"Friday Night Lights meets Unbroken." --Tony Reali | "One of the most profound stories you will ever read." --Ian O'Connor | "Plaschke delivers a masterpiece." --Jeff Pearlman From&nbsp;L.A. Times&nbsp;columnist and ESPN&nbsp;Around the Horn&nbsp;panelist Bill Plaschke, a story of tragedy, triumph, and the remarkable power of high school football in one small California town On November 8, 2018, the Camp Fire ravaged the town of Paradise, California. The fire, which burned up to 80 acres per minute, killed 86 people, and nearly every building and home in the town was reduced to ashes. In a single day, Paradise, a proud working-class town in the foothills of the Sierra Nevadas, saw its population fall from 25,000 to 2,000. The Paradise High football team had long been the town's source of joy and inspiration. But in the wake of the fire, their season was abruptly cancelled on the eve of the playoffs. Their championship hopes were gone. Their program's survival seemed doubtful--it wasn't even clear whether Paradise High would continue to exist. Coach Rick Prinz had planned to retire that year after guiding the Paradise High Bobcats for two decades. But after the fire forever altered his beloved town, he realized he couldn't walk away. What ensued was the challenge of a lifetime. Of the 104 football players at Paradise, 95 had lost their homes. His varsity squad, which had stood 76 strong the previous season, was down to 22. Most of those who remained were homeless, sleep-deprived, lost. On the first day of spring practice, on a debris-ridden patch of grass at nearby Chico Airport, Prinz's team didn't even have a football. It was the humble beginning to a memorable journey. Bill Plaschke, longtime columnist for the Los Angeles Times, followed the Paradise Bobcats throughout a most remarkable season. In this gripping, deeply-reported story of tragedy and resilience, Plaschke reveals the unique power of sports to unite, to inspire, and to heal. As the Paradise players fought to rebuild their broken lives, they found strength in the support of their teammates--and as football returned to Paradise, so, too, did the spirit of the town itself.

Paradise Found: A High School Football Team's Rise from the Ashes

Biographies & Memoirs

Plaschke, Bill

Leaders & Notable People

William Morrow

The man behind the NFL head coach is revealed in a candid look at his climb from a life of poverty to one of success in the sports arena--a story filled with personal remembrances, anecdotes, and unflinching opinions

Hard Knox: The Life of an NFL Coach

Knox, Chuck

Harcourt, Brace. Jovanovich

The twenty-one-season baseball veteran and three-time Manager of the Year expounds his winning baseball philosophy, recounts some highlights from his illustrious career, and shares his unbridled enthusiasm for baseball

No More Mr. Nice Guy: A Life of Hardball

Sports & Outdoors

Williams, Dick

Baseball

Harcourt

Follows the remarkable story of the Olympic gold medalist's journey from being the son of illegal Mexican immigrants, born into a world of instability, to his success and glory at the Beijing Olympics.

American Victory: Wrestling, Dreams, and a Journey Toward Home

Cejudo, Henry

Community & Culture

Celebra Hardcover

"Compelling...American Victory represents the triumph of the human spirit." --Los Angeles Times Henry Cejudo's remarkable journey follows an unlikely hero, the son of illegal immigrants, from the mean streets of South Central LA to the glory of the Beijing Olympics. The first American in sixteen years to win the gold medal in freestyle wrestling and the youngest American gold medalist ever in this event, Henry's grit, passion, and resolve on display in China was a culmination of a life spent fighting-both on and off the mat. American Victory is his poignant and powerful memoir of how he rose above the statistics and dangers to become a winner-and a hero that embodies all that's best and most hopeful in the American dream.

American Victory: Wrestling, Dreams and a Journey Toward Home

Penguin Publishing Group

I Live for This: Baseball's Last True Believer

Tommy Lasorda is baseball's true immortal and one of its larger than life figures. A former pitcher who was overshadowed by Sandy Koufax, Lasorda went on to a Hall of Fame career as a manager with one of baseball's most storied franchises. His teams won two World Series, four National League pennants, and eight division titles. He was twice named National League manager of the year and he also led the United States baseball team to the gold medal at the 2000 Summer Olympics. In I Live for This! award-winning sportswriter Bill Plaschke shows us one of baseball's last living legends as we've never seen him before, revealing the man behind the myth, the secrets to his amazing, unlikely success, and his unvarnished opinions on the state of the game. Bravely and brilliantly, I Live for This! dissects the personality to give us the person. By the end we’re left with an indelible portrait of a legend that, if Tommy Lasorda has anything to say about it, we won’t ever forget.

I Live For This: Baseball's Last True Believer

Mariner Books

An award-winning sportswriter shows us one of baseball's most famous and enduring legends as we've never seen him before, revealing the secrets of his amazing, unlikely success and his unvarnished opinions on the state of the game. Tommy Lasorda is perhaps baseball's most famous and popular figure. At seventy-nine, after twenty years of managing and fifty-seven years with one franchise, this Hall of Famer still suits up in Dodger Blue every day. He also keeps a travel schedule that would dizzy the most frequent of frequent fliers. The embodiment of the American dream, Lasorda went from a scrawny, overlooked Italian kid of average ability to become one of the world's most recognizable baseball faces. And he fought for it every step of the way. In I Live for This Bill Plaschke strips the veneer from one of baseball's last living legends to show how grit and determination really can transform a life. We think we know this jovial manager from the rah-rah style that has always raised eyebrows in the world of baseball. Some view him as an anachronism. Some love him like Santa Claus. But there's one thing they all agree on: Lasorda is a success. With gleaming insight and remarkable candor, Plaschke takes us inside the day-to-day world of this baseball great to reveal a side of Lasorda that few people really know. And along the way, we're treated to some of the most outrageous stories in sports. We also discover Lasorda's unshakable opinions about what plagues baseball today. Bravely and brilliantly, I Live for This dissects the personality to give us the person. In the end we're left with an indelible portrait of a legend that, if Lasorda has anything to say about it, we won't ever forget.

Houghton, mifflin, harcourt

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Books by Plaschke, Bill