Stories of Forgotten Sports Idols and Other Ordinary Mortals

This collection consists of nine sports fiction stories featuring sports stars from bygone eras. These 20th century snapshots involve humanizing encounters with teammates, fans, and other ordinary people. Their narratives focus on mentors, friendships, and the connection of sports to both the aspirational ideals and discriminatory contradictions of American culture.

This is a collection of stories for sports fans and lovers of historical fiction. The stories feature different sports idols from the twentieth century, like Babe Ruth, Jim Thorpe, Jack Dempsey, and Mickey Mantle. Others showcased in these stories - Smoky Joe Wood, Tony Lazzeri, Pancho Gonzáles, and Larry Doby - are no longer household names, but continue to be esteemed by aficionados of their sports and eras of play. Some of the book's erstwhile stars - John Meyers, Charles Bender, George Von Elm, and Carl Mulleneaux - are scarcely remembered by anyone at all. In their day, all were deliriously cheered and idolized by American sports fans. While the book's fictional stories include descriptions of games, contests, or sporting events, they also humanize their characters to appeal to literate readers of every kind, even those who are not knowledgeable sports fans. The stories' narratives focus primarily on mentors, friendships, and the connection of sports to both the aspirational ideals and discriminatory contradictions of American culture.

Gordon Shepherd is professor emeritus at the University of Central Arkansas. He obtained his undergraduate degree from the University of Utah and his master's degree and PhD in sociology from the State University of New York at Stony Brook. With his brother Gary, he has co-authored a variety of academic books published by the University of Utah Press, University of Illinois Press, Penn State University Press, Palgrave Macmillan, and Greg Kofford Books. In retirement, he has turned from teaching and academic publishing to memoir and historical fiction. He is the co-author of, Growing Up in the City of the Saints: Glimpses of America in Salt Lake City During the 1950s and 60s.