In its 95-year history, the Kentucky Wildcats have won more games than any other college basketball team. Their winning percentage is the highest in the country. They share the record for the most 20-win seasons. They are second in all-time number one rankings. And despite no longer holding the record for winningest coach, Adolph Rupp will always be a giant in the pantheon of college basketball. When The Winning Tradition first appeared in 1984, it was the first complete history of the Wildcat basketball program. Bert Nelli pointed out that, contrary to the accepted mythology, Adolph Rupp arrived at a program already strong and storied. Nor did Rupp bring an entirely new style of play to the Bluegrass. Instead he adopted—and perfected—that of his predecessor, John Mauer. What Rupp did bring was an ability to charm the news media and a fierce determination to turn out winning teams, making him the undisputed "Baron of Basketball." This new and expanded edition of The Winning Tradition brings the history of Kentucky basketball up to date. Nelli and his son Steve turn the same unflinching gaze that characterized the honesty of the first edition on the scandals that marred Eddie Sutton's tenure, the return to glory under Rick Pitino, and a full accounting of Tubby Smith's history-making first year. The start of basketball season is welcomed in the Bluegrass with an unmatched enthusiasm and intensity. Each year brings a new team, new stars, and new glory. Other books have documented individual seasons, individual players, or individual coaches. But The Winning Tradition remains the only complete and authoritative history of the most celebrated college basketball program in the world. A book no fan can afford to be without, The Winning Tradition brings alive the agonies, frustrations, and glories of each season of Kentucky basketball, from the first team (fielded by women) to the surprising victory in the 1998 NCAA tournament.

After 26 seasons as head football coach at Virginia Tech University, Frank Beamer is not only the longest tenured but also the winningest active coach of any major college program, and Let Me Be Frank contains his personal reflections on more than a quarter-century leading the Virginia Tech program. Beamer has directed his alma mater to 20 consecutive bowl appearances, including six BCS bowls, five top-10 finishes, and a trip to the National Championship Game in 1999 led by a freshman quarterback named Michael Vick. But success didn’t come immediately: he started his career at VT with four losing seasons in his first six years, including a 2-8-1 record in 1992 when many fans wanted him fired. He relates how he turned a mediocre program into a perennial power while sporting a clean NCAA record and a well-earned reputation as one of the most-respected head coaches in the nation. However, Beamer is regarded as an even better man than a football coach: he created a state-wide program to help children read, and in the aftermath of the deadliest campus massacre in U.S. history, he met with the parents of the victims and visited with each wounded student. He shares stories from his time spent both on and off the gridiron, including memories of generations of Hokies stars such as Vick, André Davis, Jim Druckenmiller, Corey Moore, Jake Grove, and others.

The Greatest Teams Never: Sports Memories of Near Misses, Total Messes, and Not-so-magical Moments chronicles the despair and disappointment of 40 remarkable teams that are remembered more for what they didn’t accomplish than their successes. The book revisits some of the most memorable and unbelievable events in the annals of sports, while at the same time recognizing those deemed "second-best" as unofficially great, even if history may never remember them that way. Each chapter comprises teams with similar notoriety and highlights a particular nuance of their ultimate demise. There is the 2007 New England Patriots stunning Super Bowl loss to the NY Giants headlining You Can't Win em All. Among other oddities in sports, the chapter Better Lucky than Good examines the Immaculate Reception and divergent outcomes for the Pittsburgh Steelers and Oakland Raiders after their historic playoff game. Once long-suffering Red Sox and Cubs fans will appreciate the chapter, Wait til Near. Even international teams such as Brazil futbol and the USSR hockey are showcased in C'est La Vie. Using hundreds of quotes from players and coaches, statistics, and “distant” replay the book explores both the promise and improbable ending for some truly great teams. Hear in their own words how several Golden State Warriors blamed themselves for blowing the 2016 NBA finals; that Mickey Mantle and other Yankees greats wouldn’t admit the 1960 world champion Pirates were the better team; heartbroken college athletes who try to make sense of one-loss seasons; and more. From Baby Boomers to Millennials, avid sports fans to casual observers, there is something for anyone who follows sports, played sports, or simply roots for their hometown team. Each chapter is filled with reasons to consider the “losers” as still great and ends with a Claim to Fame providing some level of vindication for players and their fans. After all, everyone deserves a second chance — even the greatest teams never.

Lycoming College, 1812-2012: On the Frontiers of American Education is the story of Lycoming College, a liberal arts and sciences college in Williamsport, Pennsylvania. The College is one of the fifty oldest institutions of higher education in the nation and is the oldest that retains a relationship to the United Methodist Church. The College shares many characteristics with peer institutions which have retained the liberal arts and sciences as the basis of their academic programs. It also has the distinction of having evolved through four different stages of American education, and has reached a fifth. It began as the Williamsport Academy in 1812, a school that offered a higher level of education than common schools. Academies became the ancestors of public high schools. In 1848 a group of Methodists bought the Academy and transformed it into Dickinson Seminary, soon renamed Williamsport Dickinson Seminary. It was a preparatory school, not a school of theology, despite its name. In 1929 the leaders of the Seminary added a Junior College to their school. Junior colleges were a new frontier of American education in the early 20th Century and Dickinson Junior College became the first fully accredited private junior college in Pennsylvania. After World War II the Junior College became a four year institution and chose the name Lycoming. In 2000 the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching included Lycoming in its list of 213 national liberal arts colleges. This latest frontier has become a challenge to the College to sustain its program in an ever changing American educational landscape.

Homer B. Johnson has been a coach in the Garland, Texas, Indpendent School District since 1948 and the athletic director of the GISD sincd 1963. When you coach in one place for that long, you are bound to have a story or two to tell - and Homer definitely has one or two. As Homer spins through one classic story after another in this book, you will see why he has had the cultural impact that he has had on high school sports in Texas. From a sideline fistfight that fired up future Baltimore Colts star Bobby Boyd, to University of Texas star Marquise Goodwin dominating the high school state track meet wo years in a row, all of Homer's favorite stories are told here in his down home, unassuming fashion, with some added insight and testimonials from his peers. If you know Homer or have heard him speak, then you know that his storytelling ability is almost as legendary as Texas itself. If you have not met Homer or heard him speak, you are in for a real treat as you meet him for the first time and relive 60-plus years of Texas high school sports through his eyes.

FORTY MINUTES TO BATON ROUGE examines the life and tragic death of LSU head football coach Robert "Bo" Rein at age 34. The fact that Rein never actually coached a day at LSU muddies the emotional waters and creates an unfortunate chasm between those who knew him and those who never got the chance. Sadly, after only 42 days at the helm, the evening of January 10, 1980 took a tragic and unfathomable turn. While returning to Baton Rouge from a Shreveport recruiting trip, Rein and his pilot Lewis S. Benscotter turned a 40 minute junket into a three hour 1,000 mile odyssey, that 40 years later still has us scratching our heads. Rein's twin engine Cessna 441 would plunge 40,000 feet into the Atlantic Ocean 100 miles off Cape Charles, VA. For LSU, the sadness resembled a new friend they had just met and abruptly lost. For NC State, the loss was devastation and utter disbelief. And for Ohioans...they had lost a beloved son.

A tribute to half a century of high school football on the islands of Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket centers on the rivalry between the Whalers and Vineyarders, tracing their respective colorful histories and their competitions for the Island Cup and league championship. By the author of Seven Dirty Words. 25,000 first printing.