Standing Tall: A Memoir of Tragedy and Triumph | 
| Authors: C. Vivian Stringer, Laura Tucker
Publisher: Crown
List Price: $24.95
Buy New: $11.45
You Save: $13.50 (54%)
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Rating:  24 reviews
Sales Rank: 67386
Media: Hardcover
Pages: 304
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.2
Dimensions (in): 9 x 6.3 x 1.1
ISBN: 0307406091
Dewey Decimal Number: 796.323092
EAN: 9780307406095
ASIN: 0307406091
Publication Date: March 4, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
“Lots of people have dreams, but C. Vivian Stringer is the dream—a coalminer’s daughter who believed when her Poppa told her there was no obstacle she could not surmount. And she lives that dream, teaching others to rise up to meet challenges, turning underdogs into champions again and again—on and off the court. This is the quintessential American story, of a woman and of a family pulling together against the odds. Standing Tall offers an important message of hope to so many.”
—John Chaney, Hall of Fame college basketball coach
At a time when heroes are too rare, C. Vivian Stringer sets a shining example. She has time and again shown character, fortitude, and heart, both on and off the hardwood, and in the face of unbearable loss. In Standing Tall, she shares her remarkable life story, inspiring us to find this fortitude within ourselves.
“Work hard, and don’t look for excuses,” Stringer’s parents told her, “and you can achieve anything.” But her faith and perseverance would be tested many times. A gifted athlete, she had to fight for a place on an all-white cheerleading squad in the sixties. In 1981, just as her coaching career was taking off, her fourteen-month-old daughter, Nina, was stricken with spinal meningitis. Nina would never walk or talk again. Still grieving, Stringer brought a small, poor, historically black college to the national championships—a triumph hailed as “Hoosiers with an all-female cast.” In 1991, her husband, Bill—her staunchest supporter, the father of her children, and the love of her life—fell dead of a sudden heart attack, but that same year, she led yet another young team to the Final Four. Through these dark times and others—including her bout with cancer, shared here for the first time—Stringer has carried her burdens with grace. Given her history, it was no surprise that she led her team to respond to Don Imus’s slurs with dignity and courage.
Standing Tall is a story of quiet strength in the face of punishing odds. Above all, it is an extraordinary love story—love for the game, for the players she has coached, for her close-knit family, and for the husband she lost far too soon. It will resonate long after the last page.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 19 more reviews...
An inspiring life March 8, 2008
Avid Reader (California)
21 out of 22 found this review helpful
As a women's basketball fan I was familiar with C Vivian Stringer and her Rutgers team. What I wasn't familiar with were all the details of her upbringing in a poor but proud family and the struggles she went through as an African American, wife and mother dealing with a high profile career, illness of her daughter, death of her husband and various other unique challenges. Coach Stringer presents all of her struggles in an honest and humble way. I especially enjoyed reading how she developed her coaching style over the years and seeing how she put her values into practice. If you like "overcomer" type stories or sports stories, you'll enjoy this, its the type you can't put down until you finish. I can understand now why her players seem to have so much affection and loyalty for her.
Outstanding in basketball and memoir genres March 29, 2008
Dr Cathy Goodwin (Seattle, WA USA)
13 out of 14 found this review helpful
Am amazing book. Very hard to put down. Coach Stringer shares her life, including stories of her own mistakes, setbacks and bad decisions. She tells us about her happy family and her encounter with racism at high school cheerleader selection. In college, her passion for sports collided with academics and she almost flunked out. And she met a handsome athlete named Bill Stringer.
Stringer's adult life combined professional triumph with personal tragedy. One child remains paralyzed from misdiagnosed spinal meningitis...and speechless from complications when the doctors refused to listen to Vivian's pleas: "I know there's something wrong. Please take another MRI."
Later her husband died at 47 and Stringer herself was diagnosed with breast cancer. She leaned heavily on family to survive these crises with dignity and strength.
As a basketball fan, I especially liked the sections on teams, games and championships. And I would like to have seen more. The most moving scene comes when Stringer describes a New Year's Eve practice when a lackluster team was inspired by Cappie Pondexter, Tammy Sutton Brown and a handful of Coach Stringer's former players. These players had just a few days off for the holidays, yet they came to Rutgers to help their coach and talk to this team from their perspective of "been there." And the team went on to get past the Final Four -- almost all the way to an NCAAW championship.
Ultimately, I welcomed the opportunity to get to know more about Vivian Stringer. I've seen her standing tall at Rutgers games, wearing red, unflappable, and yes, every inch the tough coach in a feminine designer suit with good jewelry.
Good Read, Great Coach March 26, 2008
Vincent P. Domeraski (Hammondsport, NY USA)
8 out of 9 found this review helpful
I started following Rutgers Women's basketball just a few years ago and wanted to find out what makes C. Vivian Stringer tick, as well as to catch up on earlier teams that she coached. The book filled that need admirably. The writing is excellent, details informative and the message uplifting. She has a stoic and yet combative view of life and her story explains why.
No book will ever reveal what a person is like and if you've ever heard her speak, you know that Coach Stringer has poetry in her that barely peaks through in the book. Her reaction to the recent Tennessee clock debacle included, "I seem to have an eraser after my name..."
The perpetual struggle that she is involved in as she coaches and deals with her other challenges and the effect that she has on others is what she is and she is a treasure.
The C. stands for Champion! March 15, 2008
Helen T. Washington (Florida)
7 out of 8 found this review helpful
Most of us heard about her from the fall-out of Don Imus' disgusting comments regarding her team; but in her memoir you will learn that the strength of character she showed during those dark days was ingrained in her from her solid family values. Coach Stringer is a woman whose challenges have only served to make her stronger, better, wiser. And those of us who are privildged to know her can only be amazed by her talent, beauty and fortitude. I can honestly say that the C. in C. Vivian Stringer truly does stand for CHAMPION!
Awesome & Inspiring! March 28, 2008
Lisa M. Babcock (Falconer New York)
6 out of 7 found this review helpful
What a wonderful book! Highly recommended to everyone! Gives hope to all that have a had a struggle like Vivians! From a poor family to coaching one of THE BEST womens college basketball teams EVER! Im a big RU fan and the whole team has been through alot, I commend them on their courage and with Vivian as their coach, they will soar! She's a great role-model to everyone!
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