From 1986 through 1999, reporter Randy Turner gave southwest Missouri readers a different look at sports through his Sports Talk columns. The columns not only covered the games, but offered a revealing look at the athletes who played in those games. Sports Talk received numerous state, regional, and national awards, with Turner being put in a class with current Sports Illustrated staffer and former Kansas City Star reporter Joe Posnanski and longtime St. Louis Post-Dispatch columnist Bernie Miklasz. Among the stories featured in this volume:-A football coach meets an eight-year-old girl who is permanently in a wheelchair because of a drunk driver-A cheerleader talks about her aunt, Nancy Cruzan, and the right-to-die case that went to the U. S. Supreme Court-A mother watches her daughter play her final high school volleyball match-The high school coach who murdered his wife and then committed suicide-A football legend returns to his home town after 25 years to be honored-The baseball great who fanned five Hall-of-Famers in a row-The high school girl who received her first kiss in front of 1,500 fans-A high school basketball player teaches Haitian children how to play the sport-A town tries to cope with the suicide of a football player-He played in one of the greatest Cotton Bowl games of all time, but this legend is stirred more by a high school rivalry-Family and friends help a basketball player whose house burns to the ground-On the day she was expected to lead her team to the state volleyball championship, funeral services are held for a star athlete-After an ACLU threat bans a pre-game prayer over the public address system, a community gathers in the end zone to pray-A football player overcomes a near-fatal accident to receive a college scholarship.The Best of Sports Talk relives the joys and sorrows of sports and of the people who participate in them.
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