Author: Don Yaeger

There’s an old saying in sports writing that you should never meet your hero because they’ll always let you down. And in our current world of sports scandals and tarnished legacies, that assumption seems even more real. But it’s far from the truth. A few years ago I had the incredible opportunity to work on a book with Walter Payton of the Chicago Bears as he was dying from autoimmune liver disease. Though I’d admired...

The 2015 MLB Playoffs are a battle of legacies, and one of the biggest match-ups so far involved the Chicago Cubs—a club seeking to escape a history of post-season disappointment—and the historically successful St. Louis Cardinals. The Cubs won the series against its heated rival and are on to the National League Championship Series. But away from the bright lights and TV cameras, Cal Ripken, Jr., former Baltimore...

Simon Keith is, literally, a walking miracle. In 1989, the former soccer standout for at UNLV, made history by becoming the first heart transplant recipient to play professional sports. Keith was the number one pick in that year’s professional indoor soccer draft and, at the time, many celebrated him for the distinction of his role as a heart recipient playing his sport at such a high level. Keith ignored the media...

Cancer sucks. These were the words inscribed on wristbands and given away by 18-year-old Adam, who had been diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). Adam and his cousin had ordered the bright orange wristbands online because it summed up, in two words, how Adam was feeling after learning what he faced. For many years ALL had been a diagnosis that came without much hope, but thanks to the efforts of St. Jude...

During the opening week of college football, fans are always on the lookout for the perfect upset. And if this Saturday’s game between top-10 ranked Michigan State and little-known Western Michigan University doesn’t go as planned for the Spartans (or the bookies!) there will be a reason…and his name is P.J. Fleck. Fleck, the youngest head coach in the Football Bowl Subdivision, has transformed the WMU Broncos by promoting...

Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker James Harrison is not a guy that I would normally offer as a model for life lessons. Sure he became an NFL starter after going undrafted, proving his desire and work-ethic, but he’s also generated more than his share of controversy through his career. And some of his off-the-field habits are, at the very least, troubling. But his recent comment that he was returning his children’s “participation”...

If you look at the most successful franchises and head coaches in sports today, they have one common characteristic: stability. And in our job-hopping society, nobody embodies stability like Tommy Lasorda, legendary manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers. Lasorda has been retired since 1996, but his aura can still be felt throughout Dodger stadium. He has the longest tenure of anyone in his organization, won the National...

The Pro Football Hall of Fame is this weekend. There have been many inspiring speeches delivered at the HOF over the years, but the greatest of all time occurred in 1993 when 12-year-old Jarrett Payton quietly stepped to the podium and, in a high-pitched voice, introduced his heroic father Walter “Sweetness” Payton. Payton (in my opinion) is the greatest football player who ever lived, and the epitome of a service-directed...

As the U.S. Women’s National Team celebrated their World Cup victory a few weeks ago, many of the athletes talked about how connected they were, how much they enjoyed and appreciated each other—and that they felt those things long before the world saw them on display. It was, they said, the secret to the team’s success. Connection is one of the most essential elements in a truly great team, no matter what the field....