New Sports Illustrated Book Sheds Light on How a College Football Team Helped a Community Heal After a Disaster

TUSCALOOSA, Ala., Sept. 3, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Lars Anderson has covered hundreds of important and interesting stories for Sports Illustrated during his 20-year writing career, but none was more significant or had as profound an impact as did his front-cover reporting of the EF-Level 4 tornado with 190 mph winds that shredded Tuscaloosa – and inspired a 21st century college football dynasty.

The April 27, 2011 storm lasted six minutes but changed many lives. Now, three years later, Lars is back with a new book – The Storm and the Tide: Tragedy, Hope, and Triumph in Tuscaloosa (Time Inc Home Entertainment, August 19, 2014) -- that dramatically and profoundly details the story of one town's devastation and recovery – and its impact on the Crimson Tide – and how the University of Alabama football team helped, in turn, to heal the residents of the storm-ravaged area. 

The book reminds us of how some of life's events can overshadow everything, and at the same time reminds us that sports can be used to help heal others. It provides a stunning behind-the-scenes look at how the deadliest tornado in the history of the South – 235 people died in three states in one day – inspired the University of Alabama to win its third national title in four years.

Lars shows us how:

• People come back even from the toughest loss of all.
• To live with tragedy and not let it consume us.
• Sports can still alleviate pain, and provide not just an escape, but an inspiration.
• A community rallied itself together after a great natural disaster.
• The culture of football and the healing of a community came together.
• A team empowers itself to win, not just in spite of tragedy, but perhaps because of it.
• What it's like to be around legendary coach Nick Saban in a time of crisis.

"Life is bigger than sports, but sometimes sports seems bigger than life," says Lars. "This book shows us how the compassionate and competitive come together. For those looking to give life –and sports – context, this story does both."

The Storm and the Tide details what the championship run has meant and serves as a celebration of a team and a town. Each impacted the other like never before.

Media contact: Brian Feinblum, Chief Marketing Officer/Senior VP at MEDIA CONNECT,
212-583-2718 [email protected]

SOURCE Lars Anderson