Final Approach - Northwest Airlines Flight 650, Tragedy and Triumph


Lyle Prouse - 2011
    He was fired by his airline, stripped of his FAA licenses, tried, convicted, and sent to Federal prison. This was a first. It had never occurred before. Lyle Prouse came from a WWII housing project in Kansas and an alcoholic family where both parents died as a result of alcoholism. He rose through the ranks of the United States Marine Corps from private to captain, from an infantryman to a fighter pilot. He made his way to the pinnacle of commercial aviation, airline captain...then lost it all. Today he is a recovering alcoholic with nearly twenty-two years sobriety. This story describes his rise from the ashes of complete destruction from which he was never to fly again. It is full of miracles which defy all manner of odds. In a long and arduous journey, he eventually regained his FAA licenses. He never fought his termination; he considered it fair and appropriate. Miraculously, after nearly four years, the President/CEO of his airline personally reinstated him to full flight status in spite of all the adverse publicity and embarrassment. In effect, the President/CEO gambled his own career by taking such a risk on a convicted felon and publicly acknowledged alcoholic pilot. In another stunning event, the judge who tried, sentenced, and sent him to prison watched his journey and reappeared eight years after the trial. He became the driving force behind a Presidential pardon although he'd never supported a petition for pardon in all his years on the bench. Lyle retired honorably as a 747 captain for the airline he'd so horribly embarrassed and disgraced. He lives with his wife of nearly forty-nine years and has five grandchildren. He continues to work with all the major airlines in their alcohol programs. He is also active in his Native American community, and he provides hope to those struggling with the disease of alcoholism, no matter who they are or where they are.

Shay – Any Given Saturday: : The Autobiography


Shay Given - 2017
     He has played in World Cups and FA Cup finals; shared a dressing room with football greats like Roy Keane, Alan Shearer and Robbie Keane and worked under celebrated managers like Kenny Dalglish, Bobby Robson and Martin O’Neill. But Shay has had to show courage and strength of mind to get where he wanted in life. At four years old, he cruelly lost his mother to cancer at the age of just 41. Mum Agnes’s dying wish was that Dad Seamus would keep the family together. Seamus kept his word and the Given clan watched with pride as Shay forged a record-breaking career in the sport he loved. From Donegal to Saipan, Glasgow to Wembley and Tyneside to Paris, it’s been some journey. Shay has seen it all. Glorious highs and desperate lows. Dressing room wind-ups and team-bonding punch-ups. Brutal injuries and crippling self-doubt. Along the way, he has made so many friends. When one of his closest pals, Gary Speed, died suddenly in 2011, he was devastated. He played on, doing the only thing he knew to get him through the pain – pulling on a shirt and a pair of gloves. Shay loves football – for him, nothing can beat the buzz of a Saturday afternoon or the thrill of a big match night under lights. But he has never lost touch with the fans who make the game what it is. Entertaining, opinionated and inspirational, his long-awaited autobiography ANY GIVEN SATURDAY features a stellar cast of famous football names from the past 25 years. It tugs at the heart strings, bubbles with banter and lets slip secrets behind the big stories. This is a rare journey behind the scenes as told by one of our own.

Marvelous: The Marvin Hagler Story


Damian Hughes - 2013
    Often called the greatest middleweight boxer of all time, he held the world title for 12 defenses, including bouts with Sugar Ray Leonard, Thomas Hearns, and Roberto Duran which entered fistic folklore. This biography tells the story of Hagler's extraordinary life for the first time, separating truth from myth to get right to the heart of a complex and charismatic man. From his wild early fights in the boxing wilderness of Brockton, Massachusetts, the book follows the blazing trail of Hagler's career: the controversial defeats subsequently avenged, a riot-scarred title win in London, and his unification of the middleweight crown. It also cover the Ring magazine's "greatest round of all time" against Hearns, his ferocious battle with Duran, and the still-controversial loss to his nemesis Leonard.

Out of the Shadows: A Memoir


Timea E. Nagy - 2019
    Interviewed and hired by what seemed like a bona fide recruitment agency, Timea left her home on the promise she would earn good money to send home to her family. She had no idea that she'd been lured by a ring of international human traffickers. Upon her arrival in Toronto, she was forced into sex labour in some of the city's seediest nightclubs and kept by her "agents" for three months until she escaped.This is her captivating, heartbreaking but ultimately redemptive story. It will take readers from the early years of Timea's life in Communist Hungary, offering a look inside an austere but complicated world ruled by community, restriction and struggle; then, to the dark, abusive three months working as a sex slave in a country that Timea once believed would offer her freedom and opportunity; and, finally, in riveting detail, through the heart-pounding escape Timea plots.Compelling and sweeping, balancing a tragic and unbelievable experience with a powerful story of grace, Timea Nagy's journey is one that will stay with you long after you read the last page.

Mountains According to G


Geraint Thomas - 2020
    They love reading about their tests and tribulations and they love to ride them - a cricket lover can never bat at Lord's, or a football supporter score at Wembley, but any rider can take on the challenge of an iconic mountain.There have been fine books about the big climbs before but never from the voice of an elite GC winner, taking you inside what these climbs really feel like, where the attacks come, where the pain kicks in.From best-known big-hitters, via pro-peloton favourites, to the secret climbs Geraint has come to love, and featuring Australia, Belgium, France, the Netherlands, Mallorca and Wales, this is the cyclist's secret manual.

Accidental Ironman


Martyn Brunt - 2014
    Having spent 10 years scaling the lower echelons of the sport, the time has come for Martyn Brunt, one of Britain's least successful athletes, to reveal all about how he got involved in all this nonsense in the first place.

Kick Her Again; She's Irish


Mary O'Reiley - 2008
    Her husband has left her, a schizophrenic alcoholic, to raise their youngest four children without his help. Her children watch through the living room window as the police come and arrest her for disturbing the peace, leaving them alone in the house. Thus begins the astonishing story of a family always living on the brink of disaster. The story unfolds, told through the eyes of Marie's children. Not only are they impoverished, but they are dealing with Marie's erratic and often bizarre behavior. Through it all shines Marie's sense of humor and her unconventional ways of dealing with her difficult situation. How they manage to not only survive, but to grow into well-adjusted adults is a true story that shows how the miracle of love can overcome all obstacles.

Finding My Feet


Jason Robinson - 2004
    He made the transition to Rugby Union with Sale Sharks in 2000 and was fast-tracked to the England squad. His speed, unpredictability and charisma have ensured that he is now widely acknowledged as one of the most exciting players in the world. His extraordinary turnaround from hard-drinking, deeply troubled teenager to born again Christian and dedicated family man makes his story all the more intriguing.

My Name'5 Doddie: The Autobiography


Doddie Weir - 2018
    A giant of the game and a rugby icon, his unique story is charged with a passion for living life to the full.In a rugby career which had huge highs and shocking lows, Doddie faced some of the game’s greatest players, from Jonny Wilkinson to Jonah Lomu, Brian O’Driscoll to Scott Quinnell and Martin Johnson to Joost van der Westhuizen, and set stadiums alight when “on the charge like a mad giraffe”. Now, at the age of 48, Doddie faces an entirely different adversary: Motor Neurone Disease.But Doddie Weir has never been one to shy away from a challenge, on or off the pitch, and he has faced up to MND with undaunted positivity, using his boundless energy to raise funds for MND research and support.

Rescued By Ghosts: A True Inspirational Survivor Story of Child Abuse, Bullying, a Radical Ultra-Fundamentalist Religion, Ghosts, and Supernatural Events (My Ghosts Book 1)


Timothy L. Drobnick Sr. - 2020
    at a chair in the church?  I was born and raised in a radical, abusive, fear-controlling, ultra-fundamentalist religious family.  This is my true inspirational story of how I survived abuse and neglect as a child and then escaped the church by seeking truth and freedom against all odds.  Most people never escape religions with cultish control because the brainwashing is virtually impossible to break... ... So how did these ghosts rescue me from this control? This church had many cult elements and produced Jim Bakker, Jimmy Swaggart, plus Jonestown, Guyana cult leader & mass murderer Jim Jones and controlled thousands of people with fear. Written in story form to inspire you, make you laugh, cry, and think. Why was the tiny child required to warn bullies three times?  Like the book “Educated A Memoir” meets Ghosts and the Supernatural. You will love this true story because everyone loves to see the hero win! Get it now.

In It for the Long Run: Breaking records and getting FKT


Damian Hall - 2021
    

Court in the Middle


Andrew Fraser - 2007
    Then it all went horribly wrong. In 1999 he was charged with being knowingly concerned with the importation of a commercial quantity of cocaine. Fraser pleaded guilty to a charge of possessing, trafficking a small quantity, and using cocaine over a period of time. He was sentenced to seven years in maximum security prison. Court in the Middle describes his early years—growing up in a family of lawyers, running hard to build a criminal law practice; his successful years with a national practice, and defending high profile, sometimes notorious, clients. He also discusses his relationship with cocaine, addiction and deals, crime and punishment, and the shocking details of his time spent in a maximum security prison.

A Guarded Life: My story of the dark side of An Garda Síochána


Majella Moynihan - 2020
    

My View from the Corner


Angelo Dundee - 2007
    During that period he trained a record-breaking fifteen world champions and countless top contenders--wiping away their sweat and blood and instilling whatever it took to win."My View from the Corner" is his story in his own words. It is also the story of the legendary ring warriors he has forged into champions, including all-time greats Muhammad Ali, "Sugar" Ray Leonard, and George Foreman, as well as champs such as Willie Pastrano and Carmen Basilio.But you won't just read about prize fighters. Dundee can't tell his tale without including an amazing cast of characters who could only exist in the larger-than-life world of professional boxing. You'll find engrossing stories involving everyone from sportscaster Howard Cosell to artist LeRoy Nieman to mobster Frank Costello. Muhammad Ali also contributes a foreword of his own--delivering his personal insights on Dundee--the man, the friend, and the boxing trainer.The veteran trainer gives you a ringside seat and the inside scoop into what really happened during such classic sports moments as:The Ali-Liston rematch, which even today many believe was "fixed" The Rumble in the Jungle (Ali vs. Foreman) where Dundee was accused of loosening the ring ropes in order to let Ali perform his now famous "rope-a-dope" The second Leonard-Duran fight known for Duran uttering the infamous ""no mas""--Dundee reveals Duran never actually spoke those words Foreman vs. Moorer where George Foreman made history by becoming the oldest man to win the Heavyweight Championship Leonard vs. Hagler, which ended with one of the most controversial decisions in boxing historyFor the first time, Dundee also candidly discusses his feelings about Ali's conversion to Islam, the mob and its influence on boxing, training Russell Crowe for "Cinderella Man" (which Dundee also appeared in), the psychology of training fighters, and much more."My View from the Corner" is filled with the depth and insight that can only come from a man who truly loves what he does . . . and is unquestionably the best in the world at it.

Crossing the Line: How Australian Cricket Lost Its Way


Gideon Haigh - 2018
    Y’know, it's not within the spirit of the game.’ Steve Smith was not to know it at Cape Town on 24 March 2018, but he was addressing his last press conference as captain of the Australian cricket team. By the next day morning he would be swept from office by a tsunami of public indignation involving even the prime minister. In a unique admission, Smith confessed to condoning a policy of sandpapering the cricket ball in a Test against South Africa. He, the instigator David Warner and their agent Cameron Bancroft returned home to disgrace and to lengthy bans. The crisis plunged Australian cricket into a bout of unprecedented soul searching, with Cricket Australia yielding to demands for reviews of the cricket team and of itself to restore confidence in their ‘culture’. In Crossing the Line, Gideon Haigh conducts his own cultural review – ‘less official and far cheaper but genuinely independent’. Studying the cricket team across a decade of radical change, he finds an accident waiting to happen, and a system struggling to cope with self-created challenges, on the field and in the boardroom. And he wonders: is there even any longer a spirit of the game to be within? Crossing the Line is the first instalment in Slattery Media Group’s Sports Shorts collection, a new series of sports essays published as small-format books. Sports Shorts has been created as a home for ambitious, lively and engaging writing and journalism on sport—work of a scale and scope not suited to the confines of day-to-day journalism. Every instalment will illuminate or entertain, all the while fitting into your back pocket on the way to the game.