The two of you grew up as great athletes in Indiana. You are a college basketball star at Indiana University but your best friend’s college football career at the University of Michigan has been ruined by injuries and now he’s severely addicted to gambling. He is in big trouble with brutal mobsters. He owes them thousands of dollars — and they’re angry. They want to hurt him, or worse. So they’ve come to you with a proposal. And this is your choice: Your life or his death. Such is the story of Danny Bridges and Nick Vincent, best friends since they were little boys in a Chicago suburb just across the state line in Indiana. Nick's life is a mess now and their friendship is about to be tested like never before. In "The Ties That Bind'' author Tom Brew explores the mind of an addicted compulsive gambler like no one has done before. He goes deep as to how the disease has affected Nick, and even deeper as to how it affects everyone around him. And as the drama plays out as mobsters attempt to get Nick to have Danny throw a basketball game in a point-shaving scandal, you won't be able to put it down. It's fast-paced action, a sports story with a mob presence -- and all sorts of twists and turns. You don't want to miss it.

The Ties That Bind

Literature & Fiction

Brew, Tom

Genre Fiction

Tom Brew Sports

Indiana University basketball fans love their five national championship banners that hang so proudly in Assembly Hall in Bloomington, Indiana. But they also wish there were more. There should have been. "Missing Banners,'' written by award-winning Indiana sports writers Tom Brew and Terry Hutchens, takes a look back at five seasons where Indiana could have won championships, but came up short for one reason or another. The book is filled with dozens of never-before-told stories from magical basketball seasons in 1975, 1980,1993, 2002 and 2013. It spans five decades, so every fan will be remember many of these seasons vividly. The book is also filled with more than five dozen great photos from the past, courtesy of the Archives Department at the Indiana University Library in Bloomington. This book will bring back many great memories for IU fans ... and also plenty of heartache. But through the 302 pages, you'll also see a common thread that runs through these teams, a bond among players and coaches that was unbreakable. They poured blood, sweat and tears into trying to hang a sixth national championship banner at Indiana. They came up short, but still they have great stories to tell.

Missing Banners: Indiana basketball fans love their five championship banners. They just wish there were more. There could have been

Sports & Outdoors

Hutchens, Terry

Basketball

Todd Jadlow grew up in small-town Salina, Kansas and played college basketball at Indiana University for legendary coach Bob Knight. He played professional basketball for more than decade in the U.S., Europe and South America, basically playing basketball and partying his way around the world with cocaine and alcohol. His post-basketball career was successful too until it spun wildly under control. His drug and alcohol use was so bad that he got four DUIs in six months, including two in one day that sent him to jail for two years.He's found his way now, and has been clean of drugs and alcohol for nearly three years and travels the country speaking to students about his life, the things he's done wrong and how he's trying to live his life the right way now. Jadlow's first-person life story will make you laugh, make you cry and make you shake your head in amazement at the crazy things that have gone on in his life. Jadlow tells of his time at Indiana playing for Bob Knight, detailing specifics about the physical abuse he took, including getting punched in the back of the head with a closed fist and being squeezed so hard that Knight left bruises on his side.He tells of a decade of partying while playing professional basketball throughout the U.S, Europe and Argentina. His party life with women and cocaine and near heart attacks will shock you.So will his wild spin out of control, where he drank and did drugs daily and became so depressed that he was ready to die. He got four DUIs in six month and two in one day on a crazy day in December of 2013. It was his last drink.Now Todd travels the country speaking to high school and college students, telling his story and doing what he can to help students one at a time to not travel down the road he went. Todd's story is chilling, and a must-read for anyone who has ever had issues with drugs or alcohol, or had a friend or family member who's gone through the same.

Jadlow: On The Rebound: Todd Jadlow tells all about playing for Bob Knight, his professional life filled with drugs, alcohol and years in jail, and his inspiring road to recovery.

Jadlow, Todd

Biographies & Memoirs

In the middle 1800s, German immigrants escaping religious persecution came to America and slowly started to settle in a northwest Indiana community that would come to be a town called Schererville in 1866. "Schererville Turns 150: A Historical Look Back at the Not-So-Small Town We Love To Call Home'' takes a look back at those early days and how Schererville came to be. It also chronicles the people, places and things that have made Schererville a great place to live. There are stories of Schererville natives who have become famous, and businesses that have become staples of our community. With help from the Schererville Historical Society and others, the book contains more than 100 pictures that captures Schererville well through the years. Schererville has grown from 2,500 people to more than 31,000 in the last 50 years and the books talks about how that's happened. It spotlights the places were we love to eat, like Teibel's Restaurant, Aurelio's Pizza, the Schererville Lounge and more. It highlights many longtime businesses and their role in Schererville's growth. It also has profiles on three basketball players who have put Schererville on the map, NBA players Glenn Robinson III and Luke Harangody, and Indiana Miss Basketball Kelly Komara. The book is written by long-time writer Tom Brew, who is a Schererville native. This is his fourth book. Tom's other books -- all available on Amazon -- are his Schererville-based novel, "The Ties That Bind,'' and his two Indiana University basketball books, "Missing Banners" and "Jadlow: On The Rebound.''

Schererville Turns 150: A historical look back at the not-so-small town we love to call home.

History

Americas

Born of immigrant parents just before World War II, the likelihood of their even meeting was a long shot at best. But an ocean apart, Claire St. Cyr and Charlie Watson had a three-year pen-pal relationship in wartime that later created a new family blend. She was the quiet French-Canadian farm girl, he the New York City wisecrack struggling to survive the harrowing and bloody Italian front in 1944-45. They fell in love through letters, then lived happily ever after in an amazing family dynamic. Theirs is a true love story and their lives in New England shape a story that tells all about how immigration and patriotism shaped a son's forgotten and unknown past. It's a beautifully told story from longtime journalist Warren Watson.

Claire & Charlie: An Unlikely Wartime Love Story

Self-Help

Watson, Warren

Relationships

After a horrific car accident in 2006, during the fall of his senior year in high school when he was fast becoming one of the best football players in the state of Alabama, Timothy Alexander was paralyzed from the waist down and confined to a wheelchair. His life could have ended then, but to think that means you don't know Timothy Alexander.Since then, he has refused to take no for an answer. Be it large or small, he has taken on every challenge -- and taken on the most powerful people in Alabama -- when he feels he needs to cure a wrong. That's just the way he's wired. In his wheelchair, he became part of the football program at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. And when the state power brokers decided to shut down the program, it was this young man in a wheelchair who rallied a campus, a city and a state to bring the football program back. He won, because he doesn't know any other way to live. "Ever Faithful, Ever Loyal'' is Timothy Alexander's emotional and inspirational story. It will make you laugh -- and it will make you cry a lot. A rough childhood, a horrible accident, years of excruciating rehabilitation -- all with a smile on his face.He has three degrees now, is an accomplished nationwide speaker and a huge part of the renewed UAB football program. Enjoy Timothy's story, beautifully told along with longtime sports journalist Tim Stephens.

Ever Faithful, Ever Loyal: The Timothy Alexander Story

Stephens, Tim

Alexander, Timothy

It's a murder mystery with a whole lot of mystery. That’s the great setting for the novel “Stacked Case,’’ written by Michigan City, Indiana native Andy Gruse. Wrongfully convicted of murder many years ago, Darnell Whittaker is claiming he was framed. Now that his lawyer has shown up dead -- and not long after an aggressive newspaper reporter also wound up dead -- all hell is about to break loose.Enter private detective Zack Stack, who knows too much and keeps sticking his nose in too many dangerous places. And how this all plays out will keep you on the edge of your seat to the very last page. He knows a lot about what happened all those many years ago, and there are plenty of people who want to make sure what he knows never gets out.“Stacked Case’’ is written by Andy Gruse, a Michigan City, Indiana native who now resides in Neenah, Wisconsin. Andy is married with two children. This is his first novel. PUBLISHER'S NOTE: Remaining inventory are book stores returns, so some books may have been handled previously. All books are in good condition.

Stacked Case: In a run-down industrial city along the lake in Indiana, sometimes you can get away with murder. And sometimes you can't

Gruse, Andy

Dramas & Plays

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Books by Tom Brew Sports