Keiderling, Kyle. Olympic Collision: The Story of Mary Decker and Zola Budd. Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press, 2016. Pp. 341. Notes, Bibliography, Index. $27.95 hardcover. Reviewed by Kristy McCray “The greatest fear of any athlete is that they will be remembered for their most embarrassing moment. In the case of Mary and Zola, their…
LeBlanc, Diane, and Allys Swanson. Playing for Equality: Oral Histories of Women Leaders in the Early Years of Title IX. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2016. Pp. 208. Notes, References, Index. $29.95 softcover. Reviewed by Erica Zonder As Title IX approaches its 45th anniversary, it seems timely to read about the experiences of the early pioneers and…
Dechant, John. Scoreless: Omaha Central, Creighton Prep, and Nebraska’s Greatest High School Football Game. Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press, 2016. Pp. x+239. Illustrations, acknowledgments, bibliographic essay. $18.95 paperback. Reviewed by Paul Putz In the fall of 1960, nearly fifteen thousand people in Omaha, Nebraska, took in a high school football game between two undefeated…
Franks, Joel S. Asian American Basketball: A Century of Sport, Community, and Culture. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2016. 280. 18 photos, notes, bibliography, index. 45.00. Softcover. Reviewed by Samantha White Asian American Basketball: A Century of Sport, Community, and Culture, by Joel Franks, examines the intersection between race, ethnicity, gender, and sport. While Franks notes in…
William A. Young. J.L. Wilkinson and the Kansas City Monarchs: Trailblazers in Black Baseball. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2017. $35.00 paperback. Reviewed by Josh Howard. This book began, like so many other projects, with a trip to a museum. William Young was inspired by the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City and the story presented…
Johnson, Scott Morrow. Phog: The Most Influential Man in Basketball. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2016. Pp. 376. 26 photographs, notes and index. $29.95 Hardcover. Reviewed by Andrew McGregor In Kansas, basketball is a religion. Allen Fieldhouse, opened in March of 1955, is widely recognized as one of its most hallowed temple. Its floor, where…
Cohen, Diana Tracy. Iron Dads: Managing Family, Work, and Endurance Sport Identities. New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press, 2016. Pp. xiv+191. Introduction, notes, bibliography, and index. Paperback: $26.95. Reviewed by Ari de Wilde In her book, Iron Dads: Managing Family, Work, and Endurance Sport Identities, Diana Tracy Cohen, an Associate Professor of Political Science at…
Jacobus, Robert D. Houston Cougars in the 1960s: Death Threats, the Veer Offense, and the Game of the Century. College Station: Texas A&M University Press, 2015. Pp. xxiv+366. Bibliography and index. $29.99 clothback. Reviewed by Alex Parrish The 2006 Disney biopic Glory Road narrates the unprecedented championship run of the 1965-1966 Texas Western Miners basketball team,…
Bjarkman, Peter C. Cuba’s Baseball Defectors: The Inside Story. New York: Rowman & Littlefield, 2016. Pp. xxxviii+348. Notes, Index, Appendices, Photographs. $36 hardback, $35.99 eBook. Reviewed by Dain TePoel Twenty-three Cubans were on MLB club rosters to open the 2016 season, an increase of five players from 2015 and the most since the Commissioner’s Office…
Ross, Charles K. Mavericks, Money, and Men: The AFL, Black Players, and the Evolution of Modern Football. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2016 Pp. 212. Notes, bibliography, and index. $84.50 clothback, $19.95 paperback, $19.95 e-book. By Andrew D. Linden At Super Bowl I, then known as the AFL-NFL World Championship Game, the Green Bay Packers easily…
Sport in American History 