SPORTS HEROES WHO OVERCAME THE ODDS

A nonfiction collection shares tales of unlikely victories from the sports world.

Who doesn’t love an inspiring sports story? There are few things as satisfying as seeing someone succeed at a physical challenge against all odds, whether as a member of an underdog team or a solo athlete pushing the boundaries of the human body. Black’s volume cites heroes like Diana Nyad, who managed to swim from Cuba to Florida on her fifth attempt at the age of 64, and Kara Whitley, who climbed to the top of Mount Kilimanjaro despite weighing 300 pounds. Stories of famous athletes like Babe Ruth, Jim Thorpe, Jackie Robinson, Phil Knight, and Michael Jordan sit right alongside those of lesser-known figures, such as Gobi, a stray dog who adopted a runner during a 155-mile footrace through the namesake desert and ran with him to the finish line, or the coach who claimed that he would quit his job at the University of Washington if his crew team didn’t take home a gold medal at the 1936 Olympics. Not only did his crew win, but it also beat the German team by a hair—right under the nose of Hitler. While Black’s prose is unadorned, he deploys it with relish, as here where he describes a famous heavyweight championship fight between John L. Sullivan and James J. Corbett: “During the first few rounds, fans booed the dapper collegian as he deftly dodged the punches of the champion. But they were standing in their seats when Corbett broke Sullivan’s nose in round three.” There’s something decidedly old-school about the work’s presentation: no introduction, no images, just a few dozen two-page entries spanning the last century and a half of athletics. The entries aren’t generally long enough for much of a narrative to form, but Black gives readers what they need for context. In a way, it’s a benignly boring book—there are few moments that will fill readers with much excitement or awe—but it’s a fun resource to flip through.

A bare-bones yet entertaining sports almanac that delivers on a simple premise.