The Best of Jim Coleman: Fifty Years of Canadian Sport from the Man Who Saw It All

Jim Coleman saw the Victoria Cougars win the Stanley Cup in 1925 and the Team Canada-Russia hockey showdown in 1972. He saw Lou Gehrig and Babe Ruth slam homers in training camp and was there when Jack Dempsey KO'd Jack Sharkey. He interviewed a young man named Jackie Robinson who wistfully dreamed of the day when black men might play in baseball's major leagues. And he won his greatest fame as a chronicler of the characters of horse racing's shedrow--Johnny Needle-Nose, the Blow-Back Kid, Knifey, the Good Kid, Sir Benjamin Stockley and many more.

From 1939 until his death at 89, Coleman covered every sport imaginable with eloquence, wit and an unfailing love that earned him a position as Canada's first nationally syndicated sports columnist, membership in five Canadian Sports Halls of Fame, the Order of Canada and status as the country's most beloved sportswriter. Sports columnist, Jim Taylor discovered Coleman's columns in an old filing cabinet after Coleman's death and assembled the finest pieces. The result is The Best of Jim Coleman, an insightful, fall-down funny, lump-in-the-throat history from the man who was there to witness the great moments and characters of North American sport.
 
"A must-read for all sports fans is a collection of columns by Jim Coleman, who spent more than 50 years at the absolute top of this sportswriting dodge in Canada."
- John Short, Edmonton Journal
–Praise from the Edmonton Journal

"From Coleman's 2,500 columns, Taylor has selected stories about King Clancy, and Robinson before baseball's integration, about war ending and fish tales and bear tales and discovering, in 1943, that 1908 heavyweight champion Jack Johnson was on display in a freak show. Coleman's columns are a Canterbury Tales of sports as he introduces readers to colourful, odd characters, themselves often the storytellers in his columns."
- Iain MacIntyre, Vancouver Sun
–Praise from the Vancouver Sun

"A brilliant collection of Coleman's work, his wit and his humour."
—Stephen Knight, Quill & Quire

"Coleman covered them all - from Canadian pro football to Canadian-Russian hockey exploits - that's evident"
"He writes of both four and two-legged racing characters with an insider's appreciation, wonder and wit."
"Many of his tales are not only tale, they're also high, wide and handsome. This is affectionate, entertaining sports nostalgia..."
—Stewart Brown, The Hamilton Spectator
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Harbour Publishing
ISBN: 9781550173598
Hardback
6.0 in x 9.0 in - 286 pp
Publication Date: 12/08/2005
BISAC Subject(s): SPO000000-SPORTS & RECREATION / General