<div>An &ldquo;entertaining and thought provoking&rdquo; WWII-era novel of love, war, and sports, told with &ldquo;a superb sense of character and period&rdquo; (Publishers Weekly, starred review). At the 1936 Berlin Olympics, American swimmer Sydney Stringfellow finds herself falling in love with Horst Gerhardt, a dashing young German. When the rising tide of global conflict tears them apart, Sydney returns to America, where she finds love again&mdash;in the arms of Jimmy Branch, an American man who takes her hand in marriage before shipping off to fight in World War II. And that is when Horst reappears in Sydney&rsquo;s life, drawing her into a dilemma of passion, betrayal, and espionage. With Bliss, Remembered, the celebrated Frank Deford has produced &ldquo;a work of enthralling historical fiction&rdquo; that ranks with the best of his novels, including Everybody&rsquo;s All American, which Sports Illustrated ranked as one of the twenty-five best sports books of all time (Library Journal, starred review).</div>

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Bliss, Remembered

<div>&ldquo;A sparkling sampler of commentaries from celebrated sports journalist Frank Deford . . . offers a kaleidoscope of sports highs and lows.&rdquo; &mdash;Midwest Book Review Frank Deford (1938&ndash;2017) was one of the most beloved sports journalists in America. A contributing writer to Sports Illustrated for more than fifty years, and a longtime correspondent on Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel, in his dotage Deford was perhaps best known for his weekly commentaries on NPR&rsquo;s Morning Edition. Beginning in 1980, Deford recorded sixteen hundred of them, and I&rsquo;d Know That Voice Anywhere brings together the very best, creating a charming, insightful, and wide-ranging look at athletes and the world of sports. In I&rsquo;d Know That Voice Anywhere, Deford discusses everything from sex scandals and steroids to why, in a culture dominated by celebrity, sport is the only field on earth where popularity and excellence thrive in tandem. This page-turning compendium covers more than thirty years of sports history while showcasing the vast range of Deford&rsquo;s interests and opinions, including his thoughts on the NCAA, why gay athletes &ldquo;play straight,&rdquo; and why he worried about living in an economy that is so dominated by golfers. A rollicking sampler of one of NPR&rsquo;s most popular segments, I&rsquo;d Know That Voice Anywhere is perfect for sports enthusiasts&mdash;as well as sports skeptics&mdash;and a must-read for any Frank Deford fan. Named a Best Sports Book of 2016 by Buffalo News &ldquo;Frank Deford definitely is worthy of a spot on the Mt. Rushmore of sportswriters . . . As always, Deford&rsquo;s writing is glorious, hitting all the notes from funny to emotional to profound . . . Once again, his words make sports come alive.&rdquo; &mdash;Chicago Tribune</div>

I'd Know That Voice Anywhere

<div>The legendary NPR sports commentator and Sports Illustrated journalist retells the story of an unusual friendship between two towering figures in baseball history. At the turn of the twentieth century, Christy Mathewson was one of baseball&rsquo;s first superstars. Over six feet tall, clean cut, and college educated, he didn&rsquo;t pitch on the Sabbath and rarely spoke an ill word about anyone. He also had one of the most devastating arms in all of baseball. New York Giants manager John McGraw, by contrast, was ferocious. The pugnacious tough guy was already a star infielder who, with the Baltimore Orioles, helped develop a new, scrappy style of baseball, with plays like the hit-and-run, the Baltimore chop, and the squeeze play. When McGraw joined the Giants in 1902, the Giants were coming off their worst season ever. Yet within three years, Mathewson clinched New York City&rsquo;s first World Series for McGraw&rsquo;s team by throwing three straight shutouts in only six days, an incredible feat that is invariably called the greatest World Series performance ever. Because of their wonderful odd-couple association, baseball had its first superstar, the Giants ascended into legend, and baseball as a national pastime bloomed. &ldquo;A fine baseball book but just as fine a study of American popular culture.&rdquo; &mdash;Booklist, starred review</div>

The Old Ball Game

<div>A New York Times bestseller: The &ldquo;entertaining&rdquo; memoir by the legendary American sportswriter (Chicago Tribune). Frank Deford joined Sports Illustrated in 1962, and over the following decades became one of the most beloved figures in sports journalism&mdash;renowned for everything from his NPR commentaries to his status as a Lite Beer All Star. From the Mad Men-like days of SI in the sixties, to the early NBA, to Deford&rsquo;s visit to apartheid South Africa with Arthur Ashe, Over Time is packed with intriguing people and stories. Interwoven through his personal history, Deford lovingly traces the entire arc of American sportswriting from the lurid early days of the Police Gazette, through Grantland Rice and Red Smith and on up to ESPN, in a &ldquo;wildly entertaining&rdquo; memoir (Booklist, starred review). &ldquo;Equal doses of self-deprecating humor and anecdotal history of American sports journalism.&rdquo; &mdash;Chicago Tribune &ldquo;Insightful remembrances of stars like Wilt Chamberlain and Billie Jean King . . . [Deford is] sports writing&rsquo;s Sinatra.&rdquo; &mdash;San Francisco Chronicle &ldquo;Endearing . . . imparts a sense of a life well lived and fully enjoyed.&rdquo; &mdash;The New York Times </div>

Over Time

<div>&ldquo;A compelling, long overdue tribute&rdquo; to America&rsquo;s first tennis star from the renowned sportswriter and author of Everybody&rsquo;s All-American (Kirkus Reviews). When he stepped onto the Wimbledon grass in 1920, Bill Tilden was poised to become the world&rsquo;s greatest tennis star. Throughout the 1920s he dominated the sport, winning championship after championship with his trademark grace, power, and intelligence. He owned the game more completely than Babe Ruth ruled baseball, making his name, for more than a decade, synonymous with tennis. Phenomenally intelligent&mdash;he completed his first book on tennis in the three weeks before his first Wimbledon triumph&mdash;Tilden&rsquo;s success came with a dark side. This classic biography by legendary sports writer Frank Deford tells of Tilden&rsquo;s dominance, which was unlike anything the sport had ever seen&mdash;and the big man&rsquo;s tragic fall.</div>

Overdrive

Big Bill Tilden

<div>Illustrated with photographs by Walter Iooss Jr.: Iconic sportswriter and commentator Frank Deford&rsquo;s first book brings to life one of America&rsquo;s most thrilling&mdash;and misunderstood&mdash;sports entertainments, the Roller Derby, from its birth during the Great Depression to it second ascendancy in the late 1960s In Five Strides on the Banked Track, distinguished sports journalist Frank Deford opens a fascinating window on this exhilarating entertainment that operates according to its own set of unique rules&mdash;both on and off the track. The Derby began as an idea on a tablecloth in 1935 by Leo Seltzer. From its Great Depression roots&mdash;when young skaters would run away to join the Roller Derby in the same way one might run away to join the circus&mdash;through its prewar heyday, postwar decline, and ultimate rise to superstardom in the 1960s, Deford sweeps us along on an unforgettable journey. He brings together the players, the fans, the promoters, and the celebrities. He shares the exploits of Bay Bomber legend Charlie O&rsquo;Connell, superstar Joanie Weston, and beloved villain Ann Calvello, with her dyed blue hair, who would ultimately go on to compete in Roller Derby in seven separate decades. Deford vividly captures the excitement of a sport Variety called &ldquo;cathartic, dramatic, fast-paced, and classic as a John Wayne movie.&rdquo; From the idolatry of the fans to the loneliness of the open road to the hard-charging frenzy of the arena, this is a rare glimpse into a uniquely American spectator sport that continues to reinvent and resurrect itself today. This definitive new edition includes a foreword by Jerry Seltzer and an introduction by Frank Deford.</div>

Five Strides on the Banked Track

<div>A globetrotting journalist goes on assignment for the Central Intelligence AgencyAs the world&rsquo;s premier tennis journalist, Ronnie Ratajczak has a plush life. Like the professional players about whom he writes, he spends his life on the road, hopping from one glamorous locale to another and taking in the giddy atmosphere that surrounds pro tournaments. But unlike the pros, Ronnie operates under little pressure, spending his days pecking out copy and his nights bedding some of the most beautiful women on earth. He is a world-class libertine, and keeps a very high profile. So high a profile, in fact, that he&rsquo;s drawn attention from the CIA. They want Ronnie to work for them&mdash;not as a spy, but as a spy&rsquo;s decoy. The job will be easy, well-paid, and, most important, a bit of fun. Ronnie accepts, but soon learns that pretend spies can die just as easily as the real thing. </div>

The Spy in the Deuce Court

<div>A father&rsquo;s moving memoir of cystic fibrosis &ldquo;captures a brave child&rsquo;s legacy as well as the continuing fight against the genetic disease&rdquo; (The New York Times). In 1971 a girl named Alex was born with cystic fibrosis, a degenerative genetic lung disease. Although health-care innovations have improved the life span of CF patients tremendously over the last four decades, the illness remains fatal. Given only two years to live by her doctors, the imaginative, excitable, and curious little girl battled through painful and frustrating physical-therapy sessions twice daily, as well as regular hospitalizations, bringing joy to the lives of everyone she touched. Despite her setbacks, brave Alex was determined to live life like a typical girl&mdash;going to school, playing with her friends, traveling with her family. Ultimately, however, she succumbed to the disease in 1980 at the age of eight. Award-winning author Frank Deford, celebrated primarily as a sportswriter, was also a budding novelist and biographer at the time of his daughter&rsquo;s birth. Deford kept a journal of Alex&rsquo;s courageous stand against the disease, documenting his family&rsquo;s struggle to cope with and celebrate the daily fight she faced. This book is the result of that journal. Alex relives the events of those eight years: moments as heartwarming as when Alex recorded herself saying &ldquo;I love you&rdquo; so her brother could listen to her whenever he wanted, and as heartrending as the young girl&rsquo;s tragic, dawning realization of her own very tenuous mortality, and her parents&rsquo; difficulty in trying to explain why. Though Alex is a sad story, it is also one of hope; her greatest wish was that someday a cure would be found. Deford has written a phenomenal memoir about an extraordinary little girl.</div>

Frank Deford
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Books By Frank Deford (8 Books)

Bliss, Remembered

I'd Know That Voice Anywhere

The Old Ball Game

Over Time

Big Bill Tilden

Five Strides on the Banked Track

The Spy in the Deuce Court

Alex

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Frank DefordFollow this author