Robert: 5744 books

Ed Holley pitched in major league baseball during the years of the Great Depression. He came up with the Chicago Cubs in 1928. However, his best years were with the Philadelphia Phillies, in 1932-1933. In those seasons he accounted for 24 wins, pitching for a team that finished annually in last place....

Nell Stewart was a farmer's daughter from Steele, Alabama. She left a job as a waitress and trained under wrestling veteran Gladys Kill-em Gillem. Nell entered professional wrestling in the late 1940s. The sport was dominated by all-time greats like Mildred Burke, Dot Dotson, Mae Young, and June...

Perhaps no other heavyweight fight elevated the common man as a boxing fan than the Baer-Carnera title bout of June 1935. Braddock had fought on the undercard of the Carnera-Baer heavyweight championship fight in June 1933. Just two years later he was fighting to become world champion. Small bettors...

Juan Zurita followed Aurelio Hererra as one of the fine boxers of Mexican ancestry. A native of Guadelajara Zurita trained in Pennsyvlania. Two of his most noted bouts were against Beau Jack, a former New York N.B.A. lightweight champion, and Ike Williams, who fought Zurita for the N.B.A. lightweight...

Joey Maxim was a veteran of 100 plus fights when he fought a 19-year-old Floyd Patterson at Eastern Parkway Arena on June 7, 1954. Patterson was undefeated but had fought less than twenty times professionally. He gained a chance at Maxim by dominating Jesse Turner in an 8-round bout that spring. Patterson,...

Mae Weston was a noted female wrestler who contended for the world title held by Mildred Burke in the early 1950s. Weston was born in Leavenworth, Kansas. When her mother died when she was 8 Mae's father moved his family to a small mining town in Missouri. Mae's older sister, Wilma Gordon,...

Piers Courage was a brewing family scion from Great Britain. He began his racing career in 1961 after befriending fellow driver Jonathan Williams and racing team manager Frank Williams. Piers was only 28 when he was killed at Zandvoort, the Netherlands in June 1970. His fatal wreck was a result of...

Peter Collins was one of a triumvirate of English drivers who were at the pinnacle of sports car and Formula 1 racing in the late 1950s. The other two were Mike Hawthorn and Stirling Moss. Collins married an American actress, the daughter of an assistant to United Nations' Secretary Dag Hammarskjold....

Jo Siffert combined determinism, youth and great speed as a promising sports car and Formula 1 driver coming along in the early 1960s. He began racing F1 cars in 1962, soon purchasing his own British Racing Motors (BRM) car. He served as driver as well as team manager. From modest means the Swiss...

Alberto Ascari was an elite driver for the Ferari and Maserati factory teams during the early days of Formula One racing. He captured the F1 championship in back to back years, 1952 and 1953. Ascari also competed successfully in motorcycle racing in his youth and won the Italian Mille Miglia race...

Doll Raffert like Juste Fontaine was a lightweight boxer from Milwaukee. Both entered the ring around 1943 and each enjoyed a measure of success in their careers. Doll and Juste fought three times with Rafferty winning two of the fights and Fontaine winning the bout fought in Pittsburgh. Both Rafferty...

The 17th Marquis de Portago was a scion of Spanish nobility who led a reckless life of adventure and died at 28 in 1957. He also carried on love affairs with numerous international models and film stars, although he was married with two children. Alfonso de Portago drove Ferrari sports cars that competed...

Dick Hutcherson was an Iowa transplant who came to southern stock car racing in 1964. He raced out of Camden, South Carolina. Hutcherson had a short but successful career in NASCAR, racing until 1967 when he retired to become crew chief for David Pearson. Hutcherson was among the biggest money winners...

The San Francisco 49ers of 1963 were the doormat of the National Football League's Western Division. An outstanding member of the old All American Conference, the 49ers had yet to find out how to win in the NFL. One of their main issues was at quarterback, where starter John Brodie had developed...