Publisher's Synopsis
What do Tom Molineaux, a freed slave who rocked English boxing; Bill Knapton, a victorious small college basketball coach; Alta Weiss, a doctor with a fastball; and Edith Green, an almost forgotten member of Congress, have in common? They, plus the 47 other figures in this book, changed the face of American sports forever. Here are those who made the games in which the big stars thrive. Here are those who paved the way for the immortal athletes of American life. Here are the revolutionary media producers, the epic sports writers, the great commissioners, the amazingly skilled Native Americans, and the pioneering women and African-Americans--without whom the American sports we love would not have existed. As Tom Brokaw has put it, "it's easy to make a buck, hard to make a difference." These are the dramatic stories of 51 who made a deep and lasting difference.
