Titles by Dan Grunfeld

<div><strong>An electrifying and poignant case study in overachievement, detailing one of the most improbable success stories in college basketball history</strong><br><br>For a magical, unforgettable stretch of time, the Stanford University men&#39;s basketball team simply forgot how to lose. The 2003-2004 squad shattered all expectations, racing to a mind-blowing 26-straight wins — many against powerhouse programs with superior talent — punctuated by a series of heroic finishes that still capture the public’s imagination twenty years later.&#160;</div><div>&#160;</div><div>The true improbability of that season is magnified through an examination of the people: the players from different cities, of various races and religions, and of contrasting socioeconomic backgrounds who figured out how to win together, and who then couldn’t <i>stop </i>winning together.</div><div>&#160;</div><p>There was the fatherless star from Compton — epic afro and all — who found strength and love in a powerful mother and three demanding brothers. The white guard from Illinois, abandoned by his&#160;<br>mother at age five, whose father slept on the couch of a tiny apartment in a rich suburb so his son could attend the state’s best high school. The bi-racial Mormon missionary from Missouri, known as “Pops” because of his advanced age relative to his teammates. The harmonica-playing, mustache-sporting, Birkenstock-wearing hippie from Sacramento. The future NFL wide receiver who played basketball on the side.</p><p>And there was Dan Grunfeld, the Jewish kid from the suburbs of New York City, the son of the only player in NBA history whose parents survived the Holocaust. Grunfeld details the incredible upsets, wild comebacks, and unforgettable buzzer beaters, while deeply examining the values at play that allowed the whole to be much greater than the sum of its parts.&#160;</p><p><i><strong>The Miracle of Team</strong></i><strong> recounts an epic sports journey that is equal parts entertaining, enlightening, and inspiring.</strong></p>

When Lily and Alex entered a packed gymnasium in Queens, New York in 1972, they barely recognized their son. The boy who escaped to America with them, who was bullied as he struggled to learn English and cope with family tragedy, was now a young man who had discovered and secretly honed his basketball talent on the outdoor courts of New York City. That young man was Ernie Grunfeld, who would go on to win an Olympic gold medal and reach previously unimaginable heights as an NBA player and executive.  In By the Grace of the Game, Dan Grunfeld, once a basketball standout himself at Stanford University, shares the remarkable story of his family, a delicately interwoven narrative that doesn't lack in heartbreak yet remains as deeply nourishing as his grandmother's Hungarian cooking, so lovingly described. The true improbability of the saga lies in the discovery of a game that unknowingly held the power to heal wounds, build bridges, and tie together a fractured Jewish family. If the magnitude of an American dream is measured by the intensity of the nightmare that came before and the heights of the triumph achieved after, then By the Grace of the Game recounts an American dream story of unprecedented scale. From the grips of the Nazis to the top of the Olympic podium, from the cheap seats to center stage at Madison Square Garden, from yellow stars to silver spoons, this complex tale traverses the spectrum of the human experience to detail how perseverance, love, and legacy can survive through generations, carried on the shoulders of a simple and beautiful game.