Clint Castleberry was already an Atlanta-area football sensation when he arrived at Georgia Tech in 1942, and in one meteoric college season he became a national sports hero as well. He was the first college freshman ever to be voted All-American. At least one Heisman Trophy was all but certain. Though weighing just 155 pounds, he seemed destined to become one of the greatest tailbacks in college football history. But then World War II intervened, and Castleberry became, instead, another young man whose destiny was cut short. His #19 is the only number ever retired in the illustrious history of Georgia Tech football. Bill Chastain weaves Clint Castleberry's story around other legends of Georgia Tech football--including John Heisman, William Alexander, and Bobby Dodd—to create a glorious portrait of a proud football tradition and America's Greatest Generation.
He ran like a crazed jackrabbit, according to one awe-struck sportswriter. Clint Castleberry was already an Atlanta-area football sensation when he arrived at Georgia Tech in 1942, and in one meteoric college season he became a national sports hero as well. He was the first college freshman ever to be voted All-American. At least one Heisman Trophy was all but certain. Though weighing just 155 pounds, he seemed destined to become one of the greatest tailbacks in college football history. But then World War II intervened, and Castleberry became, instead, another young man whose destiny was cut short. His #19 is the only number ever retired in the illustrious history of Georgia Tech football. Bill Chastain weaves Clint Castleberry’s story around other legends of Georgia Tech football--including John Heisman, William Alexander, and Bobby Dodd—to create a glorious portrait of a proud football tradition and America’s Greatest Generation.
Georgia Tech has become one of the nation's top-10-ranked public universities and boasts a former U.S. president, TV personality and Hall-of-Fame athletes among its prominent alumni. From humble beginnings as a small technological institute that opened in 1888, Georgia Tech is now renowned throughout the world for its excellence in technological education and research. A top-10-ranked public university, according to U.S. News & World Report rankings, famous Georgia Institute of Technology alumni include Jimmy Carter, G. Wayne Clough, Jeff Foxworthy, Sam Nunn, Randolph Scott, and Leonard Wood, along with many famous athletes. Georgia Tech has won four national college football championships, the first in 1917 under the legendary coach John Heisman. Today, Georgia Tech has a student body of more than 29,000 at the undergraduate and graduate levels and more than 155,000 living alumni. The institute has an annual economic impact of about $3 billion upon Georgia's economy. Authors and Tech alumni Matthew Hild and David L. Morton take you inside the journey of how this institute got to where it is today.
The pivotal true story of the first fifty-three days of the standoff between Imperial Japanese and a handful of Marine aviators defending the Americans dug in at Guadalcanal, from the New York Times bestselling author of Indestructible and Race of Aces. On August 20, 1942, twelve Marine dive-bombers and nineteen Marine fighters landed at Guadalcanal. Their mission: defeat the Japanese navy and prevent it from sending more men and supplies to "Starvation Island," as Guadalcanal was nicknamed. The Japanese were turning the remote, jungle-covered mountain in the south Solomon Islands into an air base from which they could attack the supply lines between the U.S. and Australia. The night after the Marines landed and captured the partially completed airfield, the Imperial Navy launched a surprise night attack on the Allied fleet offshore, resulting in the worst defeat the U.S. Navy suffered in the 20th century, which prompted the abandonment of the Marines on Guadalcanal. The Marines dug in, and waited for help, as those thirty-one pilots and twelve gunners flew against the Japanese, shooting down eighty-three planes in less than two months, while the dive bombers, carried out over thirty attacks on the Japanese fleet. Fifty-Three Days on Starvation Island follows Major John L. Smith, a magnetic leader who became America’s top fighter ace for the time; Captain Marion Carl, the Marine Corps’ first ace, and one of the few survivors of his squadron at the Battle of Midway. He would be shot down and forced to make his way back to base through twenty-five miles of Japanese-held jungle. And Major Richard Mangrum, the lawyer-turned-dive-bomber commander whose inexperienced men wrought havoc on the Japanese Navy. New York Times bestselling author John R. Bruning depicts the desperate effort to stop the Japanese long enough for America to muster reinforcements and turn the tide at Guadalcanal. Not just the story of an incredible stand on a distant jungle island, Fifty-Three Days on Starvation Island also explores the consequences of victory to the men who secured it at a time when America had been at war for less than a year and its public had yet to fully understand what that meant. The home front they returned to after their jungle ordeal was a surreal montage of football games, nightclubs, fine dining with America’s elites, and inside looks at dysfunctional defense industries more interested in fleecing the government than properly equipping the military. Bruning tells the story of how one battle reshaped the Marine Corps and propelled its veterans into the highest positions of power just in time to lead the service into a new war in Southeast Asia.
Hack Wilson’s record 191 RBIs in 1930 may well stand the test of time, and so may the record of his hard-drinking lifestyle. In Hack’s 191, Bill Chastain recreates the most productive offensive season in baseball history while giving readers unique insight into the life of one of baseball’s most fascinating, enigmatic, and yet neglected characters. Drunk or sober, Wilson lived large in Prohibition-era Chicago, where the entertainment and nightclub industries thrived, and Al Capone, a friend of Wilson, reigned as the most publicized gangster in America. Hack finished the 1929 season batting .345 with 39 home runs and 159 RBIs, giving him his fourth consecutive 100-plus RBI season before for misplaying two fly balls in the World Series. Despite losing the Series, the Cubs entered the 1930 season favored again to win the National League pennant. After a slow start and many bad breaks, the team was in first place by the end of August, with Hack Wilson leading the way. Chronicling the ups, downs, and record-setting accomplishments of Lewis R. “Hack” Wilson, this book returns arguably the most hard-living, hard-hitting ballplayer in history to the lineup of the game’s greats.
Most San Francisco Giants fans have taken in a game or two at AT&T Park, have seen highlights of Willie Mays' basket catch on YouTube, and were thrilled by the team's World Series wins in 2010, 2012 and 2014, but even the die-hards—those who remember which pitcher started the first home game in San Francisco's history, have attended a spring training game at Scottsdale Stadium, or know how many home runs Barry Bonds hit into McCovey Cove during his record-setting career—will appreciate this ultimate resource guide for true fans of the San Francisco Giants. For both boosters from the days of Bobby Thomson and recent supporters of Bruce Bochy, Madison Bumgarner, and Buster Posey, these are the 100 things all fans need to know and do in their lifetime. Longtime sportswriter Bill Chastain has collected every essential piece of Giants knowledge and trivia, as well as must-do activities, and ranks them from 1 to 100, providing an entertaining and easy-to-follow checklist that leads the way to achieving fan superstardom.
Long-time sports writer Bill Chastain examines every details about the beginning, heyday and end of the Steelers mid-1970s run of winning four Super Bowls in six years, a feat that many writers say will not be broken. Former Steeler Rocky Bleier not only wrote the foreword but will be handing all the extensive media.
With his irreverant personality, laid-back approach, and penchant for the unexpected, Joe Maddon is a singular presence among Major League Baseball managers. Whether he's bringing clowns and live bear cubs to spring training or leading the Chicago Cubs to their first World Series victory in 108 years, Maddon is always one to watch. In Try Not to Suck, ESPN's Jesse Rogers and MLB.com's Bill Chastain fully explore Maddon's life and career, delving behind the scenes and dissecting that mystique which makes Maddon so popular with players and analysts alike. Packed with insight, anecdotes, and little-known facts, this is the definitive account of the curse-breaker and trailblazer at the helm of the Cubs' new era.
Johnny Bower came to be known as one of the greatest Toronto Maple Leafs of all time, but he started from humble beginnings. He taught himself to play hockey on the frozen rivers of Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, using a tree branch his father had sharpened into a stick and a cut-up old mattress for goalie pads. He’d spend hours in the frigid air, learning to catch the puck in mittened hands, never dreaming he would one day share the same ice as his Saturday-night idols. But share it he did, dominating the Leafs net for four Stanley Cup victories in the 1960s. He spent eleven seasons with the Leafs, playing well into his forties, although many believed he was older. In Bower, bestselling author Dan Robson shares the never-before-told stories of Johnny’s life and career, drawing on extensive interviews with his wife, Nancy, and his immediate family, close teammates such as Leaf greats George Armstrong and Bobby Baun, and the friends who knew him and loved him best.
Augusta National is golf’s Holy Grail. Navigating the azaleas to play the exclusive course that hosts The Masters is a pipe dream for every golfer. Imagine being afforded the opportunity not only to play the course, but to be able to bring your father along for the ride. To complete the priceless fantasy, Jack Nicklaus—“The Golden Bear”—hosts the round. Through fate, coincidence and good fortune, Joe Wessel managed to find a way to make that happen. In White Fang and The Golden Bear, Wessel recounts that special round, how it came about, and what happened on the pristine grounds of Augusta National. With the help of veteran sportswriter Bill Chastain, Wessel's memoir offers the touching story of how the game of golf helped in the development of a special father-son bond and how that relationship grew first throughout Wessel’s childhood, then during his tenure as a football player-turned-coach, and finally once he was a dad himself. This book offers the perfect father-son story for any sports aficionado!
