Game of My Life: San Francisco 49ers – by Dennis Georgatos

BUY ON AMAZON: Game of My Life San Francisco 49ers: Memorable Stories of 49ers Football
Some of the games described in this unique book involve championships, while others seem ordinary save for extraordinary personal meaning. In each case, it is the legendary 49ers player who singles out the game, the moment in time that to him is the most defining of his professional football career. Each player has his own unique story, but together they weave a tapestry of pro football and 49ers history in San Francisco. Steve Young, Jerry Rice, Roger Craig, John Brodie, Garrison Hearst, and R.C. Owens are just a few of the former players profiled. The book provides an in-depth look into the men and games that helped shape and build the 49ers franchise into one of the most successful in NFL history.

Dennis Georgatos is the 49ers beat writer for the San Jose Mercury-News, a post he has held since 2000. Previously he was an Associated Press sports reporter for 18 years covering first, San Diego, and then San Francisco/Oakland teams. He has also done work for Football Digest and The Sporting News. Past titles include 49ers Stadium Stories (Globe Pequot Press, 2005). Georgatos resides in Pleasanton, CA.

Game of My Life: Minnesota – by Joel A. Rippel

BUY ON AMAZON: Game of My Life, Minnesota: Memorable Stories of Gophers Football
With more than 600 victories, six national championships, and 17 former players in the College Football Hall of Fame, the Minnesota football program is one of the greatest in history. Legendary players like Bruce Smith and Bronko Nagurski helped the Gophers dominate Minnesota sports for the first 60 years of the 20th century. This book provides a look at some of the most memorable players, coaches, and games of the last 70 years. From the Golden? era of 1934-41, which included five national titles, George ?Sonny? Franck and Bill Daley recall their most memorable games. The Gophers won another national title and went to two Rose Bowls in the early ?60s under coach Murray Warmath and quarterback Sandy Stephens, who became the first black quarterback to earn All-America honors at a major college. Warmath remembers the second Rose Bowl as his most memorable game. Other memorable Gophers featured include future NFL legends Bud Grant and Carl Eller and future NFL coaching great Tony Dungy.

Game of My Life: Kentucky – by Ryan Clark

BUY ON AMAZON: Kentucky: Memorable Stories of Wildcat Basketball (Game of My Life)
Some of the games described by these University of Kentucky basketball legends involve championships, while others have extraordinary personal meaning. Stars like Jamal Mashburn, Dan Issel, Kenny Walker, Derek Anderson, Walter McCarty, Richie Farmer, Jack “Goose” Givens, Louie Dampier. John Pelphrey, and Travis Ford are among the many former players profiled in this in-depth look at the men and games that helped shape and build the legendary Kentucky Wildcats’ basketball tradition.

Ryan Clark works for The Cincinnati Enquirer, where he writes about the people of Northern Kentucky out of the Enquirer’s Kentucky newsroom in Fort Mitchell. He previously worked for The Virginian-Pilot in Norfolk, The Baltimore Sun, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the Orlando Sentinel, and The Clarion-Ledger in Jackson, Mississippi. Clark resides in Crittenden, KY.

Chief Illiniwek: A Tribute to an Illinois Tradition

BUY ON AMAZON: Chief Illiniwek: A Tribute to an Illinois Tradition
On February 21, 2007, Chief Illiniwek made his last appearance as the official symbol of the University of Illinois. During halftime of the men’s basketball game against Michigan, the Chief danced and inspired more than 16,000 orange-clad fans at Assembly Hall, leading to an emotional and long standing ovation that signaled the end of an era for Fighting Illini supporters. Chief Illiniwek: A Tribute to an Illinois Tradition celebrates the history of the Chief, from his first performance on October 30, 1926, in Philadelphia, to his stirring, memorable, and tear-filled final appearance in Champaign. Packed with full-color photos detailing the many individuals to portray the Chief, the different costumes that have been used, and the dance that thrilled Illinois fans at major sporting events for parts of nine decades, this unique hardcover book is the perfect way to remember and honor a symbol that celebrated the Native American heritage of the state of Illinois.

Marketing Your Dreams: Business and Life Lessons from Bill Veeck, Baseball’s Marketing Genius – by Pat Williams

BUY ON AMAZON: Marketing Your Dreams: Business and Life Lessons from Bill Veeck, Baseball’s Promotional Genius
Bill Veeck marketed, promoted, and sold baseball like no one before him and like no one since. Influenced and inspired by the classic sports book Veeck: As in Wreck, veteran author and motivational speaker Pat Williams has penned his 19th book, Marketing Your Dreams: Business and Life Lessons from Bill Veeck, Baseball’s Marketing Genius. Williams, senior vice president of the NBA’s Orlando Magic, insists that Marketing Your Dreams isn’t a Bill Veeck biography; instead, it’s a book about success, a book about one of the most relentless and fascinating personalities in the history of organized sports. It’s a book about extracting Veeck’s traits and concentrating them into their purest form so that the reader can pull the same kind of inspiration from the master that Williams did.

Pat Williams is the senior vice president of the NBA’s Orlando Magic. Also one of America’s top motivational, inspirational and humorous speakers, he has addressed employees from many of the Fortune 500 companies and the Million Dollar Round Table.

Michael Weinreb is former sports feature writer for the Akron Beacon Journal. He has won numerous state and national writing awards from the Associated Press sports editors.