women rowed their way to international success and glory, battling sexual prejudice, bureaucracy, and male domination. Among the members of the first international women's crew team - and one of the first women's teams anywhere - were Gail Pearson, the soft-spoken MIT professor who fought to win the political battles necessary for her team to succeed; lead rower Carie Graves, a statuesque bohemian from rural Wisconsin who dropped out of college and later became the most intense rower of the crew; and Lynn Stillman, a tiny 16-year-old, Californian coxswain.

In All Heart, adapted from When Nobody Was Watching specifically for younger listeners, Carli tells the full inspiring story of her journey to the top of the soccer world - an honest, action-packed account that takes listeners inside the mind of a hardworking athlete.

This amazing memoir follows the story of Reggie Williams - ex-NFL linebacker, former Disney executive, renaissance man, and the epitome of determination in the face of extreme challenges.

Jim Thorpe was one of the greatest athletes who ever lived. He played professional football, major league baseball, and won Olympic gold medals in track and field. But his life wasn't an easy one. Born on the Sac and Fox Reservation in 1887, he encountered much family tragedy, and was sent as a young boy to various Indian boarding schools: strict, cold institutions that didn't allow their students to hold on to their Native American languages and traditions.

Girls' athletic participation in school and community sports programs is skyrocketing. Girls now comprise 33 percent of all high school athletes, representing a dramatic increase from four percent who participated in 1971, the year before the enactment of Title IX. You Go, Girl! is a collection of first person insights, thoughts, and stories from successful women in the world of sports.