Great Sporting Biographies are a wonderful thing, and certainly something treasured by The Gurgler.
Getting the behind the scenes and real stories of sporting superstars is one of our favourite hobbies.
But some Great Sporting Biographies don’t appear that interesting on the surface. Some make you wonder who is really that interested.
We bring this up after the Jonathan Trott Autobiography was released recently. People do love a Cricket biography, and his story has interesting parts, but it has a real $5 out the front of the newsagent (or 4GBP at WH Smith in UK) in two months feel about it.
Maybe we are just ignorant to a great story, or maybe a story about any English cricketer just doesn’t get us excited. Probably both.
Closer to the truth is we’re are more interested in the lesser known and loved sporting personalities.
So, just because you asked is our Top 6 of Great Sporting Biographies That Are Yet To Be Written.
LEROY LOGGINS
With the return of the Brisbane Bullets to the NBL interest has never been higher in the Bullets. And there is no Bullet more famous than Leapin’ Leroy Loggins. Multiple title winner, MVP, and all round great guy are enough reasons for this story to be interesting enough for print. Add in the story of the journey from the US, and you have at least 300 pages of gold.
Apparently a book was produced by reports from the internet and Wikipedia, but Leapin Leroy’s story needs to be told in full and by the man himself to become one of the great sporting biographies.
ADEBAYO AKINFENWA
The big man known as The Beast was told he was too big to play football. Complete rubbish. Beyond the obvious story of a soccer/football player who looks like a rugby/football players is a man who has plenty to say, and has made a career out of proving people wrong. He is also the Guinness Book of World Records Strongest Football Player in the World.
He’s played nearly 500 games for 15 clubs in the lower tiers of UK Football, and possibly his finest moment came last season as he was instrumental in securing AFC Wimbledon’s promotion to the third division. A journeyman in Football, but one of the great sporting biographies for UK Football awaits.
PETER TAYLOR
Why have a standard story about a standard cricket career?
Peter Taylor was rumoured to be selected after a stuff up with contacting the wrong Taylor cricketer. Now he could clear up that story. Plus expand on the origins and technical aspects of one cricket’s most infamous run ups.
The Peter Taylor story would only need to include these two parts of the story. But in real depth for cricket fans.
PEDRO CHAVES + A HISTORY OF THE DNPQ
If you don’t Pedro Chaves, he was a F1 entrant in 1991. Why an entrant and not a driver? Well, he not only failed to qualify for any of his 13 entries in 1991, but he failed to pre-qualify for any of those.
Back in his day close to 40 drivers attempted to qualify for the race which required an extra session on Friday morning to reduce the field to 30 for the rest of the weekend. Pedro Chaves actually failed to finish higher than second last in any of these attempts, and unofficially has the worst record in F1.
But the Pedro Chaves story might be a little thin, so why not a create one of the great sporting biographies for F1 with a compendium of all the drivers who featured in the short history of pre-qualifying. Martin Brundle was actually involved in 1989 so there’s the starting point, and probably the author.
THREE GREAT YEARS OF THE NORTHERN EAGLES
With still many questions to be answered, like why it didn’t work, and why North Sydney were the ones to disappear and Manly resumed their NRL status, it is time to examine one of Rugby League worst efforts.
Often too quickly swept under the rug, surely a sporting journalist with a keen eye for controversy and a good story will get some juice out of the failed joint merger.
WILLIE MINOGA
The very few regular readers of The Gurgler will not be surprised by this one.
Our 2015 Person of the Year’s story would be an interesting one. But it maybe too early with the chapters on him breaking through to be an NRL superstar yet to be written.
