Don Yaeger

Don Yaeger: Books & Videos

As Don often says during his speeches, "Though these characteristics are culled from some of the greatest winners in sports, not a single one requires you to be able to touch your toes! These iconic figures in sports have provided a classroom for us to learn about their pursuit of Greatness. You don't have to be good at sports - heck, you don't even have to like sports - to benefit from their lessons."

It is the strong belief of those who Don has talked to over the years that greatness is available to all of us. Not in the same way or on the same field, mind you. But we all have the capacity to achieve greatness if we'll give the same dedication to these characteristics as do the winners presented and interviewed in GREATNESS.
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It's Not About the Truth: The Untold Story of the Duke Lacrosse Rape Case and the Lives It Shattered

In the early hours of March 14, 2006, a group of Duke University lacrosse players got in an altercation with two strippers they hired for a party; afterwards, one of the strippers placed a call to 911 that set off a campus-shaking rape case that would captivate the national media. A number of parties, including District Attorney Mike Nifong, lined up to characterize the defendants as "a bunch of hooligans" before charges against the three indicted players were finally dropped, half a year later. In this riveting book, sports author Yaeger (Turning the Tide) and Mike Pressler, then-head coach of the Duke lacrosse team, present a fast-moving account of the 13 months that tore apart the university and the town. Looking at all aspects of the case, including Durham's troubled racial history and profiles of the Nifong and Duke president Richard Brodhead, Pressler and Yaeger find plenty of blame to spread around-including the "self-perpetuating monster" of media coverage, the university administration that took "some of the worst actions...against the Duke lacrosse team"-but Pressler, the tale's sacrificial lamb, avoids a bitter or accusatory stance. Instead he adds color and insight to Yaeger's rigorous, efficient investigation; for anyone who got caught up in the story, this is a must-read.

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New York Times bestselling author Don Yaeger tells the electrifying story of the game that broke down the last racial division in college football.

The first integrated football game in Alabama was played on Crimson soil in September 1970, and the two teams that met represented two distinct faces of college football: legendary Alabama coach Bear Bryant's Tide was the all-white national powerhouse in the SEC; and the USC Trojans, coached by John McKay, featured an all-black starting backfield that reflected the social changes that were sweeping the nation. Bestselling author Don Yaeger, teamed with USC fullback Sam Cunningham and defensive captain John Papadakis, tells for the first time the complete story of what transpired during this historic game.

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