Here’s a look at six new sports books to add to the fall reading list:
• King Kelly Coleman: Kentucky’s Greatest Basketball Legend (New Expanded Edition) by Gary P. West (Acclaim Press, $26.95) is a remarkable story of legendary basketball star who played at Wayland High School in eastern Kentucky from 1952-56, scoring 4,337 points during his high school career. Kelly was the all-time leading scorer for boys’ high school basketball until 2023, a record that stood for over six decades. The son of a coal miner, Kelly was described as “the greatest high school player who ever lived” by UK coach Adolph Rupp and “one of the most exciting players in Kentucky’s history” by UK boss Joe B. Hall. Kelly later played at Kentucky Wesleyan College and in the NBA. Originally published in 2005, this new edition provides an intimate look at Kelly’s later years up through his 2019 death in Hazard. The 239-page hardcover is about more than just Kelly the high school basketball legend but also a look at Kelly the man, the husband and father, presenting not only his successes on the court but also his trials and failures off the court.
• Madden & Summerall: How They Revolutionized NFL Broadcasting by Rich Podolsky (Lyons Press, $32.95) tells the inside story of how two unlikely partners became the greatest broadcast duo in NFL history. This is the story of how John Madden and Pat Summerall got to CBS and, although very different, how they became the greatest broadcast team of all time. It is told by the author, who worked alongside them both at CBS. Madden was a bigger-than-life Super Bowl-winning coach, and he easily could have been a stand-up comedian. We all remember the great story-telling Madden, who won 16 Emmy Awards, but we don’t remember how much he struggled his first two years on the air to find his way. In fact, he was almost fired after his first season. It wasn’t until he was paired with former NFL standout Summerall that it all clicked. They were so different, yet so perfect together—like peanut butter meeting jelly for the first time.
• Yankees, Typewriters, Scandals, and Cooperstown: A Baseball Memoir by Bill Madden (Triumph Books, $30) is a freewheeling memoir of baseball, journalism, and New York spanning over 50 years of America’s pastime. Before he’d covered dozens of World Series, the author was a cub reporter on one of his first assignments at Yankee Stadium — and manager Ralph Houk had just gone out of his way to spit tobacco juice all over Madden’s shoes. “That’s Ralph’s way with rookie writers he doesn’t recognize,” came the explanation. “He doesn’t mean anything by it.” So began a Hall of Fame scribe’s career, as detailed in this clear-eyed memoir. With verve and candor, Madden reflects on five decades of triumphs, misadventures, and unforgettable characters.
• Make Me Commissioner: I Know What’s Wrong with Baseball and How to Fix It by Jane Leavy (Grand Central, $32) takes readers on a journey through the game that baseball has become — our once “national pastime” now striving to catch up with the times — and proposes ideas that will invigorate fans and enhance the game’s cultural impact: a comic, deeply reported, historic and heartfelt manifesto. The author was a pioneering female sportswriter who eventually turned her talent to books, penning three of the all-time best baseball biographies about three of the all-time best players: Sandy Koufax, Mickey Mantle and Babe Ruth.
• Every Day Is Sunday: How Jerry Jones, Robert Kraft, and Roger Goodell Turned the NFL into a Cultural & Economic Juggernaut by Ken Belson (Grand Central, $30) is a deeply-reported account of how the NFL Commissioner, Roger Goodell, and its two most powerful owners, Jerry Jones & Robert Kraft, turned the league into a cultural phenomenon. The 328-page hardcover traces the evolution of the league from “one of the four US professional sports,” to the superpower it is today, providing an inside look at the NFL.
• Brady vs. Belichick: The Dynasty Debate by Gary Myers (St. Martin’s Press, $31) is a unique and unparalleled look into the nature and relationship of two of the pillars — quarterback Tom Brady and coach Bill Belichick — in the NFL’s greatest dynasty. The author draws on his unique and unparalleled access to Belichick and Brady over the course of the two decades, but also to the myriad players, coaches, personnel and family, to get to the bottom of this relationship. He drills into the numbers, analyzes the psychology and sociology of this partnership, and use the powerful wand of perspective and context to illuminate the greatest duo that has ever graced the game.
Jamie H. Vaught, a longtime sports columnist in Kentucky, is the author of seven books about UK basketball, including soon-to-be-published “Unforgettable Journey with the Cats: Inside Kentucky Hoops Madness.” Now a retired college professor who taught at Southeast Kentucky Community and Technical College in Middlesboro, he is the editor and founder of KySportsStyle.com Magazine. You can follow him on Twitter @KySportsStyle or reach him via email at KySportsStyle44@gmail.com.