Close your eyes and picture the Heisman Trophy. The form is easy to conjure, a graceful, fluid pose that is football past and football present in one dignified figure ... The story of the Heisman Trophy is an american epic. -- from the Preface No sport in America can match the pageantry, raw emotion, and thrilling tradition of college football. It is a world in which a twenty-year-old kid can become a national sensation overnight, in which...

In honor of the sixtieth anniversary of the breaking of the color barrier in Major League Baseball, an assessment of the influence and legacy of Jackie Robinson draws on intimate interviews with more than one hundred African-American former players, as well as with othe celebrities, to reflect on Robinson's seminal role in American history and sports.

"Jackie Robinson always loved sports, especially baseball. He could run, leap, and throw better than any other kid around. But he lived at a time when the rules weren't fair to African Americans: Even though Jackie was a great athlete, he wasn't allowed on the best teams just because of the color of his skin. Jackie knew that sports were best when everyone, of every color, played together. He became the first black baseball player on a major-league...

"A captivating book that brilliantly reveals an American sports legend long overlooked. Sally Jacobs tells the riveting story of Althea Gibson, my personal hero, who overcame daunting odds - on the tennis court and off - to stand at the world pinnacle of her sport and became an inspiration to many." - Billie Jean King In 1950, three years after Jackie Robinson first walked onto the diamond at Ebbets Field, the all-white, upper-crust US Lawn Tennis...