Sports Legends

Take a rollicking tour through the sports world of 1996, when debuts, comebacks, movies, and pop culture crossover changed the sports landscape forever. From college to the Olympics to the pros; from the NBA to golf, tennis, and boxing, 1996 was home to athletes and teams who were among the best marketed, most beloved, colorful, and greatest in history. Sportswriter and author Jon Finkel uncovers the stories behind the stories while interviewing a who's who of '96ers to reveal in thrilling detail how their collective influence on sports and pop culture still resonates to this day.

Want entertaining and enlightening basketball stories from legends? Then Inspiring True Stories from Basketball Legends is the perfect answer. Many basketball players want to be the best athletes they can be, but they lack the access to the people who reached the top of the sport. Well...the inspiring true success stories and success principles from the basketball legends changes that because you can tap into their mindset and thought processes.

Ace basketball player, T.D. Lake, is about to break the school record for the all-time highest scoring player. He is good-really good. But with untamed talent comes arrogance. With plenty of games left in the season, T.D. knows breaking the record will be easy for him to do. However, T.D.'s life takes several unexpected twists and turns before he approaches the final game of his middle school career.

Kane Kavanagh has always had one goal: being the best mixed martial arts fighter alive. With the MMA National Championships in Las Vegas fast approaching, the man they call "Killer" has no intention of letting anyone or anything get in his way. Somehow, though, a feisty opponent has slipped beneath his guard - and stolen his heart. Fiery and passionate, Nora Hannigan is harder to pin down than any rival Kane has faced in the ring. And she isn't afraid to tell Kane that she wants nothing to do with him.

His family's gym has produced a roster of mixed martial arts legends, but so far Kieran Kavanagh hasn't followed in their footsteps. After a brawl lands him in jail, Kieran is assigned to work at a center for at-risk youth. Though given a second chance, Kieran's simply going through the motions - until he meets one very special kid, Shea Doherty, and falls hard for her very beautiful, very grown-up big sister, Fiona. The trouble is, Kieran's best opening moves are getting him nowhere fast.

As one of the big names at his family's gym, Legends, MMA star Rory Kavanagh is used to being in the spotlight - until a gruesome leg injury knocks him out of the cage. Rory is left feeling sidelined in more ways than one, battling the inner demons that come with losing the one shot at his dreams. Then Clare walks into his life and gives him a new dream: winning her heart. There aren't many new faces in Woodlawn these days, but this tough, beautiful stranger makes Rory want to get his life back into fighting shape.

This is the story of two golfers: one who loved the game and one who simply made it his living. The first golfer happens to be a really nice guy…someone you’d like to call your friend. The second golfer simply played golf for the enjoyment of destroying his opponents while earning a paycheck. In other words, he’s a real jerk.

In the Green Mountains of Vermont, one of the world's most extreme endurance events pushes racers to their absolute limits. With no defined start or finish, the Death Race strips away all of life's comforts and forces racers to dig deep within themselves to overcome the challenges they will face. In this riveting narrative, the former Director of Spartan Endurance, Tony Matesi, takes listeners deep into his journey to complete this event and shows how he applies the principles he learned overcoming the challenges we face in everyday life.

The biggest annual sports event in the world is the Tour de France. In the wake of its overwhelming popularity, it’s easy to forget that there is much more to cycling than whoever gets to wear the yellow jersey. Cycling is rich with legends and pioneers, and it is their stories which light up this compelling account of the sport. This is the story of British cycling as told through the lives of the people who built it. From the first recorded race in a Paris park in 1868 to the present day, Great British Cycling Legends profiles the true originals.

Marcus Machado, or Marquito, as his friends call him, is a young man who, along with his dog Arrow, find themselves in a sport called dog agility, giving them a new beginning after facing the traumas within his family.

When Skip Granger, the assistant coach for the Washington Redskins, first sees Jesse Smoke, she is on the beach in Belize. And she has just thrown a regulation football a mile. Granger knows that Smoke's talent is unprecedented for a woman and nearly unparalleled among men.

Jimmy “Kamikaze” Kirkus is a basketball star, destined for a legendary future in the NBA. At the age of five, he can make nine shots in a row. By high school, he’s got his own Sports Illustrated profile. To the citizens of Columbia City, it seems like he was born for the sport. But Jimmy soon confronts the “Kirkus curse” when tragedies begin to emerge. Not even basketball can save him from his family’s sorrow-filled past.

From Tour de France legends Eddy Merckx and Miguel Indurain to British cycling heroes Chris Froome and Bradley Wiggins, relive the careers of the finest riders ever to have competed in the world's greatest bike race. Also featuring Britain's top 10 Tour moments, this publication is an homage to pedal power and the men who push themselves to the limit to achieve the ultimate in sporting glory.

After witnessing the beheading of his uncle, a very young Doc Ping and his family escaped from China on foot in fear for their lives. They left everything behind, including his father's position in the nationalist Chinese government and all of their possessions, and fled the country—first to Bangkok, and then to Taiwan. When Doc was nine, his father secretly arranged for him to travel on a freighter with 15 other civilians to the USA to live with the woman who helped resuscitate him from drowning a few years earlier.

With every touchdown, home run, and three-pointer, star athletes represent an American dream that only an elite group blessed with natural talent can achieve. However, Kimball concentrates on what happens once these modern warriors meet their untimely demise. As athletes die, legends rise in their place.

A young, Black kid from a hardworking family in one of the poorest sections of Washington, DC, despite being legally blind in one eye, leaps to the pinnacle of his sport: the Hall of Fame. A rookie bank teller rises to become one of the nation's most celebrated Black business leaders. A once-reluctant political neophyte answers the call to become a major of America's most troubled big city, and he establishes a mentoring program for African American boys that serves as a model for the nation. All of these stories belong to Dave Bing.

The author of the best selling Left Behind series, Jerry B. Jenkins is one of the most widely read and deeply admired novelists of our time. With Hometown Legend he has written an inspirational tale placed firmly in the nation's heartland, where football, family, and faith are everything, and where one town's greatest contest has begun.

In Steven Pressfield's richly imagined, vividly detailed story, golf legends Bobby Jones and Walter Hagen are joined by a local unsung opponent, the troubled war hero Rannulph Junah. Their match is thrilling competition, but the key to the outcome lies with caddie Bagger Vance, who carries the secret of the Authentic Swing.

Experience the ultimate in baseball storytelling with "The Ultimate Baseball Series: 4-in-1 Collection on Legends, Dynasties, and Cards." This anthology brings together the beloved "Inspirational Stories for Kids" series, guiding young listeners through the heart and soul of America's favorite pastime.

It’s a reality that athletes take more turns than most at public speaking and therefore provide both exemplary and cautionary examples to the rest of us. In Jock Talk, Beth Levine points out, in a pithy and poignant way, what executives can learn from these examples. Jock Talk candidly examines the public comments of athletes, coaches, and team owners. Their stories serve to illustrate five foundational communication principles that will help you find your best voice and communicate in a way that will build support, reputation, and business.