Heroes Of The Hardcourt

I began writing as something to do after retiring at 75, following fifteen years of consulting to client companies in the US, Germany and Denmark, but mostly in Japan. Whenever I describe an experience I had or tell a story I heard before a glowing fireplace while growing up in Alabama, folks urge me to write a book. It is not the first time I have been encouraged to write for publication. When a student at William & Mary, my English and German professors urged me to submit for publication papers written in response to some of their assignments. I was more interested in returning to the Arctic where I could apply my skills in radio communications, knowing such a service would be useful and lifesaving to Inuit and Settlers served by 5 Moravian Missions on the Labrador coast. That is what Connie, my wife, and I did, under contract to the British Board of the Moravian Missions. With Connie pregnant for the first time in five years of marriage, and with more accomplished than my contracted goals, we left Labrador after one year, bringing along our adopted Eskimo orphan, Lisabak. Until age 60, I held positions of research engineer to company president and was involved in development of products ranging from television, to a computer for enciphering voice, to one for use in Continental Air Defense, and another for use in the search for petroleum by converting geophysicists' taped recordings into a picture of the earth's strata, to telemetry used in NASA Space exploration, to medical equipment used to aid in diagnosis and treatment of certain conditions in patients. I worked in the US, UK, Iceland, France, Germany, Holland, Algeria and Japan.

Since its first inaugural class was announced in 1972, more than 230 legendary individuals have become esteemed members of the Virginia Sports Hall of Fame and were awarded special places of honor, such as Arthur Ashe, Sam Snead, Lawrence Taylor, Moses Malone, and David Robinson to mention only a few. Original.

An entertaining and unfiltered look at professional tennis as only Patrick McEnroe can offer. Patrick McEnroe has been in the world of professional tennis in one way or another for most of his life. As a player, coach, and ESPN commentator, he's seen it all. The significant tennis books of recent years have all been autobiographies--famous players burnishing their image or attempting to set the record straight within carefully controlled memoirs. No one has been willing to do a book that pulls back the curtain and presents an honest, no-holds-barred look into the ultimate gentleman's sport and the larger-than-life personalities that inhabit it. Patrick McEnroe does just that. Curious to know which marquee player threw a tantrum and bailed early on a tournament? Why Roger Federer, presumably the greatest player of all time, has a losing head-to-head record with Rafael Nadal? Why certain tennis prodigies burned out early? The real role of coaches like Nick Bollettieri? Which player is as much of a diva off the court as on? The greatest match ever played? In Hardcourt Confidential, McEnroe uses his twenty-five-plus years in the trenches of the game to tell true tales and wild stories about the players you think you know (from Sampras to Agassi to Roddick to the Williams sisters), how and why the game has changed since he first swung a racket, and what the future holds in store for American tennis. McEnroe takes an unapologetic look at the men, women, and events of the past three decades, right up to the epic Federer vs. Nadal rivalry that dominates the game today. He's got a lot to say and he's not afraid to say it.

This updated edition will give card enthusiasts and collectors all the checklists and pricing they need for more than 700 sets featuring 75,000 cards and 1,200 photos. The 1999 Standard Catalog of Basketball Cards provides complete listings from all the top brands including Fleer, SkyBox, Topps, Upper Deck, Pacific, Star, Press Pass, Score Board, Wildcard, Collector's Edge, also Kenner Starting Lineup and other figurine (Corinthian) pricing. The Standard Catalog of Basketball Cards lists all 1998 cards, including cards from NBA, WNBA, CBA, regional, Olympic, international, college and high school issues, to make this the most up-to-date basketball card catalog in the hobby. Card collectors will buy this book to help them buy and sell smarter and be able to identify virtually every basketball card available. With newly catalogued cards, a glossary of terms with grading and collecting tips, and a history of basketball cards, this edition is a must for every card collector, from beginner to veteran. The staff of Sports Collectors Digest, the card collecting hobby's #1 magazine, has spent endless hours examining collections, checklists, and new releases to make this the most complete resource guide in the hobby.

A handful of star athletes, along with their promoters and journalists, created America's sports entertainment industry during the 1920s, the Golden Age of American sports. The period had an extraordinary impact, profoundly changing individual sports, establishing the secular religion of sports and sports heroes, and helping bond disparate social and regional sectors of the country. It's when sports became a cornerstone of modern American life. Heroes and Ballyhoo profiles the ten most prominent Golden Age heroes and describes their effect on sports and society. Babe Ruth saved baseball after the Black Sox Scandal. Boxer Jack Dempsey made the "sweet science" a respectable sport. Red Grange single-handedly set professional football on a path to eventual success. Knute Rockne helped transform college football from a game to a colossal enterprise. Bobby Jones changed golf into a spectator sport, and Walter Hagen sparked the first national interest in professional golf. Bill Tilden put tennis on the front of the sports section. Tennis player Helen Wills Moody joined swimmer Gertrude Ederle in empowering women athletes. Johnny Weissmuller astonished international swimming before becoming Tarzan. The book also explores the ballyhoo artists--sportswriters, promoters, and press agents--who hyped the stars to a receptive public. Simultaneously, the spectators established themselves as the focus of popular sports. The personalities and events of the 1920s thus created today's entertainment conglomerate of heroes, promoters and advertisers, fans, arenas--and money. Sports as a profit center started with the Golden Age's heroes and PR artists, and the public's obsessive interest in sports helped shape America's emerging mass society. Heroes and Ballyhoo tells the story of what was both a symptom and a cause of modern America.

The new edition of this bestseller in hardcover features never-before-published, all-new inside info on the money, personalities and politics of pro-tennis: Jimmy, Monica, Boris, Martina, et al. Now in paper.