For more information:
Frank R. Scatoni
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"No Kill Date"

Venture Literary Sells Narrative of Iconic Basketball Coach Larry Brown to ESPN Books

On January 15, 2006, Greg Dinkin of Venture Literary sold the North American rights to Art Chansky’s Vagabond: The Inside Story of Larry Brown’s Nomadic Journey through Basketball History to Michael Solomon at ESPN Books.

Love him or loathe him—and there are many in both camps—Larry Brown is one of the most fascinating characters in the history of sports. And while books by and about basketball coaches (such as Bobby Knight, Pat Riley, Phil Jackson, Bob Hurley, John Wooden, and Rick Pitino) have been best-sellers, it’s shocking that there has never been a book written about arguably the greatest—if not most polarizing--living basketball coach.

In Vagabond, author of Blue Blood Art Chansky, who’s known Brown for nearly forty years, uses the story of Brown’s tumultuous return to New York City to tell the developing, fascinating story that is Larry Brown. He takes readers from Brown’s days on the schoolyard in Long Beach when little Billy Crystal idolized him, through his controversial, fight-marred playing career at Carolina, to his days in Denver, Los Angeles, Kansas, San Antonio, New Jersey, Philly, Detroit, and back home to his first love, New York, where he was unceremoniously welcome.

Though Brown is the only coach ever to win an NCAA championship and an NBA championship, his most difficult and personally trying challenge yet was the failed attempt to bring the basement-dwelling, under-achieving, cap-exceeding Knicks back to respectability. Brown had always found a way to win. Then, he left town. With Brown there are recurrent patterns, and as his behavior starts to repeat itself, it provides the perfect opportunity to recount the history and discover the more meaningful story of the enigmatic coach.

Art Chansky is the author of three books, including The Dean’s List (Warner Books), to which Michael Jordan contributed the foreword. His most recent book, Blue Blood: Duke-Carolina: Inside the Most Storied Rivalry in College Basketball, was published by Thomas Dunne Books to wide critical and commercial acclaim. Chansky’s work has appeared in Sports Illustrated, Basketball Times, the official NCAA Tournament program, and alumni magazines of both Duke and UNC. Additionally, he has appeared on ESPN and CNN/SI.

To learn more about Venture Literary, visit: www.ventureliterary.com.
To learn more about ESPN Books, visit: www.espnbooks.com.