Mount Vernon, NY Sports Champions Heroes & Legends

"Mount Vernon, NY Sports Champions Heroes & Legends" represents the most comprehensive attempt ever to tell the story of the city’s finest men and women athletes, coaches, sports authors, and lawyers. Author Bruce Fabricant’s painstaking research, interviews and words will give you a closer inside look than you’ve ever had before at Mount Vernon’s sports heroes.The 600-plus-page book is packed with nostalgia, action, revelations and the facts and figures of the extraordinary 100 year long history of Mount Vernon sports.Fabricant returned to the city of his childhood to capture the lives and exploits of 79 diverse individuals who achieved athletic success in college or in the pros. "Mount Vernon, NY Sports Champions Heroes & Legends" delivers a riveting and refreshing look at Mount Vernon’s best.Many of the heroes such as Gus Williams, Ben Gordon, Rodney McCray, Ken Singleton and Ralph Branca are well known. Others are not.Find out:What was so cool about Vernon Hagenbuckle — beyond his name?How Bill Collins set track & field records in his sixties.How Johnny Farrell beat the legendary Bobby Jones for the 1928 U.S. Golf Championship.About Katryna Gaither whose many Notre Dame basketball records still stand.How Ed Williams’ play in an historic Yankee Stadium football game was a turning point in the crusade for racial justice.Why Gus Williams sat out an entire NBA season early in his career.About author W.C. Heinz, pioneer of the long-form sports story, who created a style of writing that influenced generations of journalists.How coaching greats Bob Cimmino, Carol Schachner-Leib, Henry Littlefield, Dave Rider, Walter Hall, and Harry “Dad” White produced championship teams.BRUCE FABRICANT is the author of several books about Mount Vernon, including Remembering Mount Vernon, NY The Place We Called Home. He was an executive vice president at Grey Advertising’s public relations firm before opening his own firm, Fabricant Public Relations, in 1991. He now lives in Somers, NY.