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THE FASTEST KID ON THE BLOCK

THE MARTY GLICKMAN STORY

The legendary athlete and broadcasting pioneer recounts with great emotion the triumphs and setbacks of nearly seven decades in the sporting world. As the title of this engaging memoir suggests, Glickman discovered at an early age that he could indeed run faster than the other children in his neighborhood. And then, more sadly, he discovered that ability alone would not always be enough. This was made painfully evident when Glickman and Sam Stoller, the only Jews on the 1936 American Olympic track and field team, were dropped at the last minute by team coaches and officials (most notably Avery Brundage, head of the US Olympic Committee and an acknowledged Nazi sympathizer) from the 400-meter relay. The games were held that year in Berlin. Putting aside his anger, Glickman went on to become a world-class runner and an All-American football player at Syracuse University; his gridiron fame eventually led him to a career in broadcasting. Glickman has covered almost everything, from pro wrestling to hockey, football, baseball, and basketball. With the same spare, candid style that he exhibited in the press box, Glickman discusses the freewheeling heyday of radio sports broadcasting; the early days of TV broadcasting; and the rise to primacy of sports on the American cultural landscape. He also shares with readers a wealth of tales about such sports and broadcasting immortals as Wilt Chamberlain, Joe Namath, Howard Cosell (whom Glickman criticizes for always having ``made himself more important than the event''), and Roone Arledge. While not shy about touting his own accomplishments (particularly his role in the growth of HBO, where he served as the first sports director), Glickman does not gloss over his mistakes, such as his slowness to acknowledge that college basketball in the late 1940s and early 1950s was badly tainted by gambling. A frank, fascinating memoir by a remarkable reporter. (47 illustrations, not seen)

Pub Date: Nov. 15, 1996

ISBN: 0-8156-0393-2

Page Count: 224

Publisher: Syracuse Univ.

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1996

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WHEN THE GAME WAS OURS

Doesn’t dig as deep as it could, but offers a captivating look at the NBA’s greatest era.

NBA legends Bird and Johnson, fierce rivals during their playing days, team up on a mutual career retrospective.

With megastars LeBron James and Kobe Bryant and international superstars like China’s Yao Ming pushing it to ever-greater heights of popularity today, it’s difficult to imagine the NBA in 1979, when financial problems, drug scandals and racial issues threatened to destroy the fledgling league. Fortunately, that year marked the coming of two young saviors—one a flashy, charismatic African-American and the other a cocky, blond, self-described “hick.” Arriving fresh off a showdown in the NCAA championship game in which Johnson’s Michigan State Spartans defeated Bird’s Indiana State Sycamores—still the highest-rated college basketball game ever—the duo changed the course of history not just for the league, but the sport itself. While the pair’s on-court accomplishments have been exhaustively chronicled, the narrative hook here is unprecedented insight and commentary from the stars themselves on their unique relationship, a compelling mixture of bitter rivalry and mutual admiration. This snapshot of their respective careers delves with varying degrees of depth into the lives of each man and their on- and off-court achievements, including the historic championship games between Johnson’s Lakers and Bird’s Celtics, their trailblazing endorsement deals and Johnson’s stunning announcement in 1991 that he had tested positive for HIV. Ironically, this nostalgic chronicle about the two men who, along with Michael Jordan, turned more fans onto NBA basketball than any other players, will likely appeal primarily to a narrow cross-section of readers: Bird/Magic fans and hardcore hoop-heads.

Doesn’t dig as deep as it could, but offers a captivating look at the NBA’s greatest era.

Pub Date: Nov. 4, 2009

ISBN: 978-0-547-22547-0

Page Count: 352

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2009

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BACK FROM THE DEAD

One of the NBA’s 50 greatest players scores another basket—a deeply personal one.

A basketball legend reflects on his life in the game and a life lived in the “nightmare of endlessly repetitive and constant pain, agony, and guilt.”

Walton (Nothing but Net, 1994, etc.) begins this memoir on the floor—literally: “I have been living on the floor for most of the last two and a half years, unable to move.” In 2008, he suffered a catastrophic spinal collapse. “My spine will no longer hold me,” he writes. Thirty-seven orthopedic injuries, stemming from the fact that he had malformed feet, led to an endless string of stress fractures. As he notes, Walton is “the most injured athlete in the history of sports.” Over the years, he had ground his lower extremities “down to dust.” Walton’s memoir is two interwoven stories. The first is about his lifelong love of basketball, the second, his lifelong battle with injuries and pain. He had his first operation when he was 14, for a knee hurt in a basketball game. As he chronicles his distinguished career in the game, from high school to college to the NBA, he punctuates that story with a parallel one that chronicles at each juncture the injuries he suffered and overcame until he could no longer play, eventually turning to a successful broadcasting career (which helped his stuttering problem). Thanks to successful experimental spinal fusion surgery, he’s now pain-free. And then there’s the music he loves, especially the Grateful Dead’s; it accompanies both stories like a soundtrack playing off in the distance. Walton tends to get long-winded at times, but that won’t be news to anyone who watches his broadcasts, and those who have been afflicted with lifelong injuries will find the book uplifting and inspirational. Basketball fans will relish Walton’s acumen and insights into the game as well as his stories about players, coaches (especially John Wooden), and games, all told in Walton’s fervent, witty style.

One of the NBA’s 50 greatest players scores another basket—a deeply personal one.

Pub Date: March 8, 2016

ISBN: 978-1-4767-1686-2

Page Count: 352

Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Review Posted Online: Dec. 18, 2015

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2016

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