The fever that is college basketball on Tobacco Road started from a small outbreak in Raleigh, North Carolina, when Indiana basketball legend Everett Case became the coach at N.C. State University. He restarted the dormant construction of Reynolds Coliseum, and for fifty years, it was one of the most important basketball arenas in the country. Through the years, the Wolfpack has won two NCAA championships and ten Atlantic Coast Conference championships while giving the sport of college basketball some of its brightest color, from the plaid jackets worn by Norm Sloan to the unbelievable athletic ability of David Thompson to the mouth of Jim Valvano, who spewed one-liners at the speed of hummingbird wings. There have also been dark days during State’s sixty-year history as a member of the ACC. N.C. State basketball has a long history of producing stars, comebacks, and even a few villains, all of which of are detailed by Tim Peeler in this reissue of Legends of N.C. State Basketball. 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.

The NCAA men's basketball tournament is one of the iconic events in American sports. In this fast-paced, in-depth account, J. Samuel Walker and Randy Roberts identify the 1973–74 season as pivotal in the making of this now legendary postseason tournament. In an era when only one team per conference could compete, the dramatic defeat of coach John Wooden's UCLA Bruins by the North Carolina State Wolfpack ended a decade of the Bruins' dominance, fueled unprecedented national attention, and prompted the NCAA to expand the tournament field to a wider range of teams. Walker and Roberts provide a richly detailed chronicle of the games that made the season so memorable and uncover the behind-the-scenes maneuvering that set the stage for the celebrated spectacle that now fixes the nation's attention every March.

Since the inception of the Atlantic Coast Conference, intense rivalries, legendary coaches, gifted players, and fervent fans have come to define the league's basketball history. In ACC Basketball, J. Samuel Walker traces the traditions and the dram

One. Two. Three. That's as long as it took to sear the souls of a dozen young American men, thanks to the craziest, most controversial finish in the history of the Olympics--the 1972 gold-medal basketball contest between the United States of America and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, the world's two superpowers at the time. The U.S. team, whose unbeaten Olympic streak dated back to when Adolf Hitler reigned over the Berlin Games, believed it had won the gold medal that September in Munich--not once, but twice. But it was the third time the final seconds were played that counted. What happened? The head of international basketball--flouting rules he himself had created--trotted onto the court and demanded twice that time be put back on the clock. A referee allowed an illegal substitution and an illegal free-throw shooter for the Soviets while calling a slew of late fouls on the U.S. players. The American players became the only Olympic athletes in the history of the games to refuse their medals. Of course, the 1972 Olympics are remembered primarily for a far graver matter, when eleven Israeli team members were killed by Palestinian terrorists, stunning the world and temporarily stopping the games. One American player, Tommy Burleson, had a gun to his head as the hostages were marched past him before their deaths. Through interviews with many of the American players and others, the author relates the horror of terrorism, the pain of losing the most controversial championship game in sports history to a hated rival, and the consequences of the players' decision to shun their Olympic medals to this day.

In 1953, seven universities seceded from the NCAA's Southern Conference to form the Atlantic Coast Conference. Founding members Clemson, Duke, Maryland, North Carolina, North Carolina State, South Carolina and Wake Forest were soon joined by Virginia. Inspired by national academic and gambling scandals, and a bowl game crisis in 1951, the ACC's leaders hoped to reduce the commercialism and professionalism that permeated college athletics in the 1950s. This first ever full-length history examines founding of the ACC, the star athletes and coaches and football and basketball season highlights, along with the negotiations that led to the creation one of America's most successful athletic conferences.

Tales from the Wake Forest Hardwood chronicles how Wake Forest basketball could survive the university's relocation from the quaint town of Wake Forest to the city of Winston-Salem without ever leaving behind fans and followers.

Legends of Maryland Basketball features more than two dozen former prominent Terrapin players and coaches, including men and women who played significant roles in developing one of the most stories college basketball programs in the United States. Others are recognized with poetic tributes. The University of Maryland sent a varsity team to the court for the first time in 1923 and now boasts one of a handful of high-profile college basketball programs in the country. The team has appeared in the last 11 NCAA tournaments and captured its first NCAA title in 2002. During its cherished history. Maryland has won three Atlantic Coast Conference tournament championships and four regular-season conference titles. Before joining the ACC in 1953, the Terps won two Southern Conference Tournament titles. Legends in the book include early 1930s star Bosey Berger, Maryland's first basketball All-American; three time All-Americans Tom McMillen and John Lucas, who helped revive the program in the mid-1970s after a decade of mediocrity; current head coach Gary Williams, who guided the Terps to the NCAA title and was a scrappy guard for the team in the mid-1960s; former College Player of the Year Joe Smith, one of the most pleasant surprises in the history of the program; former head coaches Bud Millikan and Lefty Driessell, who guided their teams to conference titles and periods of prominence; and former women's head coach Chris Weller, one of the most prominent and successful pioneers in women's college basketball history.

In the 1960s, college sports required more than athletic prowess from its African American players. For many pioneering basketball players on 18 teams in the Atlantic and Southeastern conference, playing ball meant braving sometimes menacing crowds during the tumultuous era of civil rights. Perry Wallace feared he would be shot when he first stepped onto a court in his Vanderbilt uniform. During one road game, Georgia's Ronnie Hogue fended off a hostile crowd with a chair. Craig Mobley had to flee the Clemson campus, along with other black students. C.B. Claiborne couldn't attend the Duke team banquet when it was held at an all-white country club. Wendell Hudson's mother cried with heartache when her son decided to play at the University of Alabama, and Al Heartley locked himself in a campus dorm at North Carolina State for safety the night Martin Luther King, Jr., was assassinated. Grounded in the civil rights struggles on campuses throughout the south, the voices of players, coaches, opponents and fans reveal the long-neglected story of race, sports and social history. Barry Jacobs has covered college basketball as well as news and other sports since 1976 for numerous publications, among them the New York Times, Washington Post, GQ, People, Oceans, the Saturday Evening Post and the Sporting News. He is the author of four books, including Coach K's Little Blue Book, The World According to Dean, and Three Paths to Glory. For 14 years he wrote the Fan’s Guide to ACC Basketball. He also served as an elected county commissioner for 20 years and supervises Moorefields, an historic site near Hillsborough, NC.

A brilliant, entertaining deconstruction of basketball, drawing on the expertise of board-game creators, magicians, therapists, and more Basketball is the second-most popular sport in the world—an insanely complicated game built on a combination of athleticism, craftiness, rules, intangibles, and superstardom. However, while it’s enjoyable to watch, the real reason it works is because it’s a game of culture, art, and all the things that make us human. How to Watch Basketball Like a Genius deconstructs the sport from top to bottom and then puts it back together again, detailing its intricacies through reporting and dozens of interviews with experts. These experts, however, are a diverse group: wine critics weighing in on LeBron’s ability to delegate on the fly, magicians analyzing Chris Paul’s mystifying dribbling techniques, cartographers breaking down Steph Curry’s deadeye three-point shooting. Every chapter treats basketball to a multi-disciplined study that adventures far beyond the lines of the court, examining key elements of the sport from some surprising and revealing angles. There’s a reason it has conquered the world, and every game is a chance to learn about pop culture, fashion, history, science, art, and anything else that bounces our way.

What you do not know about Georgia's greatest athletes and some of its leading citizens you will learn in Gene Asher's Legends. Anthony Joseph (Zippy) Morocco won a football scholarship to the University of Georgia but he won All-American honors in basketball. Phil. (Knucksie) Niekro failed to get a contract when he tried out for the Pittsburgh Pirates. The Milwaukee Braves did sign him but kept him on the bench or in the minors for six years. So what happened to Niekro, the knuckle ball pitcher? As an Atlanta Brave, he was selected to the major league All Star game five times won five Golden Glove awards and earned membership in baseball's hallowed Hall of Fame. Bill and Jeanne Daprano of Fayetteville have won more than 100 pieces of Gold in Masters Track Championships, more than any other husband-wife team in the history of U.S. Track and Field. The late Bill Paschal of Atlanta, a Georgia Tech dropout, played one season on the B team before joining the New York Giants and twice leading the National Football League in ground gaining. At age 89, Juvenile Court Judge Aaron Cohn of Columbus is the longest serving juvenile court judge is America and a champion tennis player. These and untold stories of Georgia Bulldog immortal Charley Trippi, 86-year-old Furman Bisher, who continues to be one of the most prolific sports columnists in America, and Lee Burge, the man who went from the mailroom to the boardroom of Equifax are among many other sports and civic greats included in Gene Asher's Legends.