Game of My Life Virginia Tech Hokies


Book Description

Virginia Tech’s Shayne Graham trots onto the field at West Virginia on November 6, 1999, with two thoughts in his mind. One is a missed field goal that would have beaten Miami a year earlier. The other is the 44-yard field goal he is about to try against the Mountaineers, a kick he must make if the Hokies are to stay unbeaten and on track for a national championship. Head down, he focuses on his mark as the ball is snapped. He steps forward, the dream of an entire team resting with his leg. Now, hear Graham’s memory of that kick in his own words, for the first time. Game of My Life: Virginia Tech Hokies, first published in 2006, celebrates the extraordinary football and basketball moments that have shaped the college’s rich athletic heritage. Through interviews with some of the school’s most prestigious athletes, Hokies fans can relive the big games that defined the school’s winning tradition. Carroll Dale, later a fixture with the Green Bay Packers, dove—arms outstretched—to haul in a crucial two-point conversion in a 1957 game against the University of Richmond. Les Henson shot from the baseline—the other baseline—as the clock neared zero against Florida State in 1980. Chris Smith went well beyond the "double-double" standard for points and rebounds. How about 30 and 31 against Marshall in 1959? Corey Moore made life miserable for Clemson quarterback Brandon Streeter one night in 1999. Bruce Smith did the same for Duke quarterback Ben Bennett in 1983. The Hokies’ Jim Pyne, meanwhile, made sure Syracuse’s Kevin Mitchell didn’t do the same to Tech quarterback Maurice DeShazo in 1993. Carlos Dixon, Mike Imoh, Andre Davis, Dell Curry, Bryan Still, Don Strock, Bryan Randall—all the Tech greats from the gridiron and hardwood—are in these pages, including coach Frank Beamer. Join thousands of Virginia Tech fans in remembering these cherished stories. For the athletes within, these truly were the games of their lives. Skyhorse Publishing, as well as our Sports Publishing imprint, are proud to publish a broad range of books for readers interested in sports—books about baseball, pro football, college football, pro and college basketball, hockey, or soccer, we have a book about your sport or your team. Whether you are a New York Yankees fan or hail from Red Sox nation; whether you are a die-hard Green Bay Packers or Dallas Cowboys fan; whether you root for the Kentucky Wildcats, Louisville Cardinals, UCLA Bruins, or Kansas Jayhawks; whether you route for the Boston Bruins, Toronto Maple Leafs, Montreal Canadiens, or Los Angeles Kings; we have a book for you. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are committed to publishing books on subjects that are sometimes overlooked by other publishers and to authors whose work might not otherwise find a home.




Game of My Life Virginia Tech


Book Description

Virginia Tech's Shayne Graham trots onto the field at West Virginia on November 6, 1999, with two thoughts in his mind. One is a missed field goal that would have beaten Miami a year earlier. The other is the 44-yard field goal he is about to try against the Mountaineers, a kick he must make if the Hokies are to stay unbeaten and on track for a national championship. Head down, he focuses on his mark as the ball is snapped. He steps forward, the dream of an entire team resting with his leg.Now, hear Graham's memory of that kick in his own words, for the first time. Game of My Life: Virginia Tech celebrates the extraordinary football and basketball moments that have shaped the college's rich athletic heritage. Through interviews with some of the school's most prestigious athletes, Hokies fans can relive the big games that defined the school's winning tradition.Carroll Dale, later a fixture with the Green Bay Packers, dove-arms outstretched-to haul in a crucial two-point conversion in a 1957 game against the University of Richmond. Les Henson shot from the baseline-the other baseline-as the clock neared zero against Florida State in 1980. Chris Smith went well beyond the "double-double" standard for points and rebounds. How about 30 and 31 against Marshall in 1959? Corey Moore made life miserable for Clemson quarterback Brandon Streeter one night in 1999. Bruce Smith did the same for Duke quarterback Ben Bennett in 1983. The Hokies' Jim Pyne, meanwhile, made sure Syracuse's Kevin Mitchell didn't do the same to Tech quarterback Maurice DeShazo in 1993.Carlos Dixon, Mike Imoh, Andre Davis, Dell Curry, Bryan Still, Don Strock, Bryan Randall-all the Tech greats from the gridiron and hardwoodare in these pages, including coach Frank Beamer. Join thousands of Virginia Tech fans in remembering these cherished stories. For the athletes within, these truly were the games of their lives.




Hunger and Hope


Book Description

Readable, thought-provoking, and beneficial for those who want to comprehend the plight of the rural poor, Hunger and Hope examines the world of those living near, on, and over the edge of poverty in developing countries. Their aspirations, struggles, and daily challenges are revealed with compassion and genuine understanding of the risks they face to sustain themselves and their families. The text is rich with lucid and methodical observations of the economic processes that shape agricultural development in impoverished countries. The author builds in an imaginative way on his extensive experience assisting farmers and assessing the impacts of agricultural interventions. Real-world illustrations of the policies and practices that not only create opportunities and food security but also create hardships show that, while progress has been made in reducing poverty and hunger, there is a need to do more.




Growing up Vick


Book Description

"Growing Up Vick" is a compelling book about the challenges of growing up in poverty, but having the strength and fortitude to rise above your situation. "Poverty is not permanent." says the author. The book also reveals the challenges of being blood related to a superstar athlete and the good and bad about the superstar lifestyle. She is the aunt of NFL Superstar Michael Vick, who was once the highest paid athlete in NFL history. Ms. Vick also discusses her new life in politics and what she found out behind closed doors about the political life in her hometown.




Virginia Tech


Book Description

130 years after its opening, the once small agricultural college has become Virginia's largest university- Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. When Charles Minor opened the doors of his new land-grant institution in late 1872, there were only 29 students, 3 faculty members, and a single building in the town of Blacksburg, Virginia. From the humble beginning of donated livestock, seeds, machinery, and books, the university now known as Virginia Tech has emerged as a leading research university that is consistently ranked among the nation's best colleges. In addition to housing some of the top engineering and business schools, the university also has a tremendous athletic program that continually produces many of the nation's top ranked athletes. The Campus History Series: Virginia Tech illustrates the university's evolution through over 200 archival photographs, including rare and fun bites of campus history, such as the old cadet rat parades, the first ring dance, the Highty-Tighties, the Huckleberry, and even the evolution of the school's mascot, the Hokie Bird.




Hello Hokie Bird!


Book Description

The Virginia Tech mascot meets various people on his way to a football game at Lane Stadium.




The Last Lecture


Book Description

The author, a computer science professor diagnosed with terminal cancer, explores his life, the lessons that he has learned, how he has worked to achieve his childhood dreams, and the effect of his diagnosis on him and his family.




The King of Sports


Book Description

Gridiron football is the king of sports – it's the biggest game in the strongest and richest country in the world. In The King of Sports, Easterbrook tells the full story of how football became so deeply ingrained in American culture. Both good and bad, he examines its impact on American society. The King of Sports explores these and many other topics: * The real harm done by concussions (it's not to NFL players). * The real way in which college football players are exploited (it's not by not being paid). * The way football helps American colleges (it's not bowl revenue) and American cities (it's not Super Bowl wins). * What happens to players who are used up and thrown away (it's not pretty). * The hidden scandal of the NFL (it's worse than you think). Using his year-long exclusive insider access to the Virginia Tech football program, where Frank Beamer has compiled the most victories of any active NFL or major-college head coach while also graduating players, Easterbrook shows how one big university "does football right." Then he reports on what's wrong with football at the youth, high school, college and professional levels. Easterbrook holds up examples of coaches and programs who put the athletes first and still win; he presents solutions to these issues and many more, showing a clear path forward for the sport as a whole.




Why Football Matters


Book Description

Acclaimed essayist Mark Edmundson reflects on his own rite of passage as a high school football player to get to larger truths about the ways America's Game shapes its men Football teaches young men self-discipline and teamwork. But football celebrates violence. Football is a showcase for athletic beauty and physical excellence. But football damages young bodies and minds, sometimes permanently. Football inspires confidence and direction. But football instills cockiness, a false sense of superiority. The athlete is a noble figure with a proud lineage. The jock is America at its worst. When Mark Edmundson’s son began to play organized football, and proved to be very good at it, Edmundson had to come to terms with just what he thought about the game. Doing so took him back to his own childhood, when as a shy, soft boy growing up in a blue-collar Boston suburb in the sixties, he went out for the high school football team. Why Football Matters is the story of what happened to Edmundson when he tried to make himself into a football player. What does it mean to be a football player? At first Edmundson was hapless on the field. He was an inept player and a bad teammate. But over time, he got over his fears and he got tougher. He learned to be a better player and came to feel a part of the team, during games but also on all sorts of escapades, not all of them savory. By playing football, Edmundson became what he and his father hoped he’d be, a tougher, stronger young man, better prepared for life. But is football-instilled toughness always a good thing? Do the character, courage, and loyalty football instills have a dark side? Football, Edmundson found, can be full of bounties. But it can also lead you into brutality and thoughtlessness. So how do you get what’s best from the game and leave the worst behind? Why Football Matters is moving, funny, vivid, and filled with the authentic anxiety and exhilaration of youth. Edmundson doesn’t regret playing football for a minute, and cherishes the experience. His triumph is to be able to see it in full, as something to celebrate, but also something to handle with care. For anyone who has ever played on a football team, is the parent of a player, or simply is reflective about its outsized influence on America, Why Football Matters is both a mirror and a lamp.




Going Places


Book Description

What one piece of advice has made all the difference in your life? That was the question longtime journalist and Fox & Friends cohost E.D. Hill asked of scores of the most famous and successful figures in America—from President George W. Bush to supermodel Carol Alt. The result is Going Places, a collection of moving and instructive profiles that reveal exactly what inspires and drives our nation's best and brightest to survive and thrive. In the pages of Going Places, you'll discover how Donald Trump approaches the competition, what makes NFL star Tiki Barber a smart player on and off the field, and what life lesson television star Doris Roberts learned on a trip to Napa Valley. You'll follow country music star Trace Adkins's journey from working on a rig in the oil fields of Texas to signing a deal with Capitol Records in Nashville, and Donna de Varona's path to becoming the youngest member of the U.S. Olympic swim team at age thirteen. Sometimes heart wrenching, sometimes humorous, and always captivating, these portraits are sure to inform, entertain, and, most important, inspire. Sarah Ferguson, the Duchess of York, on searching for her soul in Tibet Champion bull rider Justin McBride on what it means to get a good night's sleep Senate Majority Leader Dr. William Frist on medicine as a currency of peace Dolly Parton on her father's horse-sense advice Dean Cain on rejection, perseverance, and lessons he learned from his son Sharing these stories in these figures' own voices, Going Places reflects a vast and diverse America in which anything is possible. "It is my hope that you'll have this book by your bedside table and turn to it, alone or with your children, to find inspiration from wonderful people." After all, as these real-life stories illustrate, great advice can come from anyone, at any time.