Biographical Dictionary Of American Sports

Features

Description

[F]ascinating reading and an excellent sports reference source. This volume is highly recommended for public and academic libraries and also for large high school collections. Booklist This dictionary is the third of four companion volumes, each containing comprehensive biographical and statistical data on over 500 athletic figures including managers, coaches, executives, and media personnel.

Each volume contains essays contributed by sports historians, sports writers, journalists, teachers, and publishers. Entries are listed alphabetically within each outdoor sport and cover major individuals from auto racing, golf, harness and thoroughbred racing, lacrosse, skiing, soccer, speed skating, tennis, and track and field.

Amateur sports administrators, bicyclists, bobsledders, equestrian riders, field hockey players, promotors, sportscasters, writers, and yachtsmen are also discussed. Review: ?This Dictionary is a companion to two 1987 volumes, Biographical Dictionary of American Sports: Baseball and Biographical Dictionary of American Sports: Football, in a planned four-volume set.

Topics included here are auto racing, communications and media, golf, horse racing, lacrosse, skiing, soccer, speed skating, tennis, and track and field. Howard Cosell, Joe Garagiola, Ring Lardner, and Grantland Rice are examples of the persons listed in the Communications and Media' section. Several topics are included in a Miscellaneous' section: administration, bicycling, bobsledding, equestrian sports, field hockey, polo, rodeo, rowing, softball, and yachting.

Administrators include Avery Brundage, James E. Sullivan, and Peter Ueberroth. The 200-to 900-word entries include both personal and career information. Most of the facts are up-to-date through 1987. Each entry is signed and has a bibliography; however, few items more recent than 1984 are listed. The bibliographies include both books and periodical articles by and about the subject. . . .

Of the 519 people listed in this volume, only 74 are women. The entries are balanced between living and deceased persons. Approximately half of those living are still active in their sport; the other half are retired. Biographical Dictionary of American Sports: Outdoor Sports, with its variety of appendixes, is fascinating reading and an excellent sports reference source.

This volume is highly recommended for public and academic libraries and also for large high school collections.?-Reference Books Bulletin