Better Than the Best: Black Athletes Speak, 1920-2007: V. Ethel Willis White Books

In these engaging and forthright interviews, thirteen African American athletes talk about how they endured through pain, loneliness, and rejection to become champions. In sports as diverse as football and fencing, wrestling and track and field, these men and women triumphed over the odds to become better than the best. Their legacy is in their accomplishments and in their determination to continue contributing to the societal transformation their efforts helped make possible.

Arthur Ashe Jr. (tennis)Don Benning (wrestling)Nikke Franke (fencing)Ken Hudson (NBA referee)Jennifer Johnson (Paralympics table tennis)Sam Lacy (baseball and journalism)Alan Page (football)Maurice Smith (martial arts)Mae Faggs Starr (track and field)Wyomia Tyus (track and field)Peter Westbrook (fencing)Mal Whitfield (track and field)Lenny Wilkens (basketball)