Tales from the Jayhawks' Hardwood

by Mark Stallard

Follow the basketball powerhouse Kansas Jayhawks from the court to the lockerroom and off the court in Tales from the Jayhawks' Hardwood. It is a lighthearted look at th 100-year -old KU basketball program, a perennial NCAA tournament power and one of the most successful college programs ever. Hear about Larry Brown, Jacque Vaughn, Paul Pierce, Danny Manning, and current Jayhawk stars Jeff Boschee, Kirk Hinrich, and Drew Gooden. From Allen Fieldhouse, to Late Night with Roy Williams, and from the 1988 National Championship team to their run to the 2002 Final Four, Mark Stallard brings you the unknown, funny, and always entertaining stories of KU Basketball folklore.

200 pages, Hardcover

Published November 4, 2002

About the author

When he decided to be a writer, it was sports that pulled and pushed at Mark Stallard, and eventually, his writing. A native Kansan, Stallard was born in Topeka, but his father's nomadic, wandering blood kept the family on the move, and by the time he was seven, Stallard had lived in five different Kansas communities. Lessons learned--make friends easily, look back with a sense of loss, move forward.

After attending high school in Ralston, Nebraska, he returned to the Sunflower state to study Education and English at the University of Kansas. Stallard also studied journalism at Wichita State University, winning the school's top Journalism Merit Award for magazine writing. Stallard eventually covered sports for the Wichita Eagle, as well as writing for other magazines. In 1993, he received a Master of Liberal Arts from Baker University.

After writing and submitting proposals for several different book ideas, Stallard landed his first book deal almost by accident, and Kansas Royals Facts & Trivia was published--although just barely--in 1999. Since then, Stallard has written and published more than 10 other books, including Kansas City Chiefs Encyclopedia (third edition, August, 2013), AFL to Arrowhead, Wildcats to Powercats, Tales from the Jayhawks Gridiron, Then Landry Said to Staubach...., and Otis Taylor: Football from My Own Heart.

The third edition of Tales from the Jayhawks Locker Room was published in 2012 and received a high-praise, 5-star review on Amazon: "Great book! If you're a Jayhawks fan, I guarantee you'll enjoy this. Very well written and an easy read, I finished it in one day. Highly recommended."

SUPER CHIEFS and Legacy of Blue are Stallard's most recent books.