10.29.2017   Two books celebrate Texas sports every day

Two new books offer sports fans a Texas sports story a day chronologically throughout the year. Both books, similar in their approach but offering different stories for most days, came out within weeks of each other.

Lone Star Sports Legends: On This Day in History by Ryan Sprayberry (The History Press, $21.99 paperback) opens with the first Cotton Bowl game on Jan. 1, 1937, and concludes with the Dallas-Green Bay “Ice Bowl” game on Dec. 31, 1967. Sprayberry does not offer a Feb. 29 leap-year item.

Texas Sports: Unforgettable Stories for Every Day of the Year by Chad S. Conine (University of Texas Press, $19.95 paperback) starts off with Texas winning the Cotton Bowl and the national championship on Jan. 1, 1964, and ends with TCU defeating Southern Cal in the Sun Bowl on Dec. 31, 1998. Conine does include an entry for Feb. 29.

Each book has its plusses and minuses. Lone Star Sports Legends includes more photographs as well as a headline for each entry. Texas Sports doesn’t include headlines, just the date of the event, which isn’t as reader-friendly, in my opinion. It has some photographs, but not as many as the other book.

However, Texas Sports does include an index and a list of sources of information, which are helpful.

On a few dates, the two authors selected the same event to write about — for example, Aug. 4, 1993, when Chicago White Sox batter Robin Ventura charged the pitching mound after being hit by a Nolan Ryan fastball. Conine tells the story in more depth and even includes the Associated Press photo of Ryan, age 46, grabbing Ventura in a headlock and punching him.

Both authors picked the same event to recognize on Jan. 16 — the Dallas Cowboys winning their first Super Bowl in 1972. Sprayberry’s entry includes a picture of the souvenir pennant from the game.

You can’t go wrong with either book, and either one (or both) would make a good gift for the die-hard sports fans on your holiday list.

* * * * *

Glenn Dromgoole’s latest book is West Texas StoriesContact him at g.dromgoole@suddenlink.net.

>> Read his past Texas Reads columns in Lone Star Literary Life here.