Athletics Books

Tom Streissguth's book gives a brief biography of Jesse Owens from his childhood days in Alabama in the early 1900s to the 1984 Olympic ceremonies memorial service honoring him. Owens attended Ohio State University where he excelled at track. After university he qualified for the 1936 Summer Olympic in Berlin, Germany. In Germany Owens was subjected to the racist ideals of Adolf Hitler. Hitler dramatically undermined the four gold medals Owen won solely because Owen was an African-American. But when Owens returned home to the United States he continued to be discriminated against purely because of his skin color.

Jesse Owens set the world record for the long jump and won four gold medals in the 1936 Summer Olympics. He truly is an American hero. Yet, he also conquered many other battles regarding racism and discrimination. Tom Streissguth's book is a multicultural book because it exemplifies an African-American man and the hardships he had to overcome to succeed in a society that judged him by his race. The photos illustrate Owens accomplishments. The book is free of negative stereotypes and describes the importance of accepting all people regardless of any difference they may have.

I am a big fan of Fred Bowen's sports books. I love to play many different sports and his stories really keep my interest. The Kid Coach is a great story because most kids on a team would like to be the coach from time to time. When Scott actually had to become the coach it was a lot harder than it seemed. Real team work became necessary if they were going to win. Read to see how kids cope with the struggles and joys of leading. Go Team!

A fun read. As someone who grew up in the Bay Area (Berkeley) and raised on the Oakland A's, this was a fun look back at some of my childhood heroes. Loses focus a little bit here and there, but a must read for anyone who loves the A's.

LONG LIVE THE LONGHORNS covers the first 100 years of University of Texas football from 1893-1993. It is a fairly thorough history of the sport in Austin with many interesting anecdotes and photographs. In fact the large selection of early photographs help to make this book much better than most other college football history texts.

Definetely a must for any runner who wants to learn general facts about the sport, as well as general information in anatomy and physiology. Very interesting and useful.

Excellent; quick read. I did not know what I was quite getting into when I picked this book up; the main thing I saw was it was about a guy who ran a marathon, the New York Marathon in what is probably about the mid-1980s; but it is fairly about quite a bit more. The guy has a relation with the Pulitzer Prize winning poet and former World War II pilot William Meredith; Meredith has in fact had a stroke at this time in his life and the author Harteis takes care of him; while preparing for the NY Marathon, his first marathon.

There are a few poems of Meredith contained in this book.

My favorite parts are where the author Harteis discusses running, some of his training run and the Marathon itself. I definitely give it a near top rating because it was a page turner in a kind of smooth; non-anxious way, so rather enjoyable and as a runner myself; somewhat enlightening on the subject in a compare notes kind of way (though I have to be true and say, Harteis has done a marathon; as have thousands but I am not one). Others might surely describe this book in different ways; and I am surprised there have been no other reviews for it.

I do particularly enjoy all of the talk on New England, pets, working in some foreign lands. These do tend to give the stories some spice. The brevity of the book works very well; however, when it could have been expanded on, it might have gotten bogged down.

Having read a few "marathon" accounts of a marathon in itself; Harteis does excel.

Great book about the history of the Marine Corps Marathon, "The People's Marathon."
I had a chance to meet George Banker at the 2007 Marine Corps Marathon.

Recommended for all who have run this great Marathon.

In the years 1988, 1989 and 1990, the Oakland Athletics were by far the best team in baseball. They went to the World Series each year, losing in 1988 and 1990. This book is a set of brief textual captions featuring the major components of those teams surrounded by a large number of photographs. The pictures are of action and leisure, capturing the team members relaxing and performing. Truly a dynasty at the time, they have been one of the most successful teams over the last thirty years and this is a chronicle of one of the most powerful teams ever to take the field.

This book is a great resource for all hopeful women college athletes. H.S. guidance departments can only offer you limited help, this is a terrific supplement.

I found this book to be easy to read as far as rule books go. I have read many rule books on basketball (namely the high school, national federation rule book) and this one reads by far the easiest. Instead of reading like an outline, the book follows rules with plays of application, making it easier to picture the rule and its enforcement. I recommend this book for anyone from the official wanting to move up to referee the college game, or the fan who wants to increase his or her knowledge of the college game.