A brand new, fast-paced, fully illustrated history of basketball through its flashpoints, innovations, and innovators The third book in the Lyons Press Game Changers sports series answers the questions: What were the 50 most revolutionary personalities, rules, strategies, rivalries, controversies, organizational changes, radio and television advancements, and more in the history of basketball—college and the pros? And how, exactly, did they forever change the game? Basketball’s Game Changers offers fascinating, detailed explanations along with a ranking system from 1 to 50 that is sure to inspire debate among professional and college basketball aficionados. Ranging from the game’s beginnings to today and tackling on-the-court and off-the-court developments, Basketball’s Game Changers offers a history of hoops through its turning-points and innovations. Sportswriter Brendan Prunty breaks down the Bird-Magic rivalry, the 3-point shot, the creation of the NCAA tournament, Air Jordans, Allen Iverson, the WNBA, and even the video game NBA Jam and more! Full-color, and including photos, pull-outs, and sidebars throughout, books within the Game Changers series are important and entertaining additions to every sports fan’s library.

"Based on the Instagram account @TheUnsungHeroines, a celebration of the pioneering, forgotten female athletes of the twentieth century that features rarely seen photos and new interviews with past and present gamechangers including Abby Wambach and Cari Champion"--

When they piled into cars and drove through Durham, North Carolina, the members of the Duke University Medical School basketball team only knew that they were going somewhere to play basketball. They didn't know whom they would play against. But when they came face to face with their opponents, they quickly realized this secret game was going to make history. Discover the true story of how in 1944, Coach John McLendon orchestrated a secret game between the best players from a white college and his team from the North Carolina College of Negroes. At a time of widespread segregation and rampant racism, this illegal gathering changed the sport of basketball forever.

Among many legendary episodes from the life and career of men's basketball coach Dean Smith, few loom as large as his recruitment of Charlie Scott, the first African American scholarship athlete at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Drawn together by college basketball in a time of momentous change, Smith and Scott helped transform a university, a community, and the racial landscape of sports in the South. But there is much more to this story than is commonly told. In Game Changers, Art Chansky reveals an intense saga of race, college sport, and small-town politics. At the center were two young men, Scott and Smith, both destined for greatness but struggling through challenges on and off the court, among them the storms of civil rights protest and the painfully slow integration of a Chapel Hill far less progressive than its reputation today might suggest. Drawing on extensive personal interviews and a variety of other sources, Chansky takes readers beyond the basketball court to highlight the community that supported Smith and Scott during these demanding years, from assistant basketball coach John Lotz and influential pastor the Reverend Robert Seymour to pioneering African American mayor Howard Lee. Dispelling many myths that surround this period, Chansky nevertheless offers an ultimately triumphant portrait of a student-athlete and coach who ensured the University of North Carolina would never be the same.

Hank, the nimble; Hank, the quick; Hank, the human corkscrew; Hank, as fast as light; Hank, the rubber-boned man, wrote Roy Cummings after seeing a 19-year-old Hank Luisetti perform for the first time in 1936. Cummings sat alone in a deserted gym trying to describe to his readers what he had just witnessed on the basketball court. Luisetti, who learned the game to a background chorus of fog horns and gulls on San Francisco Bay, would later that year introduce New Yorks basketball legions to the jump shot. Now Philip Pallette has created a riveting account of the basketball life of this eminently shy and decent young man who transformed Stanford basketball from a group of fun-loving dabblers into national champions. The Game Changer is a book that rediscovers the long-forgotten adulation basketball fans felt for Luisetti by tracing his journey from boyhood on to becoming basketballs first matinee idol and the man who changed basketball forever.

The second book in the Game Changers sports series answers the questions: What were the 50 most revolutionary personalities, rules, pieces of equipment, controversies, organizational changes, radio and television advancements, and more in the history of football? And how, exactly, did they forever change the game? Football’s Game Changers offers fascinating, detailed explanations along with a ranking system from 1 to 50 that is sure to inspire debate among professional and college gridiron aficionados. Ranging from each sport’s beginnings to today and tackling on-the-field and off-the-field developments, the Game Changers series is entertaining, quick-hitting history of sport through its turning-points and innovations. Full-color, and including photos, pull-outs, and sidebars throughout, books within the Game Changers series are must-have additions to every sports fan’s library.

The Game Changer powerfully demonstrates how some organisations in business and sport have done more than raise their performance; they have also changed the rules of the game or the game itself within their industry. It gives examples of the strategies and governance programmes that have emerged to accomplish this, and the challenges of executing them. This book brings to life strategic management in business, sport and not-for-profit organisations. It explores many of the theories taught on MBA and other professional programmes through case studies from the worlds of sport and business, written by authors who have played a part in the change. Alistair Gray has spent much of his career in senior roles in these sectors and brings a unique insight to the field, as well as providing the reader with tools and techniques for improvement in governance and performance. The Game Changer is essential reading for both professionals looking for methods to improve their own performance and to embed strong principles of governance, and business students looking for real-life lessons from practice.