Anderson, Halberstam books top Christmas list

Just five shopping days left until Christmas. If you’re like I am, you’ll leave your shopping until the last minute. This holiday season, numerous sports books top my personal wish list. Now, Santa Claus may be coming to town soon, but this year, I’m hoping his bag of goodies is filled with some of the following titles.

Noted Maine author Will Anderson has quite a hit on his hands with the recently released “Here’s To Hoops: 100 Years of Maine High School Hoop Highlights.”

Anderson, no stranger to Maine readers with such popular titles as “Was Baseball Really Invented in Maine?” and “The Lost New England Nine” to his credit, has put together a real winner here.

Hoop aficionados, especially high school basketball fans and historians, will really appreciate the author’s research and the copious detail he puts into the manuscript.

Illustrated with more than 100 photographs, some of the so-called period variety, “Here’s To Hoops” is sure to brighten any sports fan’s day on Christmas morning. The hardback edition comes with a handsome dust jacket and an introduction by Maine’s own Cindy Blodgett.

Snatch this one up quickly, Santa. It will be a popular addition to any sports library.

Add Pulitzer Prize-winning author David Halberstam’s latest book, “The Education of a Coach,” to your shopping list for it is, in a nutshell, great writing.

The story of New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick ranks right up there with other Halberstam classics such as “The Summer of ’49” and “The Teammates.”

This time out the celebrated author tells the story of, arguably, one of the best coaches in professional football history. Influenced heavily by his famous coaching father, former Navy coach Steve Belichick, Bill Belichick has established a reputation of his own with attention to detail and a notorious knack for making the right call at the right time.

I am a fan of David Halberstam. His “Summer of ’49” was the best sports book I’ve ever read. When this author writes a book, he turns it into a history lesson of the time period involved, the intricate details of the characters, and the influence the surroundings have on the main character, in this case, the quiet, clever coach.

College football fans will revel in the stylings of author Allen Barra in his latest book, “The Last Coach: A Life of Paul ‘Bear’ Bryant.” In a recent endorsement, noted HBO sports journalist Bob Costas perhaps said it best when he deemed this biography a must-read. “Few people approach sports with the intellectual vigor of Allen Barra.”

I’d have to say I agree with the likeable Costas.

What makes this biography so special is the author’s capacity to bring the larger-than-life coach back to life – Bryant died in 1983.

Colorful, classy, and always outspoken, this so-called country boy took his Alabama Crimson Tide football squad to an unmatched six national championships. But Bear Bryant was more than a coach to those who knew him best. He was a symbol of the values he taught on the field.

Barra is best known for such sports treatises as “Clearing the Bases: The Greatest Baseball Debates of the Last Century,” and “Big Play: Barra on Football.”

Readers will not be disappointed in this one.

Okay, Santa. There’s my list. I’ll keep the home fires burning, and if you accommodate my wishes and provide the aforementioned titles under my tree, I’ll leave my Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer DVD out with the milk and cookies for the whole gang to watch.

NEWS columnist Ron Brown, a retired high school basketball coach, can be reached at bdnsports@bangordailynews.net