Out of print for more than 30 years, now available for the first time as
an eBook, this is the controversial story of John Wooden's first 25
years and first 8 NCAA Championships as UCLA Head Basketball Coach.
Notre Dame Coach Digger Phelps said, "I used this book as an inspiration
for the biggest win of my career when we ended UCLA's all-time 88-game
winning streak in 1974."
Compiled with
more than 40 hours of interviews with Coach Wooden, learn about the man behind the coach.
Click the Book to read
the players telling their stories in their own words. This is the book
that UCLA Athletic Director J.D. Morgan tried to ban.
Click the book to read the first chapter and for
ordering information.
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Deep Water (8/10)
by Tony Medley
The year 2007 might
go down in history as the year that produced the most horrible movies in
Hollywood annals. There have been a few good ones, but there has been a
plethora of abominations.
To the rescue,
however, is the Documentary industry, which a few weeks ago produced
Girl 27, a fascinating portrait of the corruption of MGM and the
City of Los Angeles in the late ‘30s.
Following up right
on its heels is Deep Water, the true story of Donald Crowhurst, a
36-year-old father of four. At best a weekend yachtsman, in 1968
Crowhurst found himself at the head of a failing business. He came
across an announcement in the Sunday Times of the first non-stop, single
handed round-the-world sailing race, with two prizes of £5,000, one to
the first man home and the other to the fastest time.
As if it were
scripted for tragedy, to make matters worse, Crowhurst gets financing
for the construction of his trimaran from a local businessman, Stanley
Best, who forces Crowhurst to agree to reimburse Best for the cost of
building the boat if Crowhurst doesn’t finish the race. The result is
that Crowhurst faces financial ruin if he doesn’t finish.
Crowhurst is going
for the fastest time, but there is a time limit on departures, October
31, due to bad weather below 40° South. All the other competitors have
long since left but delivery of Crowhurst’s boat is delayed by
construction problems. When he finally does leave, in the nick of time,
the boat isn’t ready.
This and everything
else is shown through archival films and personal interviews with Donald
himself, Donald’s wife, Clare, one of his sons, Simon, and a few other
people who were intimately involved in the project.
Directors Louise
Osmond and Jerry Rothwell have used Crowhurst’s original 16mm films and
tape recordings to reconstruct his tragic journey, including the
Byzantine scheme he concocts to try to win the prize without actually
doing the deed. All the time there are flashes to his loving wife and
son, and their comments on what he was doing and how she felt about it.
Clare is shown commenting at the time and now, almost 40 years later.
There are some shots of Crowhurst on his boat that were recovered when
the boat was recovered, but not as many as you might have seen had you
seen the similar tales of single yachtsmen tackling the sea alone on The
Discovery Channel and such. Even so, it’s a compelling portrait of a man
who is terminally befuddled and ends up abandoning his wife and children
because he can’t face the music.
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