Sports Legends

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.

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.

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.

Lifelong baseball fanatic and former college ball player Abe Streep had long since grown disillusioned with the slick spectacle of modern major-league baseball when he discovered the Santa Fe Fuego, a scrappy upstart team struggling through its first season in an independent professional league that few baseball fans had even heard of. The Fuego players were paid barely fifty dollars a week.

Buckle up for an exhilarating look at 10 of the greatest Grand Prix drivers of all time. Enter the death-defying world of Lauda and Moss, explore the ill-fated careers of Senna, Ascari, and Clark and marvel at the mighty Mansell, Fangio, and Schumacher. Including quotes from the men behind the wheel and analysis of their greatest races, these information-packed words will tell you all you need to know about these celebrated kings of the track.

It started in the English countryside when he stopped to see if I was having car trouble. It should have ended there. But it turned into three of the most intense days of my life. And guess what? It didn't end there either. His name is Xavier Maddox. Sexy, talented, untamed. A British soccer star. The enticing bad boy. He should be off limits for me. I have this policy about getting involved with professional athletes—or, as I call them, the product.

Willie Mays, a name synonymous with excellence, grace, and enduring greatness in baseball, has etched his story into the annals of American sports history. His journey from a young boy with a dream in Alabama to a baseball icon is not just a tale of athletic prowess but also a profound narrative of resilience, talent, and cultural impact.

Fasten your seatbelt for an unforgettable storytelling thrill ride! Step into the exhilarating world of Formula 1, where every corner holds a story waiting to be told. Imagine yourself on the edge of your seat as you witness the roaring engines, the nail-biting races, and the legendary figures who shaped the sport. As you dive into Driven by Destiny: Life Lessons From Formula 1 Legends, you'll discover valuable lessons and wisdom that transcend the race track, offering you a unique perspective on success and resilience.

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.

John Madden is synonymous with football. He was the television face and voice of the nation’s most popular sport, the namesake of its best-selling sports video game, and the man with the highest career winning percentage of any NFL coach. Despite his international fame, there was a side of Madden known only to those who listened to morning radio broadcasts in the San Francisco Bay Area. That’s where Madden grew up, lived, and died. It's where for decades he found joy in a daily chat with his hometown radio station: a chance to unwind, tell stories, and impart his own brand of wit and wisdom.

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.

The tale of an eager golf disciple and Mike Austin, the sport’s most legendary long-driver and keeper of the secret to the most powerful golf swing. “Can you teach an ordinary golfer like me to drive the ball 300 yards?” With this question sportswriter Philip Reed’s search for the greatest golf swing begins. When Reed met ninety-year old Mike Austin, he knew that Austin held the record for the longest drive ever—an awesome 515-yard shot during a Senior PGA event.

Summer is around the corner, and Little League first baseman, Billy Kramer, is looking forward to playing another year with the LA Southgate Sharks. His plans are uprooted when his mother announces an unexpected move to rural Bennington, Nebraska. Billy's world is turned upside down. Billy hoped to find a new team that could compete at the same level as his former team. He soon finds that Bennington's local team, the Bunz Town Badgers, is composed of below-average players who haven't won a game in two years.

Jacoby Howard was the star quarterback, and I was the middle linebacker who was going to stop him from scoring. I glanced up at the scoreboard; it read: 03-21-17. Jacoby had to go through me to win the game. My teeth clenched as I crouched, ready to surge forward. As soon as the center moved the ball, I blitzed. I stayed low and dropped my shoulder pads just in time to meet Jacoby at the goal line. We connected with a loud thud on impact. Time stood still. Everything came down to this play.

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.

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.

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.

During a time when America's heroes were recognized for toughness and strength, Jack Dempsey was the prototypical "golden boy" of the Roaring Twenties. Just as Babe Ruth, Red Grange, Bill Tilden, and Bobby Jones were the signature figures for their respective sports, Dempsey personified the sport of boxing.

"Only last month, former Booyong High student Simon 'Specky' Magee led the Gosmore Grammar Knights to victory against our courageous Booyong Lions. But now he's back in town! Well, we at the Bugle would like to welcome Simon home, but even his best mates don't want him on the team. And now we can't help but wonder just how 'specky-tacular' Magee really is... Will he ever play with Booyong again? Specky has questions of his own... Will Robbo and Danny ever talk to him again?"