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. In Game of My Life San Francisco 49ers, Roger Craig, Steve Young, and Jerry Rice recount their respective Super Bowl experiences. John Brodie, Garrison Hearst, R. C. Owens, and Frank Gore are just a few of the players, past and present, who also offer their firsthand accounts. The book provides an in-depth look into the men and games that helped develop the five-time champions into becoming one of the most successful teams in NFL history.
“Steve Young is a hero of mine. . . His perseverance, intelligence, and, most of all, grace under pressure, NFL-style, make this book a fascinating read.” —Tom Brady In the most candid and compelling sports memoir since Andre Agassi’s riveting bestseller Open, former San Francisco 49er, Super Bowl champion, NFL MVP, and Hall of Famer Steve Young gives readers an unprecedented and stunning inside look at what it takes to become a super-elite professional quarterback. Steve Young produced some of the most memorable moments in NFL history. But his most impressive victories have been deeply personal ones that were won when no one was watching. His remarkably revealing memoir is the story of a Mormon boy with a 4.0 GPA, a photographic memory, and a severe case of childhood separation anxiety. As an eighth-string quarterback at Brigham Young University, it was doubtful that he would ever see any playing time. But Young became an All-American, finished second in the Heisman voting, and was the top draft choice out of college. Then, after signing the largest contract in sports history, anxiety nearly drove him to walk away from football completely. In short, Young’s quest in life was always about grit. Now, he shares the experience of being inside his helmet while he faces down his toughest adversaries, both on and off the field. “This book is gold.” —Peter King “Intense.” —San Francisco Chronicle “Young’s battles with anxiety make you forget you are reading about a Hall of Famer, and make you root for him at every turn. This is a revealing, honest, compelling book that any fan will enjoy.” —Michael Rosenberg, senior writer, Sports Illustrated
Since their founding in 1919, the Chicago Bears have carried the hearts and souls of football fans throughout the country. Now supporters of one of the NFL’s most storied franchises will go into the locker room and onto the turf with over twenty Bears legends in Game of My Life Chicago Bears. In this newly revised edition, sportswriter Lew Freedman opens the doors to players’ private remembrances of how it was and how they reacted to the spotlight. Big touchdowns, career-making moments, and championship glory shared all come to the surface for Bears of the past half-century. Readers will hear tales from Hall of Famers such as Dick Butkus, Gale Sayers, Mike Singletary, Stan Jones, and so many more. Within these pages, Chicago gridiron greats offer glimpses of the National Football League in the 1950s, the 1960s, and right up through present-day play. More than sixty years of Bears experience is represented in this collection of tales told by the men who lived through some of the most memorable moments in franchise history.
For the city of Cleveland and the fans of the Browns, it’s not just a football team: it’s a way of life. From rabid fan clubs all around the country to fans around Northeast Ohio wearing the colors of the brown and orange, time stops when the Browns take the field each week. The team joined the NFL in 1950 and won a championship in their first year in the league, and went on to win three more, the last of which was 1964 when they shutout the Baltimore Colts 27-0 at Cleveland Municipal Stadium. Since then fans have been waiting, through good years and bad, for the glory to return to the Browns franchise. They have had to endure the harshest of defeats, losing three times to the Denver Broncos in the 1980’s on the doorstep of playing in their first Super Bowl. They also had to live out the nightmare of their franchise being ripped away during the 1995 season, as then owner Art Modell moved them to Baltimore in one of the most shocking moves in NFL history. This book will give you an idea of the fanfare and the love that former players and fans have for the Cleveland Browns. Read as Bernie Kosar, Ozzie Newsome, Don Cockcroft, Eric Metcalf, and other beloved players remember the glory days, with exciting trips to the postseason. You’ll understand after reading this just how much Cleveland loves its football team, and how the players feel the same. Skyhorse Publishing, as well as our Sports Publishing imprint, are proud to publish a broad range of books for readers interested in sports—books about baseball, pro football, college football, pro and college basketball, hockey, or soccer, we have a book about your sport or your team. Whether you are a New York Yankees fan or hail from Red Sox nation; whether you are a die-hard Green Bay Packers or Dallas Cowboys fan; whether you root for the Kentucky Wildcats, Louisville Cardinals, UCLA Bruins, or Kansas Jayhawks; whether you route for the Boston Bruins, Toronto Maple Leafs, Montreal Canadiens, or Los Angeles Kings; we have a book for you. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are committed to publishing books on subjects that are sometimes overlooked by other publishers and to authors whose work might not otherwise find a home.
Alabama’s football legends recall their greatest moments in this newly updated edition of Game of My Life Alabama Crimson Tide. From Harry Gilmer and his excellent play in the 1946 Rose Bowl to Antonio Langham’s heroics in the 1992 game against Florida that led the Crimson Tide to the Sugar Bowl, Alabama has had more than its share of great games, great players, and great moments, including its win over Clemson in the 2015 national championship. In Game of My Life Alabama Crimson Tide, Tommy Hicks takes readers behind the scenes and onto the field with some of the greatest Crimson Tide players ever. Fans will discover the simple advice and prediction head coach Paul "Bear" Bryant gave his team before the 1967 Auburn game won by quarterback Ken Stabler’s famous "run in the mud." Ken Stabler, Mike Shula, Brodie Croyle, Lee Roy Jordan, Cornelius Bennett, Billy Neighbors, Woodrow Lowe, Joey Jones, Bobby Humphrey, Greg McElroy, and many others all share their memories of the most defining, poignant, and heart-stopping games they ever played in. Game of My Life Alabama Crimson Tide highlights some of the games and moments that have added to the tradition of Alabama football.
A continuing and ongoing drama, LSU football has been marked by a string of improbable victories and sometimes valiant defeats. Game of My Life LSU Tigers is the chronicle of more than thirty-five of the greatest players as they tell the story of the game that meant it all. This book features the vivid and poignant single-game stories from three dozen of the most remembered Tigers games of the last eight decades. Readers will relive the fingertip catches, the bone-crunching hits, and epic touchdowns through the eyes—and from the memories—of the LSU players themselves. The words of Tigers such as Jim Taylor, Billy Cannon, Tommy Hodson, Carlos Carson, Matt Mauck, Rohan Davey, JaMarcus Russell, Marcus Spears, Jarvis Landry, and Leonard Fournette are all part of this storied collection that has become a must-have for any true Tigers fan and Bayou football lover. From the words of Tigers coaching legend Paul Dietzel, “This is really like a Tiger time machine, going back to LSU’s greatest football moments with the people who lived them, then and now.”
How do you measure the soul of a city? In Denver, for the better part of five decades it’s been by the Broncos. From an ugly and inauspicious beginning to the first nationally televised Monday-night game in 1973, through postseason games that included back-to-back World Championships and five other Super Bowl appearances, the Broncos have provided the Mile-High City’s primary identity on a national level. The nation’s first truly regional sports franchise, the Broncos were the first major league team to call Denver home, beginning play as a charter member of the American Football League, with its first season in 1960. In this newly revised edition of Game of My Life Denver Broncos, fans past and present will relive the greatest moments of Mile-High football through the eyes of the players themselves. Floyd Little shares the pride and joy of scoring a touchdown in his last game as a Bronco and John Elway describes the glory of leading the Broncos to their first Super Bowl victory in 1998. From those infamous striped socks to back-to-back Super Bowl Championships, Game of My Life Denver Broncos has it all—a must-have for any Broncos fan. Skyhorse Publishing, as well as our Sports Publishing imprint, are proud to publish a broad range of books for readers interested in sports—books about baseball, pro football, college football, pro and college basketball, hockey, or soccer, we have a book about your sport or your team. Whether you are a New York Yankees fan or hail from Red Sox nation; whether you are a die-hard Green Bay Packers or Dallas Cowboys fan; whether you root for the Kentucky Wildcats, Louisville Cardinals, UCLA Bruins, or Kansas Jayhawks; whether you route for the Boston Bruins, Toronto Maple Leafs, Montreal Canadiens, or Los Angeles Kings; we have a book for you. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are committed to publishing books on subjects that are sometimes overlooked by other publishers and to authors whose work might not otherwise find a home.
In Game of My Life Georgia Bulldogs, several prominent Georgia players of the past share their fondest single-game experience and memories, in their own words. Some of these games involve championships, and others seem ordinary save for significant personal meaning. In each case, it is the player who singles out the game, that moment in time that to him is the most defining of his Bulldog career. From Pro Football Hall of Famer Charley Trippi to Tra Battle, who in 2006 helped the Bulldogs shock Auburn, and many more great Bulldogs in between, the players have created a plethora of memorable experiences on the football field. In this book, they can tell you about those games when everything seemed to come together to create an experience that they will never forget.
It was Thanksgiving Day, 1962. The Detroit Lions handed Green Bay its only loss during the Packers’ championship season. But the Lions didn’t just beat Vince Lombardi’s team—they sacked All-Pro quarterback Bart Starr a league-record eleven times. All-Pro defensive lineman Roger Brown recorded six of those sacks, and he describes this most memorable game in Game of My Life Detroit Lions. Since their founding as the Portsmouth Spartans in 1929, the Detroit Lions have carried the hearts and souls of some of the NFL’s most loyal fans. Now supporters of this storied franchise will go into the locker room and onto the turf with over twenty Lions legends in Game of My Life Detroit Lions. Sportswriter Paula Pasche opens the doors to players’ private remembrances of how it was and how they reacted to the spotlight. Readers will hear tales from Hall of Famers, Pro Bowlers, and fan favorites such as Charlie Sanders, Mel Farr, Shaun Robinson, Doug English, and so many more. Within these pages, Detroit gridiron greats offer glimpses of the National Football League in the 1950s, the 1960s, and right up through the present day. More than fifty years of Lions’ experience is represented in this collection of tales told by the men who lived through some of the most memorable moments in franchise history. Skyhorse Publishing, as well as our Sports Publishing imprint, are proud to publish a broad range of books for readers interested in sports—books about baseball, pro football, college football, pro and college basketball, hockey, or soccer, we have a book about your sport or your team. Whether you are a New York Yankees fan or hail from Red Sox nation; whether you are a die-hard Green Bay Packers or Dallas Cowboys fan; whether you root for the Kentucky Wildcats, Louisville Cardinals, UCLA Bruins, or Kansas Jayhawks; whether you route for the Boston Bruins, Toronto Maple Leafs, Montreal Canadiens, or Los Angeles Kings; we have a book for you. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are committed to publishing books on subjects that are sometimes overlooked by other publishers and to authors whose work might not otherwise find a home.
This book takes a personal look inside some of the biggest moments of Miami’s greatest players as “The U” morphed from a football program nearly disbanded in the 1970s to a national power. Three-time All-American and Pro Football Hall of Fame inductee Ted “the Mad Stork” Hendricks shares his thoughts on single-handedly dominating the LSU Tigers in 1968. Current Georgia head coach Mark Richt recalls getting pelted with oranges in Gainesville in 1980, then taking over for an injured Jim Kelly and leading the Canes to a 21-20 win over the Gators in 1981. Alonzo Highsmith remembers all four of his touchdowns in Miami’s first victory at Notre Dame in 1984, where he wanted to jump out of the stadium . . . and run over that leprechaun. Vinny Testaverde recounts the antics of Melvin Bratton and Alonzo Highsmith, who prank-called Brian Bosworth the morning before No. 1 Oklahoma invaded the Orange Bowl to take on the No. 2 ’Canes, where Testaverde threw four touchdown passes in a 28-16 Heisman-clinching win. Gino Torretta describes the shot that knocked the wind out of him as he delivered the game-winning touchdown pass to Lamar Thomas in Miami’s 19-16 “Wide Right II” victory. There are many more unforgettable moments in Game of My Life Miami Hurricanes that span different eras of Miami football, including conversations with former All-American Eric Winston, 1988 Orange Bowl MVP Bernard “Tiger” Clark, All-American wideout Santana Moss, and record-setting kicker Carlos Huerta. All share close and personal details of what they were thinking and feeling in the best games of their careers. Skyhorse Publishing, as well as our Sports Publishing imprint, are proud to publish a broad range of books for readers interested in sports—books about baseball, pro football, college football, pro and college basketball, hockey, or soccer, we have a book about your sport or your team. Whether you are a New York Yankees fan or hail from Red Sox nation; whether you are a die-hard Green Bay Packers or Dallas Cowboys fan; whether you root for the Kentucky Wildcats, Louisville Cardinals, UCLA Bruins, or Kansas Jayhawks; whether you route for the Boston Bruins, Toronto Maple Leafs, Montreal Canadiens, or Los Angeles Kings; we have a book for you. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are committed to publishing books on subjects that are sometimes overlooked by other publishers and to authors whose work might not otherwise find a home.
