Basketball Memoir

James E. Rix, a Memphis native, shares a lifetime of experiences intertwining basketball, civil rights, and personal growth in his debut book, “A Life of Basketball, Civil Rights and Beyond.” This narrative is a testament to resilience and the pursuit of dreams against all odds.

After 12 years of playing basketball at the highest professional level, Brian Grant could have been forgiven for thinking that the hardest part of his life was behind him, that he'd be able to kick back and enjoy the fruits of his considerable labors. But soon after his retirement from the NBA, Grant was diagnosed with Young-Onset Parkinson's Disease, ushering in a challenge greater than any he'd faced before. In Rebound, Grant shares his remarkable life before, during, and after those NBA years with no shortage of compassion and wit.

Learn the Inspiring Story of the Toronto Raptors' Rising Star, Pascal Siakam! In Pascal Siakam: The Inspiring Story of One of Basketball's Rising Stars, you will learn the incredible story of one of basketball's emerging stars, Pascal Siakam. Since being selected in the late first round by the Raptors in the 2016 NBA Draft, Siakam has quickly risen as a meaningful player in the evolving league. In 2019, his value to the Raptors was clear as he alongside Kawhi Leonard and Kyle Lowry helped the franchise capture its first NBA Championship.

In Red Auerbach: The Inspiring Life and Leadership Lessons of One of Basketball's Greatest Coaches, you will learn the inspirational story of one of the greatest basketball coaches and executives of the 20th century, Red Auerbach. Few have left as indelible of a mark on a single franchise as what Red achieved in his time with the Boston Celtics. As a coach, he led the team to nine championships and as an executive, another seven. Needless to say, Red Auerbach will always be remembered for the substantial impact he left on the game.

Following the 1956-57 NBA season, the Fort Wayne Pistons relocated to Detroit, and the Rochester Royals were moved to Cincinnati. The relocations of the Fort Wayne and Rochester franchises left Syracuse as the last small market team in the NBA.

In Charles Barkley: The Inspiring Story of One of Basketball's Greatest Power Forwards, you'll learn the inspirational story of basketball's legendary power forward Charles Barkley. Barkley was one of the most popular big men throughout 1980's and 1990's basketball due to his dominance on both sides of the court. He remains one of the greatest examples of how to overcome obstacles to become a great, as he went through his entire career as "undersized" compared to traditional power forwards.

Just 20 years old at the time of this writing, Doncic has many of his best years ahead of him. This audiobook highlights Luka’s accomplishments before he entered the NBA, and through much of his rookie season. Listen to this unauthorized biography today to learn the inspiring story behind Luka Doncic. Perfect for basketball fans or late elementary to early high school listeners.

Welcome to Fannie Lou Hamer Freedom High School, in a working-class corner of the Bronx, where a driven coach inspires his teams to win games and championships - and learn Russian history and graduate and go on to college.

In Dirk Nowitzki: The Inspiring Story of One of Basketball's Best European Stars, you will learn the inspirational story of one of basketball's premier power forward, Dirk Nowitzki. Since entering the league in the the late 90s, Dirk Nowitzki has established and remained one of the most dominant power forwards to ever play the game. With a dynamic ability to take ridiculously difficult fadeaway jumpers to popping out to the top of the key for a rainbow three-pointer, Nowitzki has wowed audiences all around the world.

Paul Westhead was teaching high school in his native Philadelphia when he was named La Salle University’s men’s basketball coach in 1970. By 1980 he was a Los Angeles Lakers assistant, soon to be hired as head coach, winning an NBA title with Hall of Fame center Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and rookie guard Magic Johnson.

Unlike the stories of most visible division I college athletes, Amanda Ottaway’s story has more in common with those of the 80 percent of college athletes who are never seen on TV. The Rebounders follows the college career of an average NCAA Division I women’s basketball player in the 21st century. It begins with the recruiting process when Ottaway is an eager, naive teenager and ending when she’s a more contemplative 20-something alumna.

The college basketball scandals of 1951 were to basketball what the 1919 Black Sox scandals were to baseball - a loss of innocence, after which the game would be permanently tarnished, its relationship to power and big money firmly established. In Scandals of '51, Charley Rosen identifies all the major figures - including players, coaches, gangsters, clergymen, politicians - that made up the elaborate network that controlled the outcomes to many games or protected those who did so.

In Five Banners, Feinstein tells the inside history of Coach K’s forty-two-year career at Duke and its five NCAA championships, from the first, against Kansas in 1991, to the most recent, in 2015 against Wisconsin. With unparalleled access to Coach K, the team, and its staff, Feinstein takes listeners on a mesmerizing ride into the locker room and onto the court. Full of intimate details, personal memories, and previously untold on- and off-court stories, it is a book that only Feinstein could write.

Diagnosed with pervasive developmental disorder, a form of autism, as a toddler, Anthony Ianni wasn't expected to succeed in school or participate in sports, but he had other ideas. As a child, Ianni told anybody who would listen, including head coach Tom Izzo, that he would one day play for the Michigan State Spartans.

Lloyd Daniels learned to hoop on the playgrounds of Brooklyn and Queens during the 1980s. "Swee'pea" they called him. His rep on the court traveled all the way to the Bronx and across the country, earning him enthusiastic comparisons to the likes of Magic Johnson. Swee'pea was sure to make it to the big time and out of a New York City where drugs and violence had gripped many of its neighborhoods. Eventually he did, leaving the city's asphalt courts for the shiny hardwoods of NCAA programs.

Hoop Dreams Fulfilled is a detailed, first-person account of an athlete's failures and struggles on his way to playing professional basketball. Through in-depth experiences, Tyson Hartnett describes his journey playing basketball starting in fourth grade, through high school, college, and eventually professionally overseas. He profiles his mistakes and failures and his eventual redemption.

In The Jump, one of America's great sports writers follows high school phenom Sebastian Telfair on his quest for NBA stardom - and exposes all that big-time sports in America has become, the good and the bad. Kevin Garnett, Kobe Bryant, LeBron James - all became NBA superstars without playing a day of college ball. In 2004, Coney Island's 5-foot-11 Telfair became the first small player ever to jump straight from high school to the NBA when he signed contracts with the Portland Trail Blazers and Adidas worth $25 million.

Autobiography of Hall of Fame basketball star Clyde Drexler, one of basketball history's most dynamic players. Through his fifteen-year career as an NBA player, Clyde Drexler played with elegance and flair, leadership and poise, integrity and an ability to come through in the clutch. He led the Portland Trail Blazers to the NBA Finals twice and helped the Houston Rockets win the NBA championship in 1995. A ten-time All-Star, a member of the 1992 Olympic Dream Team, and now a member of basketball’s Hall of Fame, Drexler reached the top of his profession without revealing many of his inner thoughts on himself or the game.

John B. McLendon was the last living protégé of basketball’s inventor Dr. James Naismith and one of the “top ten basketball coaches of the century” in Billy Packer’s opinion. McLendon’s amazing records in college and pro basketball earned him a spot in the Basketball Hall of Fame (the first Black coach to be inducted), and his coaching philosophy has had a huge influence on basketball coaches.

A Nigerian native who emigrated to the United States at age 11, Alex Owumi's exploits on the basketball court earned him a college scholarship to Georgetown University. Undrafted by the NBA, Owumi pursued his basketball dream overseas, eventually signing with Al-Nasr of Libya, a state-run athletic club privately funded by the family of Libyan president Muammar Qaddafi.