The Story Behind the Glory: Winning Quotes from Sports Greats on the Game of Life

Bill Cairo
Turano-Zimmerman Publishing (2008)
ISBN 9780977760534
Reviewed by Nikki Pringle for Reader Views (6/08)


If you are a sports fan, and even if you aren’t, I’ll bet you’ve  heard the phrases “It ain’t over ‘til it’s over,” “Winning isn’t everything, it’s the only thing” and “It’s not whether you win or lose, it’s how you play the game.” Bill Cairo’s book, “The Story Behind the Glory,” takes ten famous quotes from sports history and expands on them. This book gives readers more than just a quote. It also provides the background story by delving into the personal and professional lives of the men behind these famous lines.

While you may be familiar with most, if not all, of the phrases Cairo reviews in his book and you may even know who said all of them, you probably do not know what experiences in the sportsman’s life led him to saying the words. Cairo gives readers a succinct look at the lives of sports greats such as Yogi Berra, Muhammad Ali, John Wooden, and Arthur Ashe, as well as those with less name recognition but no less importance to the sports world such as Fred Shero and Grantland Rice. Each man’s story is covered in about 10 pages, which the author uses to expand on the life experiences of these men, including highlights relevant to the quote they are known for without getting into information that is not relevant to the quote. He includes the stories, both good and bad, about the men that give the reader a better sense of what led to the utterance of these now famous words.

“The Story Behind the Glory” is geared towards those with an interest in sports, but would be enjoyable for non-sports fans as well. While it gives sports buff’s some historical perspective and more stats they can quote while talking with their like-minded friends, it is also interesting enough to keep the attention of those readers not as interested in the sports world. This book is most well-suited for sports fans and readers of the motivational genre.

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