It’s been too long since I’ve added to my book review contributions, but it’s not because I haven’t been enjoying a steady diet of reading material that’s come on the market, and it certainly hasn’t been limited to golf.
To get back in the review routine, though, I’m trying something new. Instead of focusing on one book I’ll give my thoughts on two – and this time they’re not even golf-related. They’re very much different.
“Heartland’’ was released in early March, a creation by Keith O’Brien on a topic long overdue – the rise of basketball legend Larry Bird that started in one of my favorite travel destinations, French Lick, Indiana.
“For the Glory’’ isn’t a new book. Duncan Hamilton is the author, and it came out in 2016. I found it browsing through a Barnes & Noble location. Hamilton also has produced another previously untold story of a legendary athlete, British track star Eric Liddell whose athletic exploits in the 1924 Olympics in Paris were spotlighted in the movie “Chariots of Fire .’’
With March Madness closing in for college basketball junkies “Heartland’’ will rekindle memories of what was arguably the most memorable championship game – the 1979 version when Bird’s Indiana State team couldn’t handle Michigan State and Magic Johnson. As far as Olympic glory goes, the Winter Games have just ended and the lead-in to the 2028 Summer Games in Los Angeles has already begun.
Both “Heartland’’ and “For the Glory’’ provide excellent reading. I had trouble putting both of them down. Here’s why:
“HEARTLAND’’ –- Bird was a great player throughout his professional career, but he was also a private person. He grew up in rural French Lick, and there’s so much to tell about those days. He worked in the fields baling hay, played on outdoor courts in his free time and blossomed thanks to an encouraging high school coach.
While in French Lick his troubled father committed suicide and Bird fathered a child before his 18th birthday. He worked out under coach Bobby Knight at Indiana, but didn’t like it there and wound up at Indiana State where a Cinderella story began. Bird was working on a garbage truck and wasn’t heavily recruited until Indiana State seemed the perfect fit for him.
This book focuses on Bird’s years in French Lick and Terre Haute, creating an inspiring story that led into his pro career with the Boston Celtics. So many anecdotes about Bird and life in his formative years are what make “Heartland’’ so captivating.
“FOR THE GLORY’’ – Liddell was one of three key figures in “Chariots of Fire,’’ but he shared billing with two British teammates — sprinter Harold Abrahams, who won the gold medal at 100 meters, and Douglas Lowe, who won the 800-meter race.
Liddell was the best of them all, but his religious beliefs almost kept him from running because his main events were scheduled on a Sunday. He wound up winning at 400 meters, which was a big focal point of the movie but hardly the end of the Liddell story.
He returned home a hero, then dedicated himself to missionary work in China. He sent his wife and children to Canada when World War II began, but he stayed in China to continue his missionary work. Eventually he was captured and taken to a Japanese work camp. He succumbed to a brain tumor there.
Liddell has been remembered as more than just a great athlete. Thanks to his faith in the darkest of circumstances he is even better remembered as a very special human being.
BOTH OF these books were extremely well researched and are both inspirational and historical. The inspirational component is what makes them so worthwhile for your reading options.