Built airplane. Flew airplane. Crashed airplane. Met God. all set. Jim Bruton knows life. His past is marked by relentless curiosity and remarkable achievement. He was an African wilderness guide, Emmy Award-winning wildlife film director, aviator, adventurer, inventor of the satellite videophone, NBC News Middle East war correspondent, a husband, and a father. His passion - building and flying WWI-era aircraft - led him where he never imagined he'd go: a horrific crash that left him for dead. For one week, Jim Bruton hovered in the place that is not life and not death, a place he came to know as the In Between. He came back, and this is his report of what he has seen. Bruton takes us along for a by turns hair-raising and ultimately triumphant story of his coming to grips with what has happened to him. As he heals, his experiences in the In Between become more and more pressing. They download into his mind like rushing movie stills. His life of action turns internal. He uses all he knows - from quantum physics and battlefield memories to scenes of childhood and familial love - for a new deeper understanding of what it means to live. Jim Bruton, the man who fell from the sky, is not the same man who flew into it. And if you walk some of his journey with him, neither are you. About the author: Jim Bruton has lived a life many people dream of but few experience. As a little boy, he lived within an active imagination, including a love for wildlife filming, international travel, science fiction, and vintage aviation. In adulthood, he checked every one of those off his list with internationally recognized achievements, an Emmy for a National Geographic wildlife film, traveling to all seven continents, the Titanic, the North Pole, and Mt. Everest, shrinking a satellite TV truck into a backpack, and transmitting live video from places before impossible and building and flying historical reproduction aircraft from World War I and the early 1930s. For many, any one of these adventures resulted in a single lifetime achievement. For Jim, it was just the beginning, climaxing with the crash of his last aircraft and the near-death experience that followed.
Since the creation of the Minnesota Vikings in 1960, this football team has been more than just another franchise. To the fans who love them, and the haters who can’t help but admire them, the Minnesota Vikings are an unstoppable force in the NFL. In this heartwarming and inspirational book, Jim Bruton takes a look beyond the game and examines what the Minnesota Vikings have meant to fans and communities across the country. Covering the Vikings from every angle, A Tradition of Purple is an up-close look at the players, coaches, charities, Hall of Famers, and people behind the scenes who have come to define what it means to be Purple over the last fifty years. Readers will get an inside look at such famous Vikings as Norm Van Brocklin, Bud Grant, Fran Tarkenton, Carl Eller, Alan Page, Jim Marshall, Chris Doleman, Adrian Peterson, and more. This is not a book only about football, this is also a book about life, community, and the team that inspires a legacy.
Minnesota sports legend Bud Grant tells the story of his remarkable life as a player and coach in this rich firsthand account. From surviving polio in childhood to a shining college sports career and playing both basketball and football professionally, and from coaching a championship-winning Canadian team to leading the Minnesota Vikings to four Super Bowls, Grant shares his personal perspective for the first time in this autobiography with entertaining detail and refreshing openness. The book recounts his experiences with star players and gives the inside story on Grant’s controversial retirement in 1983 and his return to the sideline in 1985. Minnesota sports lovers will also enjoy Grant’s reflection on his own idiosyncrasies, including his famous love of cold-weather football and banning of sideline heaters, and his postretirement life spent devoted to environmental protection and being an outdoorsman.
Out of the hundreds of players that have toiled at Metropolitan Stadium and the Metrodome, this collection celebrates only the 50 greatest—the Minnesota Vikings who stood head and shoulders above their peers. Interviews with superstars such as Ron Yary, Paul Krause, Fran Tarkenton, Randy Moss, Adrian Peterson, and more are featured along with authentic accounts from their teammates and coaches. The book explores each competitor’s beginnings as well as his greatest moments on the gridiron, concluding with what he has been doing since his playing days ended. Featuring a compilation of action photographs in addition to personal images, this reflection reveals the never-before-told stories of these elite heroes, making it the perfect companion for devoted Vikings fans of all ages.
Beloved sportscaster Mark Rosen presents a handpicked collection of fascinating sports memories from a range of athletes, journalists, and other prominent Minnesota voices. The Minnesota sports universe is filled with star players, memorable moments (good and bad), and controversial decisions that have long sparked debate and discussion among fans. In Mark Rosen’s Book of Minnesota Sports Lists, local broadcasting legend Mark Rosen and co-author Jim Bruton present their own expert opinions and poll the biggest names from Minnesota and beyond to resolve those debates and provide the ultimate rankings of every sports question facing the Minnesota fan. No aspect of sport in Minnesota is left unturned, and Rosen includes the good, the bad, and the ugly from all levels of play: professional, college, high school, amateur, and recreational. Spanning the gamut of statewide sports—mascots, uniforms, sportswriters, movies and TV, sporting sites, and more—Rosen and Bruton explore the greatest on-field accomplishments, the biggest front-office gaffes, the forgotten heroes, the blown calls, and the scandals. Drawing from timeless Minnesota sports figures that include coaching legends, top athletes, journalists, and prominent public figures, the more than 100 lists included in Mark Rosen’s Book of Minnesota Sports Lists will fascinate, infuriate, and invigorate Minnesota sports fans of all ages and passions.
Mark Rosen was hired by WCCO television at the age of 17 and has been a part of the ’CCO team for more than four decades. During that time he has become one of the most popular and respected sports media celebrities in the Twin Cities, state, and region—a true icon on the Minnesota sports scene. In this first-person account, Rosen shares his experiences working with athletes, journalists, and a variety of local notables. He describes the most memorable moments from the playing fields and behind the scenes, and he offers insights gleaned from four decades in the business. Beyond being a major local TV and radio personality, Rosen is very active in the community and has established a reputation for his honesty, integrity, and credibility. The stories and anecdotes contained in this book offer a rare inside look into the worlds of sports, media, and even politics from the perspective of someone who is a legend in his field.
When University of Minnesota football coach Jerry Kill stepped down due to health concerns in October 2015, he said, "I can't do what I love doing anymore." What Kill loved doing, and did remarkably well, was turn around college football programs. In this book Coach Kill shares for the first time his inspirational, thought-provoking, and heartwarming story, from his early years playing for and working under Dennis Franchione to guiding the Gophers to a New Year's Day bowl game and being named Big Ten Coach of the Year. Kill describes his dedication to his players, how he drove them, and made them into disciplined and inspired football players. Readers will also learn about Kill's work to bring awareness to cancer and epilepsy.
The personal account of a promising high school hockey player who survived brain surgery and months of rehabilitation, infections, and temporary paralysis An aspiring hockey star at Minnesota's elite Hill-Murray School, 15-year-old Duke Pieper faced a brain surgery with a five percent survival rate. In I'm Alive: Courage, Hope, and a Miracle, Duke recounts his personal and courageous war against the brain lesion that threatened his life and his fearless battle to restore normalcy to his life. Battling through months of paralysis, multiple surgeries, massive nerve damage, and more, Duke had to relearn how to breathe, swallow, walk, talk, and live again. This inspiring young man shares how his strength and adaptation to his disabilities inspired him to build a platform to assist others who have succumbed to monumental loss. I'm Alive is a heartwarming, wonderful acclaim to a young man who never gave up, and who has become an iconic inspiration to all who know him.
This heart-warming and inspirational look at the University of Minnesota Golden Gophers football program encompasses the positives and great moments of a storied and historic program that has held a major place in the hearts of Minnesota fans for over 100 years. Author Jim Bruton, a former Gopher player, recalls the history, the traditions, the rivalries, the players and coaches, the great games of the past, the national championship teams, the Hall of Famers, the names behind the scenes, and the excitement over the future as the new on-campus TCF Stadium gets set to open in 2009. Told from a fans perspective Gopher Glory: The Pride of the Maroon and Gold is a must have for all Golden Gopher faithful.
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