"African Americans were making moves in basketball generations before the rise of the NBA. Their pioneering efforts helped popularize the sport in big cities and small towns alike and shaped the game we know and love today. From the invention of the game in 1891 to the racial integration of all-white professional leagues in the 1950s, dozens of teams--then often called 'fives'--of African American players were founded and flourished. This was a time...

"African American George Fletcher loved horses from an early age. When he unfairly lost the 1911 Pendleton Round-Up to a white man, the outraged audience declared him "people's champion"--Provided by publisher.

Bring your tailgate party into the comforts of your living room! While Jackson was known for his athletic abilities at the University of Arkansas, he found a lucrative business opportunity-- and furthered his cooking skills-- by packaging tasty meals for his teammates. After retirement he focused on perfecting his culinary skills. Here he presents his absolute favorite, all-star recipes that are fit for any homegate or gathering. -- adapted from Introduction....

Told in rhyming text, a young African American girl learns to ride a bike, with the help of her father.

History will remember the rivalry of Joe Frazier and Muhammad Ali as one for the ages. A trilogy of extraordinary fights that transcended the world of sports and crossed into a sociocultural drama that divided the country. Joe Frazier was a much more complex figure than just his rivalry with Ali would suggest. In this riveting and nuanced portrayal, acclaimed sportswriter Mark Kram, Jr. unlinks Frazier from Ali and for the first time gives a full-bodied...

"Today, the NBA is around 74% Black but, when basketball first started to catch on, it wasn't easy for Black people to play. They couldn't enter segregated YMCAs or attend privileged colleges. So Black Americans made their own spaces, playing in dance halls before the dancing started, and eventually forming teams called the Black Fives. More than Just a Game celebrates the history of basketball from a Black perspective, revealing how it changed Black...

An eye-opening look at the life and legacy of Jackie Robinson, the man who broke the color barrier in Major League Baseball and became an American hero.

"A heartbreaking and inspiring true story of a New Orleans high school football team and their head coach's mission to protect his players' lives"-- Short on hope but big on dreams, the mostly poor and marginalized residents of the New Orleans neighborhood of Algiers find joy on Friday nights when the Cougars of Edna Karr High School take the field. For years, this football program has brought glory to Algiers, winning three consecutive state championships...

When legendary Negro League player Buck O'Neil asked Joe Posnanski how he fell in love with baseball, the renowned sports columnist was inspired by the question. He decided to spend the 2005 baseball season touring the country with the ninety-four-year-old O'Neil in hopes of rediscovering the love that first drew them to the game. The Soul of Baseball is as much the story of Buck O'Neil as it is the story of baseball. Driven by a relentless optimism...

"History was made at the 2015 Belmont Stakes when American Pharoah won the Triple Crown, the first since Affirmed in 1978. As magnificent as the champion is, the team behind him has been all too human while on the road to immortality. Written by an award-winning New York Times sportswriter, American Pharoah is the definitive account not only of how the ethereal colt won the Kentucky Derby, Preakness, and Belmont Stakes, but how he changed lives. Through...