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FOR USE IN SCHOOLS AND LIBRARIES ONLY. An inspiring story of the first American female athlete to win three gold medals at a single Olympic Games shares her triumphs over childhood illnesses to become a high school basketball player. A Childhood Of Famous Americans title. ... Read more

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Wilma Rudloph Olypimc Runner
Wilma Rudolph is like a regular six-year old child, but has polio.She tries to fight polio, but thinks her exercises aren't helping at all.But later on something happens, she wants to start playing basketball."How can i do this if my leg is twisted?" Wilma said.
Later, she qualfied for the 1960 Olympics in three events, the 100, 200, and a relay race.Wilma had set a world record, but the people in charge of the validating made it offical.Because of that, her achievement doesn't always appear in record books.If you want to know more about Wilma, you should read the book. ... Read more

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Who was Jim Thorpe?Did he really deceive the world in the 1912 Stockholm Summer Olympic Games?Was the evidence against him really strong enough to justify stripping away his legendary accomplishments and erasing his Olympic record?

Author Michael Sheaffer tackles these and other thorny questions of ethics, honor, and sportsmanship in his new and thoroughly entertaining novel A Hearing for Jim Thorpe: An Exercise in Frustration. A sports reporter named Bud Murphy arrives in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, on a hot, dry July 1915, afternoon. He’s there to cover a special and unprecedented event; a hearing at the Cumberland County Courthouse regarding the case, details, and final disposition of Carlisle native son, Jim Thorpe.

Thorpe was the hero of the 1912 Stockholm Summer Olympics where he won back-to-back Pentathlon and Decathlon gold.However, it all came crashing down when the Amateur Athletic Union presented evidence that Thorpe had competed in the games after having already played professional baseball before the start of the games. Dishonored, but still having popular support, Jim Thorpe was stripped of all his glory, medals, and reputation.

Murphy witnesses the crowded courtroom as experts, witnesses, and history itself testifies to the greatness and the infamy of Thorpe and the controversy that grew up around him. A Hearing for Jim Thorpe offers up a riveting tale of passion that celebrates the life of a true American sports hero and speculates on what could have been.

Written with a touch of humor and told as an intimate and revealing narrative, A Hearing for Jim Thorpe: An Exercise in Frustration is a book that casts a bright light into a dark corner of sports history.In the spirit of great courtroom dramas like Inherit the Wind, author Sheaffer sets the record straight, while telling a masterful drama that is both bold and uplifting.
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Customer Reviews (1)

Outstanding Book
Just finished reading one of the best books I've read in years, the story of a hearing held in Carlisle, PA during the early 1900's about whether Jim Thorpe's medals, awards, and trophies should be returned to him.They were taken away from him seven days after competing in the 1912 Olympic Games held in Stockholm, Sweden, where he won the gold for both the Pentathlon and Decathlon.Fans of courtroom drama and investigative reporting will find this to be a captivating as well as informative read regarding the events, characters, and places of this early American period.The author has thoroughly researched and written a fictional account of a non-fictional event that grips the reader and then surprisingly builds into a resounding climax.Sports enthusiasts and fans of journalism will also enjoy reading this book. ... Read more

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This digital document is an article from Notable Sports Figures, brought to you by Gale®, a part of Cengage Learning, a world leader in e-research and educational publishing for libraries, schools and businesses.The length of the article is 1232 words.The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase.You can view it with any web browser.Takes a close look at the people in sports who have captured attention because of success on the playing field, or controversy off the playing field. This work features biographies on more than 600 people from around the world and throughout history who have had an impact not only on their sport, but also on the society and culture of their times. It also includes not only the record-breakers that dominated and changed their sport, but also the controversial figures that made headlines even apart from athletic events. ... Read more

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This digital document is an article from Notable Sports Figures, brought to you by Gale®, a part of Cengage Learning, a world leader in e-research and educational publishing for libraries, schools and businesses.The length of the article is 1908 words.The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase.You can view it with any web browser.Takes a close look at the people in sports who have captured attention because of success on the playing field, or controversy off the playing field. This work features biographies on more than 600 people from around the world and throughout history who have had an impact not only on their sport, but also on the society and culture of their times. It also includes not only the record-breakers that dominated and changed their sport, but also the controversial figures that made headlines even apart from athletic events. ... Read more

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This digital document is an article from Notable Sports Figures, brought to you by Gale®, a part of Cengage Learning, a world leader in e-research and educational publishing for libraries, schools and businesses.The length of the article is 1099 words.The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase.You can view it with any web browser.Takes a close look at the people in sports who have captured attention because of success on the playing field, or controversy off the playing field. This work features biographies on more than 600 people from around the world and throughout history who have had an impact not only on their sport, but also on the society and culture of their times. It also includes not only the record-breakers that dominated and changed their sport, but also the controversial figures that made headlines even apart from athletic events. ... Read more

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This digital document is an article from Notable Sports Figures, brought to you by Gale®, a part of Cengage Learning, a world leader in e-research and educational publishing for libraries, schools and businesses.The length of the article is 2838 words.The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase.You can view it with any web browser.Takes a close look at the people in sports who have captured attention because of success on the playing field, or controversy off the playing field. This work features biographies on more than 600 people from around the world and throughout history who have had an impact not only on their sport, but also on the society and culture of their times. It also includes not only the record-breakers that dominated and changed their sport, but also the controversial figures that made headlines even apart from athletic events. ... Read more

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This digital document is an article from Notable Sports Figures, brought to you by Gale®, a part of Cengage Learning, a world leader in e-research and educational publishing for libraries, schools and businesses.The length of the article is 2611 words.The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase.You can view it with any web browser.Takes a close look at the people in sports who have captured attention because of success on the playing field, or controversy off the playing field. This work features biographies on more than 600 people from around the world and throughout history who have had an impact not only on their sport, but also on the society and culture of their times. It also includes not only the record-breakers that dominated and changed their sport, but also the controversial figures that made headlines even apart from athletic events. ... Read more

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This digital document is an article from Notable Sports Figures, brought to you by Gale®, a part of Cengage Learning, a world leader in e-research and educational publishing for libraries, schools and businesses.The length of the article is 1438 words.The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase.You can view it with any web browser.Takes a close look at the people in sports who have captured attention because of success on the playing field, or controversy off the playing field. This work features biographies on more than 600 people from around the world and throughout history who have had an impact not only on their sport, but also on the society and culture of their times. It also includes not only the record-breakers that dominated and changed their sport, but also the controversial figures that made headlines even apart from athletic events. ... Read more

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This digital document is an article from Notable Sports Figures, brought to you by Gale®, a part of Cengage Learning, a world leader in e-research and educational publishing for libraries, schools and businesses.The length of the article is 2559 words.The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase.You can view it with any web browser.Takes a close look at the people in sports who have captured attention because of success on the playing field, or controversy off the playing field. This work features biographies on more than 600 people from around the world and throughout history who have had an impact not only on their sport, but also on the society and culture of their times. It also includes not only the record-breakers that dominated and changed their sport, but also the controversial figures that made headlines even apart from athletic events. ... Read more

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This digital document is an article from Notable Sports Figures, brought to you by Gale®, a part of Cengage Learning, a world leader in e-research and educational publishing for libraries, schools and businesses.The length of the article is 1626 words.The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase.You can view it with any web browser.Takes a close look at the people in sports who have captured attention because of success on the playing field, or controversy off the playing field. This work features biographies on more than 600 people from around the world and throughout history who have had an impact not only on their sport, but also on the society and culture of their times. It also includes not only the record-breakers that dominated and changed their sport, but also the controversial figures that made headlines even apart from athletic events. ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (3)

Great book for track-and-field kids
Jim Thorpe and Jesse Owens are great inspirations for my family of running boys.This picture book, with its simple yet dynamite illustrations, tells Jim Thorpe's story about as well as a straight biography could.You see him growing up, struggling to fit in, struggling for self-control, and finding his natural ability.I love the illustration of Pop Warner celebrating.

Jim Thorpe is an inspiration, and this book plants his story in the brain of even very young children.Thanks, Don Brown.

An outstanding hero in his time
In this children's book awash in soft, delicate colors on every page, the life of the world's greatest athlete of his time, Jim Thorpe, is unfolded.

Beginning on his parents' Oklahoma farm, it tells of Bright Path's (Jim's Indian name) young life with his siblings, and continues through his unhappy school years. Jim was sent to boarding school for Indians to learn to live the white man's way, and it was during his later school years that Jim's natural athletic talent was discovered.

The book continues with Jim's amazing feats at the 5th Olympic Games in Sweden in 1912 where he won two gold medals, one in the pentathlon and one in the decathlon, setting records that were not exceeded for twenty years.

In his author's note in the back of book, Don Brown retells Thorpe's life, giving more detail about his family and sports careers after the Olympics. There are also references, a short bibliography and photographs of Jim Thorpe.

Don Brown has written and illustrated many biographies for children. Bright Path is for pre-school children to third grade but will be enjoyed by older children, and with the biography added in the back, adults will also appreciate reading this tribute to Jim Thorpe.

Armchair Interviews says: Well-told story of a wonderful athlete.

Kids should know about Jim Thorpe
Author/Illustrator Don Brown captures the life of Native American athlete Jim Thorpe. You can't help but smile as Jim thanks the King of Sweden for declaring him the World's Greatest Athlete in the Olympic Games in 1912. A drawback is Brown's depiction of faces that portray the eyes as slits. This results in the characters appearing Asian.The Author's Note tells the sad story of Jim's confiscated medals and their return many years after his death. ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (18)

A Clash of isms and a Cry of Foul
I cannot compete with Jeremy Schaaps research or scholarship. My objection to this work is more visceral and based on my own research of the period and by statements from Marty Glickman and from newspaper sources. Mano o mano, I've written a novel, and it's only time away that I will stand in some cubicle arguing my belated point. But if truth be known, the period sources must say that a great injustice herein lies to the Brown Thunderbolt. Marty Glickman was a lifelong friend of Jesse Owens. He credited him for trying to defy the coaches and Brundage for not letting Sam Stoller and him compete in the four man marathon run. Owens was exhausted by then, had already lost about ten pounds and wanted to go home. He was told to shut up and do what he was told. To suggest that HE was really jockeying behind the scenes to run for his fourth gold medal does not fly. He was no double agent, befriending Glickman and Stoller. It was not this gentle giant who was the instrument that helped lead to the total marginalization of Jews that was implicit in these Games. To suggest otherwise is a great disservice and blunts the impact of how powerful were the forces behind the rise of the Third Reich--specifically, the American corporations and financiers who profited unmercifully from Hitler's fledgling government and whom Avery Brundage served with all his might. I spent twenty-seven years writing my story and though Schaap is sometimes poetic, even brilliant in getting the pulse of the place, I think he does no service to Jesse or the commeraderie of the intermingled races that were evident in the Eleventh Olympiad that may have set the almost unbreakable bonds created twenty years later when Blacks and Jews marched through Montgomery together. What is not explored in this novel is the innocence, and ultimate betrayal of the American dream. While American athletes were competing, Americans also lay dying in Spain. Fifteen thousand white Americans were getting ready for a lynching of a Negro in Kentucky, and President Roosevelt was sailing aboard his yacht in Maine. I hope my novel,as historical fiction and often told as parody(Arian Bandage is the arch-villain) addresses some of these issues and brings that sorry period to a more fitful rest.

Robert Rubenstein
Author, Ghost Runners
on AmazonGhost Runners

Interesting Look
Interesting look at an historic time in history - the Olympics of 1936 (Hitler's Olympics) and the man of the hour, Jesse Owens. The author brings the reader into the politics of the time - the good, bad and the ugly. He sets up Jesse's background and how he arrived on the world stage as well as what happened to him after all the hoopla died down. There's a little something for everybody - history, politics, intrigue and the Olympic games in an uncomfortable social/political setting.

Informative
I listened to the audio version of this title. It was well read and held my attention. Made me appreciate for all our societal failings in the area of race relations just how far we've come since Jesse Owen's time. A timeless story of triumph over adversity.

great service
I bought this for my niece's husband, who has taken up marathons.Arrived quickly and in great shape.

I wouldn't recommend this book
As a student at The Ohio State University, for two years I lived next door to a building named after Jesse Owens. He is considered a hero, and rightfully so. I have always been interested in getting to know more about his life, and thought this book would be a good start. I was wrong.

There are a lot of inconsistencies about Mr. Schaap's book. The most frustrating one to me is that he paints the title as if Jesse Owens was involved in the politics of the Third Reich. Owens admittedly didn't care about politics at this time in his life. He was doing it because he couldn't live a great life without winning Olympic Gold. Owens, later in life, made mention that Hitler was nicer to him about winning a Gold Medal then FDR (because Roosevelt never congratulated him and Hitler at least waved to him).

Second, the story isn't very fluid. As we all know, Hitler hated blacks, Jews, the disabled, and anyone else that didn't fit his bigoted mold. But at the same time, this book covers Hitler's anti-semitism more then his hatred of blacks and Christians. Covering Hitler's hatred of those (since Owens was both Black and Christian) would have been more on topic. This gave me the feeling that I was reading two books at once. One about Owens, the other about Hitler's hatred of the Jews.

Finally, there are some topics that don't seem to contribute anything to the story. Schaap mentions a documentary about the Olympics many times in the book, but doesn't really connect the dots. Sure, it had Owens in it (to Hitler's annoyance) but there were more important things to talk about then a director and her getting the right camera angles during parts of the games.

Overall the book has a few parts that are fun to read, but it's nothing more then that. I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone. ... Read more

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This issue of SI focuses on the Los Angeles Olympics, and features articles on Carl Lewis and Mary Decker, the USA Boxing team, basketball, Greg Louganis, volleyball, wrestling, and Rafer Johnson lighting the flame! ... Read more

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The pursuit of excellence is its own reward. (20091120) ... Read more

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The high jump is a track and field athletics event in which competitors must jump over a horizontal bar placed at measured heights without the aid of any devices. It has been contested since the Olympic Games of ancient Greece. Over the centuries since, competitors have introduced increasingly more effective techniques to arrive at the current form. Javier Sotomayor is the current men's record holder with a jump of 2.45 metres (8 ft 0.46 in) set in 1993 and is the longest standing in the history of the men's high jump. Stefka Kostadinova (Bulgaria) has held the women's world record 2.09 metres (6 ft 10.28 in) since 1987, the longest-held record in the event. ... Read more

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Immortalised in the film 'Chariots of Fire', Harold Abrahams remains one of the all-time-great British Olympians. But his true story, told for the first time in this official biography, is in many ways even more dramatic and moving than the distorted version previously seen on the big screen. Although it is true that Abrahams overcame anti-Semitism to become Britain's first 100 metres Olympic champion in 1924, Mark Ryan's powerful book reveals just how much more Harold suffered - and had to sacrifice - on a personal level before he reached the top. His book reveals what Abrahams really thought of sprint-rival Eric Liddell, and later how disgracefully Harold was treated by his own side in the build-up to Hitler's Berlin Olympics of 1936. Two remarkable love stories provide the back-drop to Abrahams' struggle to reach these two historic Games, first as an athlete and then as a pioneering broadcaster. Both romances highlight the mental fragility usually masked by Harold's physical prowess and apparent confidence.As the story races on, the reader is able to share Abrahams' excitement as he realises that Roger Bannister has what it takes to break the four-minute-mile barrier, and befriends the runner who soon begins his assault on the "Everest of athletics." And finally, Ryan shows how Harold not only helped to shape the modern-day rules of the sport as an influential administrator, but also did more than any man to make athletics popular in this country. In the build-up to London 2012, there has never been a better time to celebrate Harold Abrahams' unique story. ... Read more