{"title":"Bill Livingston","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"george-steinbrenner-s-pipe-dream-book-bill-livingston-9781606352618","title":"George Steinbrenner's Pipe Dream","description":"Steinbrenner nearly beats the Cavaliers to the NBA by eight years   In an eleventh-floor corner office in downtown Cleveland during the spring of 1961, 30-year-old George Steinbrenner sketched with his hands the future as he dreamed it. He grabbed the young basketball player who was sitting near him by the shoulder with one hand and jabbed the air with invisible designs with the other. A glittering 12,000-seat basketball palace, Steinbrenner said to Larry Siegfried, the just-graduated captain of the Ohio State basketball team, would soon spring from the weedy empty lots along the Lake Erie shoreline. It would be an arena fit for the basketball royalty Steinbrenner was assembling for the Cleveland Pipers of the new American Basketball League. Before the Pipers' tumultuous story was over, Steinbrenner would win Siegfried's services and the ABL championship.  In George Steinbrenner's Pipe Dream, Bill Livingston brings to life the remarkable story of the one-season wonder Pipers and their unlikely national championship. Drawing on personal interviews and extensive research, he introduces readers to the personalities that surrounded the organization, including John McLendon, the first African American head coach in any professional sport; Jerry Lucas, one of college basketball's greatest players; Dick Barnett, the best player on the team and the driving force for their ABL championship; the extravagantly talented prodigy Connie Hawkins; and Jack Adams, the Pipers' captain, who was traded in midseason in a fit of pique on Steinbrenner's part.  Bill Livingston takes readers along for the Pipers' short but wild ride, providing a compelling and entertaining story about a fascinating chapter in sports history.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50095274262801,"sku":"CIN160635261XG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":51124652376337,"sku":"CIN160635261XVG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/160635261X.jpg?v=1773921139"},{"product_id":"promise-of-lebron-james-book-bill-livingston-9781606354841","title":"The Promise of LeBron James","description":"The story of LeBron James through the eyes of a Cleveland sports insider     LeBron James has been a polarizing yet beloved figure for sports fans around the world, possibly nowhere more so than in northeast Ohio, where he grew up. He began his basketball career hailed as \"the chosen one,\" a beacon of hope for a Cleveland team that had never won an NBA championship. He was then denounced for \"the Decision\" to leave and pursue his trophy dreams with the Miami Heat. The prodigal son subsequently returned to the Cavaliers, fulfilling \"the Promise\" to bring ultimate victory to Cleveland in 2016.     From the time James was a high school sophomore, former Cleveland Plain Dealer sports columnist Bill Livingston covered every step of his journey from the teenager who flouted high school league rules to a basketball icon and activist, one who even founded a school in his hometown.     In this engaging new biography, Livingston intertwines research, interviews, game highlights, and his firsthand experience with James and Ohio sports. Livingston's perspective and incisive wit give a unique view not only into James's evolving motivations, philosophies, and relationships but also to the characters and actions that have defined the Ohio chapters of his career.     This book is not only for fans of LeBron; it is for anyone seeking to understand his very personal relationship with northeast Ohio: what he means to the region and how the region shaped him.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"- \/ - \/ -","offer_id":51039450726673,"sku":"","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":51039453872401,"sku":"NIN9781606354841","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ GARDNERS","offer_id":52111147303185,"sku":"NGR9781606354841","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1606354841.jpg?v=1773915439"}],"url":"https:\/\/www.worldofbooks.com\/en-gb\/collections\/author-books-by-bill-livingston.oembed","provider":"World of Books ","version":"1.0","type":"link"}