With a new football season due to begin, Christian publishers are hoping that a raft of new, game-related titles will make for a strong fall.

The latest from best-selling Quiet Strength (Tyndale House Publishers) author Tony Dungy, The Mentor Leader, released Aug. 3, following the publisher's launch last month of Coming Back Stronger, the memoir of 2010 Super Bowl-winning quarterback Drew Brees.

Coming in October from Tyndale is Remember Why You Play, sports columnist David Thomas' account of one high school team's season that included a game against the Gainesville State Tornadoes, a school for juvenile offenders.

Meanwhile, Barbour Publishing--better known for its Amish fiction and Heartsong romance novels--has also entered the field with Playing With Purpose by Mike Yorkey. The book profiles three National Football League rookie quarterbacks: Sam Bradford of the St. Louis Rams, Tim Tebow of the Denver Broncos and Colt McCoy of the Cleveland Browns.

Howard Books follows its August release of retired Florida State football coach Bobby Bowden's memoir, Called to Coach, with October's On the Right Track. It is by Marion Jones, the former Olympic champion stripped of her gold medals after a doping scandal, who now plays pro basketball and is a frequent speaker to youth, urging them to make the right choices.

WaterBrook Press is dipping its toe into the sports field again with The Walk, an Oct. 5 release by free-agent running back Shaun Alexander.

Running-related books on their way include The Grace to Race by Sister Madonna Buder (Simon and Schuster, October) and Run to Overcome by 2009 New York City Marathon winner Meb Keflezighi (Tyndale, November).

Read the full report in the September issue of Christian Retailing.

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