Byron Nelson was one of golf's greatest legends. He was one of the finest golfers ever to pick up a putter, and the man who had the most magnificent year any golfer has ever had—1945, when he won an incredible eighteen PGA tournaments, including eleven in a row, and finished second in seven others. How I Played the Game is the beautifully told tale, in his own words, of a man determined to be the best ever: his hardscrabble rural Texas upbringing and his near-death experience with typhoid fever; his early years as a caddie at Fort Worth's Glen Garden Country Club (where as a 15-year-old he beat another young caddie named Ben Hogan in the Caddie Championship); the lean years as an amateur and as a young pro during the Depression; and the golden years of the 1940s, when he invented the modern golf swing and forged the legend of "Lord Byron." Even after his sudden retirement (the real reason for which is finally revealed here) his impact on the game never lessened. Besides his many years as an insightful TV golf commentator, he was mentor to several future golf champions, Ken Venturi and Tom Watson among them. And he continued to play top-caliber golf with the greats of the game, like Hogan, Jack Nicklaus, and Arnold Palmer, and some who were less than great—President Eisenhower, Bing Crosby, Bob Hope, and a host of others. Laced throughout with scores of priceless stories, anecdotes, opinions, and even golf tips, and with an in-depth, event-by-event recreation of his golden year, 1945, How I Played the Game is golf writing and remembrance of the highest order—irresistible reading for every golfer and fan.

Porchlight’s Best Leadership & Strategy Book of The Year An inspiring memoir from the CEO of DICK’s Sporting Goods that is “not only entertaining but will be of great value to any entrepreneur” (Phil Knight, New York Times bestselling author of Shoe Dog), this book shows how a trailblazing business was created by giving back to the community and by taking principled, and sometimes controversial, stands—including against the type of weapons that are too often used in mass shootings and other tragedies. It’s How We Play the Game tells the story of a complicated founder and an ambitious son—one who transformed a business by making it about more than business, conceiving it as a force for good in the communities it serves. In 1948, Ed Stack’s father started Dick’s Bait and Tackle in Binghamton, New York. Ed Stack bought the business from his father in 1984, and grew it into the largest sporting goods retailer in the country, with 800 locations and close to $9 billion in sales. The transformation Ed wrought wasn’t easy: economic headwinds nearly toppled the chain twice. But DICK’s support for embattled youth sports programs earned the stores surprising loyalty, and the company won even more attention when, in the wake of yet another school shooting—at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida—it chose to become the first major retailer to pull all semi-automatic weapons from its shelves, raise the age of gun purchase to twenty-one, and, most strikingly, destroy the assault-style-type rifles then in its inventory. With vital lessons for anyone running a business and eye-opening reflections about what a company owes the people it serves, It’s How We Play the Game is “a compelling narrative…In a genre that can frequently be staid, Mr. Stack’s corporate biography is deeply personal…[Features] surprising openness [and] interesting and humorous anecdotes” (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette).

A story of passion and commitment and faith?qualities that drove one working-class kid to not only build a sports empire, but also to change the way the entire sports industry has done business. This book is a tale of determination, faith, and, most assuredly, good timing and good luck. In truth, this isn’t one story?but many. Sports executive and businessman Jerry Colangelo weaves together a lifetime of great moments in sports and tense times in business. In How You Play the Game, sports executive and businessman Jerry Colangelo details a lifetime of stories, including: How he emerged from the tough streets of Chicago Heights as a high school and college sports star How he helped create and build the Chicago Bulls?at a time when the NBA was a second-tier professional league, and two basketball teams had already failed in the Windy City How he moved to Arizona and started the Phoenix Suns, an organization that fought its way to become the ninth richest franchise in all of sports And how he then began baseball’s newest team, the Arizona Diamondbacks. Peppered with stories about players and coaches, including Charles Barkley and Connie Hawkins, Red Holzman, and Buck Showalter, as well as owners, general managers, investors, reporters, and more, How You Play the Game is truly an insider’s look at the sports world.

This incredible gathering of first-hand remembrances brings a fascinating and enlightening new perspective to the period of baseball's greatest peak and ultimate turning point--when bigotry and exploitation still ran rampant among the clubs and the sport was irrevocably being changed into a business. 100 photos.

How to Play the Game provides a basic understanding of the legal issues surrounding sports. It is the go-to source for anyone interested in getting into the field of sports law.

When boys played a man's game and football was hell

Before starting his own successful company, Fenorris Pearson was a top executive with Dell and Motorola with responsibilities in Asia, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the Americas. He worked with top people on top teams building and selling top products to global audiences. Smart people like to work with smart people and when cutting-edge technology, big-name corporate players, major new product launches, and billions of dollars are on the line, there is no room for sleepwalkers, jokers, or phoning it in. Top performers get to the top by bringing their A-game every day. But now even that isn’t enough. You have to come fully prepared to work at the top of your game, every day. Pearson reveals how to do just that, opening up the corporate play book and providing a glimpse into the inner workings of the men and women driving American business today: the consummate corporate executives.