Tyndale House Author Drew Brees Named 'Sportsman of the Year' By Sports Illustrated

CAROL STREAM, Ill., Nov. 30, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- Drew Brees, the author of Coming Back Stronger: Unleashing the Hidden Power of Adversity, has been named by Sports Illustrated as its 2010 "Sportsman of the Year." Released this past July 6, and written with Chris Fabry, Coming Back Stronger reached as high as No. 1 on the Wall Street Journal, No. 2 on the Publishers Weekly, and No. 3 on the New York Times hardcover nonfiction lists. More than 200,000 copies of the book are in print.

Since its inception in 1954, Sports Illustrated magazine has annually presented the "Sportsman of the Year" award to the "athlete or team whose performance that year most embodies the spirit of sportsmanship and achievement." Past winners have included sports icons Muhammad Ali, Jack Nicklaus, the 1980 U.S. Olympic Hockey Team, Mary Lou Retton, Michael Jordan, and Lance Armstrong.

Brees guided the New Orleans Saints to the Super Bowl title following the 2009 season, earning Most Valuable Player honors. The autobiography chronicles the incredible comeback story not only of one of the NFL's top quarterbacks but also the rebirth of a city and a team that many had all but written off.

The lofty rankings on the various bestseller lists puts Brees's Coming Back Stronger in elite company as one of the bestselling biographies or autobiographies about an athlete still playing his sport. Its debut at No. 3 on the primary New York Times hardcover nonfiction list was the highest appearance on the list by an active NFL player since Bo Jackson's Bo Knows Bo reached No. 2 in 1990.

The success of Coming Back Stronger was buoyed by the effort that Brees himself put into the book tour that helped launch the book. He conducted more than 70 print and electronic interviews, including ABC's Good Morning America, FOX News's Hannity and On the Record with Greta Van Susteren, and NBC's The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, and an entire day of interviews at ESPN in Bristol, Connecticut. He also signed more than 20,000 copies of the book at 12 book signings in seven states. At many of the signings people camped out overnight to have Brees sign their book.  

Tyndale House Publishers has had great success with sports-related titles in recent years. Tony Dungy's memoir, Quiet Strength: The Principles, Practices, and Priorities of a Winning Life, rocketed to the top spot on the New York Times Best Sellers List in August 2007, and more importantly, impacted countless lives. With more than 1,000,000 copies sold, Quiet Strength is one of the bestselling sports-related titles in history.

Tyndale House Publishers was founded in 1962 by Dr. Kenneth N. Taylor as a means of publishing The Living Bible. It is now one of the premier publishing houses in the industry. Tyndale products include numerous New York Times bestsellers, including the popular Left Behind series. Tyndale also publishes the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, and many other resources for church and family. Tyndale House Publishers is located in Carol Stream, Illinois, a western suburb of Chicago.

SOURCE Tyndale House Publishers