In this book, Cornhusker fans will be able to relive the exploits of the greatest Nebraska players of all time and how they led NU to championship after championship. The key to football's option offence is the running back, and Nebraska has had more than its share of great ball carriers. You'll read about the Huskers' fabulous 1-2 punch of Lloyd Cardwell and Sam Francis in 1935; 'Mr Touchdown' Bobby Reynolds, who starred in the early 1950s; diminutive fullback Frank Solich, who eventually became NU's head coach.

Go Big Red covers Nebraska football in a way no other publication has, with personality profiles, anecdotes, and original research, as well as questions of fact and trivia, some of which will test even the most devoted and knowledgeable Cornhusker fans. Nebraska has enjoyed thirty-six consecutive winning seasons, made twenty-nine consecutive bowl appearances, and won five national championships. During that time, the Cornhuskers have had just two head coaches, Bob Devaney and Tom Osborne. Without question, this is the golden era of Cornhusker football, and Go Big Red is a celebration of that indisputable fact. It is much more than a trivia book--it goes beyond the hefty and comprehensive media guides published each season by the Nebraska Sports Information Office. There is a section devoted to the best of Broderick Thomas, the loquacious outside linebacker. And there are also some things you won't remember, or things you might not have known. Can you name all of the assistant coaches on Osborne's first staff in 1973? Can you list Nebraska's starters for the 1941 Rose Bowl game? Do you know how the "Blackshirt" tradition began? Devaney was a master storyteller, and the book includes a humorous story or two of his. The program became a haven for walk-ons under Osborne, and the book includes an all-walk-on team. Cornhusker football was king long ago. And this book offers insight into that past glory, achieved by the likes of "Jumbo" Stiehm, Ed Weir, and Guy Chamberlin. All-American Trev Albert, the Butkus Award winner in 1993, has expressed the meaning of Cornhusker football in the introduction, which is an integral part of the book's experience. Reading Go Big Red isn't the same as sitting in Memorial Stadium, awash in red on game day. But it's the next best thing.

The basic subject of the book is to justify which athlete was the Greatest to ever wear a particular number. In my research, I listed all of the possible uniform numbers 0 to 99, took the finest athletes from the four major sports (baseball, basketball, football, and hockey), and slotted them under their appropriate uniform number. For each player, I created a mini-biography detailing their finest exploits on the field-whether it was All Star nods, championships won, records held, on-field highlights etc. Basically, I created a "case" for that athlete to be considered the best to ever wear the number. Among the possible uniform numbers, I've listed nearly 850 athletes for consideration and provided the accompanying biography. At the end of eahc section, I form a debate as to the Greatest to ever wear the number and then make a selection. After the selection is posted, I then list some quotes made by or about the athlete for the reader to gain even more insight into the player. Even if the reader is not overly concerned about the choice as to the Greatest under each uniform number, the book also serves as a wonderful reference guide. If the reader is interested in finding out more about any of the listed athletes, it's easy to look up the player and find out who he played for and what he did between the white lines. In either cae, Right On the Numbers serves multiple uses and is a must have for any true sports fan.

From the mid-1950s to the early 1960s, when basketball’s Boston Celtics were piecing together a run for the ages, when Montreal’s Canadiens were in the midst of notching a record-setting five straight Stanley Cups, and when the New York Yankees were the once-and-future kings of the diamond, one team boosted the NFL to national prominence as none other: the New York Giants. In Giants Among Men, Jack Cavanaugh, the acclaimed author of Tunney, transports us to the NFL’s golden age to introduce the close-knit and diverse group that won the heart of a city, helped spread the gospel of pro football across the nation, and recast the NFL as a media colossus. Central to Cavanaugh’s narrative, and emblematic of the Giants’ bond with their followers, was a hard-nosed future Hall of Fame defensive end named Andy Robustelli. A World War II combat vet, a graduate of Arnold College, undersized and nearing age thirty, Robustelli nevertheless anchored a Giants defensive unit so ferocious that they were the first team to inspire crowds to chant “Dee-fense!” But Robustelli and the Giants were a hit on the gridiron, playing in six NFL Championship Games in eight seasons between 1956 and 1963, the most remarkable aspect of this team was perhaps its relationship to the fans. These Giants were largely composed of ordinary joes who were equally at ease hobnobbing with Gleason and Sinatra at Toots Shor’s as they were rubbing elbows with working-class rooters on the IRT en route to Sunday games in the Bronx–like many of their fans, nearly all Giants players worked second jobs off-season to make ends meet. But the Giants of this era didn’t merely affect the fans’ relationship to the game; they changed the game itself. The team launched the careers of future head-coaching geniuses Tom Landry and Vince Lombardi, as well as those of a galaxy of stars and future Hall-of-Famers including Frank Gifford, Sam Huff, Emlen Tunnell, Roosevelt Brown, Y. A. Tittle, Charlie Conerly, Rosie Grier, and Pat Summerall. The Giants teams of this remarkable era were tagged with the soubriquet “Mara Tech” (for the Mara family, who had owned the franchise since its inception)–due to the number of players and coaches who later found success in the boardroom, the broadcast booth, and behind the bench. Filled with historical and cultural insight and vivid portraits of larger-than-life characters and indispensable everymen, Giants Among Men transcends nostalgia and sports trivia to faithfully depict a watershed era for both football and the American nation. Praise for Jack Cavanaugh’s Tunney “Impressively researched and richly detailed . . . a long-overdue portrait of a fascinating fighter.” –Sports Illustrated “A winning tale . . . Jack Cavanaugh brings Tunney, Dempsey and the fight scene of the Roaring Twenties back to life.” –Fort Worth Star-Telegram “[A] sprawling new biography . . . The boxing scenes are spun gold.” –The New York Times “Filled with vivid characters from one of boxing’s most glamorous eras, this tale goes fifteen rounds and delivers plenty of punch.” –Kirkus Reviews (starred review) “One of the primary elements to the greatness of this biography is Cavanaugh’s ability to plumb the confusing depths of celebrity in America.” –The Denver Post From the Hardcover edition.

"Never die easy. Why run out of bounds and die easy? Make that linebacker pay. It carries into all facets of your life. It's okay to lose, to die, but don't die without trying, without giving it your best." His legacy is towering. Walter Payton—the man they called Sweetness, for the way he ran—remains the most prolific running back in the history of the National Football League, the star of the Chicago Bears' only Super Bowl Championship, eleven times voted the most popular sports figure in Chicago's history. Off the field, he was a devoted father whose charitable foundation benefited tens of thousands of children each year, and who—faced with terminal liver disease—refused to use his celebrity to gain a preferential position for organ donation. Walter Payton was not just a football hero; he was America's hero. Never Die Easy is Walter Payton's autobiography, told from the heart. Growing up poor in Mississippi, he took up football to get girls' attention, and went on to become a Black College All-American at tiny Jackson State (during which time he was also a finalist in a Soul Train dance contest). Drafted by the Bears in 1975, he predicted that he would last only five years but went on to play thirteen extraordinary seasons, a career earning him regular acknowledgment as one of the greatest players in the history of professional football. And when his playing days were over, he approached business and charity endeavors with the same determination and success he had brought to the football field, always putting first his devotion to friends and family. His ultimate battle with illness truly proved him the champion he always had been and prompted a staggering outpouring of love and support from hundreds of thousands of friends and admirers. Written with veteran journalist and author Don Yaeger in the last weeks of Walter Payton's life, Never Die Easy presents Walter's singular voice—warm, plainspoken, funny, self-aware—along with the voices of the friends, family, teammates, and business associates who knew him best at all stages of his life, including his wife, Connie, and their children, Brittney and Jarrett; his teammate and friend Matt Suhey; former Bears head coach Mike Ditka; and many, many others. Walter made Don Yaeger promise that his book would be "inspirational and leave people with some kind of lesson . . . and make sure you spell all the words right." Never Die Easy keeps all those promises.

EBONY is the flagship magazine of Johnson Publishing. Founded in 1945 by John H. Johnson, it still maintains the highest global circulation of any African American-focused magazine.