Books by Bob Hammel

For 30 years, celebrated sports journalist Bob Hammel has reported on a variety of games and athletes-the Olympics, Pan American Games, 23 NCAA Final Fours, Major League Baseball playoffs and World Series, college football bowl games, Muhammad Ali's last championship victory, and dozens of Indiana high school basketball Final Fours. In all that time, however, he's never written much about himself-ntil now.In Last Press Bus Out of Middletown, Bob tells the story of how an Indiana sports journalist without a college degree, armed with talent, gumption, and a whole lot of inspiration and advice from those he worked with, earned national attention while still working for his small-town newspaper. From Bob Knight to Mark Spitz, from the horrors of the Munich Olympics tragedy to the Hoosiers' exhilarating clinching of the NCAA basketball championship, Bob Hammel's journey has been unforgettable. Even in his 80s, it's a dream that still has him smiling and storytelling.

A Season on the BrinkΓÇöa book about Bob KnightΓÇöis the bestselling sports book of all time. Here is the only book that can surpass itΓÇöa book about Bob Knight by Bob Knight.In college basketball, the name Bob Knight is synonymous with greatness and winning. Just take a glance at the Knight file. The numbers and achievements that prove what he has done, not only for Indiana University, but for the game itself, are there in black and white. In this riveting memoir, Coach Knight talks about his extraordinary basketball career, addressing both the public triumphs and the highly publicized controversies, often providing his side of the story for the first time.His story begins with the most public and painful event in his life: his front-page dismissal as Indiana University''s basketball coach after 29 years in that position. But the story of Bob Knight is so much more than that. Above all, it is a story about one man''s tremendous success. How did he become the head coach at Army at the age of 24? How did he build a dynasty at Indiana? What principles has he lived byΓÇöand coached byΓÇöthat kept the best players coming to Indiana to play for him?Knight: My Story reveals a very personal and until now unseen part of Bob Knight''s life. His legions of fans will all line up to learn more about him.Bob Knight has shown time and again that he is the most well-known coach in college basketball:ΓÇó He has won over 700 games (618 with Indiana University)ΓÇó He has been National Coach of the Year four timesΓÇó He coached ten Big Ten MVPsΓÇó He is the only coach who can boast an NCAA Championship, NIT Title, the Pan American Gold, and the Olympic gold medalΓÇó He was inducted into the National Basketball Hall of Fame in 1991ΓÇó He graduated 98% of his playersΓÇó He retired with a remarkable .709 winning record

Working from the spare bedroom of his Bloomington, Indiana, apartment in 1963 with a $1,500 investment, Bill Cook began to construct the wire guides, needles, and catheters that would become the foundation of the global multi-billion-dollar Cook Group. This story has been eloquently told in Bob Hammel's The Bill Cook Story: Ready, Fire, Aim. The sequel to this story explores Cook's final years, when the restoration work he championed, epitomized by the spectacular West Baden Hotel, became a driving force in his life and a source of great satisfaction and pleasure. Hammel takes us behind the scenes on the important restorations of Beck's Mill, a Methodist Church that is now Indiana Landmarks Center, and the remarkable commitment of Cook toward reviving his home town, Canton, Illinois. At the heart of the book are the events of Bill Cook's final days and his death in April, 2011, but this solemn chronicle soon gives way to fond recollections of Cook's extraordinary life and legacy, and to the continuing saga of the company he founded as it looks toward a bright future.

A biography of the entrepreneur who, working from the spare bedroom of his Bloomington, Indiana, apartment in 1963 with a $1,500 investment, began to construct the wire guides, needles, and catheters that would become the foundation of the global multi-billion-dollar Cook Group.