Sports+Adventures

Sports Adventure is..... An **adventure** is an activity that is perceived to involve [|risky], dangerous or exciting experiences. The term is often used to refer to activities with some potential for physical danger, such as [|skydiving], [|mountain climbing], and [|extreme sports]. However, the term also broadly refers to any enterprise that is potentially fraught with physical, financial or psychological risk, such as a business venture, a love affair, or other major life undertakings. [|source of definition] John Ritter Carl Deuker

"I was born in New York City on October 19, 1955. When I was about a year old, my family moved to Newark, New Jersey, where I spent my childhood. It was pretty uneventful until June 1, 1968, when I came home from a Little League game and found that my dad had suddenly abandoned my mom, my sister Lucy, and me. It was pretty traumatic, as you can imagine, but we all survived. I attended Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey, graduating in 1977 with a degree in psychology. After spending a few unhappy years in graduate school, I decided that psychology was not for me. What I really wanted to do, I decided, was to be a writer. I wanted to write humor, like Art Buchwald and Erma Bombeck. So I moved to New York City in 1980 (where all starving writers go) and began cranking out "humorous essays." My essays weren't all that funny, though I did publish some in a Staten Island newspaper, the Advance. My first check (for $15) is on the wall over my desk as I write this. I also had some of my photos published in the children's humor magazines Cracked and Crazy. I tried writing magazine articles, with little success. I wrote a few screenplays, but never sold them. I thought I had some good book ideas, but publishers weren't interested. I received hundreds of rejection letters. It was very frustrating, but I was very determined and persistent. I felt that I had some ability as a writer, but I didn't know where to direct it. In 1982 the video game Pac-Man was a huge craze, and I started a video games magazine called Video Games Player. This was the first (and only) job I ever had. The magazine sold pretty well, and two years later it was renamed Computer Games. Most importantly, I met my future wife Nina while working on the magazine. She was working as an illustrator, and we hired her to draw game screens. We got married in 1983. Whether I deserved it or not, I became known as a "computer expert." This was astonishing to me, because I knew next to nothing about computers (I still don't). But being the editor of Computer Games enabled me to write articles on the subject. I even wrote a newspaper column that was syndicated in The Philadelphia Inquirer, Miami Herald, and many other papers. I felt like a fraud the whole time. When Computer Games went out of business in 1985, I decided to take a gamble and become a full time freelance writer. At first I wrote about computers, but gradually I started tackling other topics. Eventually, my writing creeped into Esquire, Newsweek, Science Digest, Writer's Digest, Success, Psychology Today, New Woman, USA Today, and The Village Voice. I was gaining confidence as a writer, but I still hadn't found the type of writing I really wanted to do. In 1987, I decided to try my hand at writing about something I always loved-sports. I sold an article to Discover magazine about the science behind the spitball, scuffball, and corked bats. This led to my first adult baseball book (//[|"It Ain't Cheatin' If You Don't Get Caught"]//). It sold pretty well, and I wrote several more baseball books for adults. None of them were big sellers, but it was a lot more fun than writing about computers. In 1992, when my son, Sam, was two years old, I decided to try writing for children. I wrote a few baseball books, then branched out to other sports--ice skating and gymnastics. Up until this point, all my books were non-fiction. I never thought I would be any good at creating a story, but in 1994, I decided to give fiction a try. Surprisingly, I sold the first novel I wrote (//[|"They Came From Centerfield"]//). It was fun to write, kids loved it, and I discovered how incredibly rewarding it is to take a blank page and turn it into a **WORLD**. Finally, after fifteen years, I figured out what my career should be - writing fiction for kids. For the first time, I felt that I was doing something I was good at, something that was fun, creatively rewarding, and appreciated by an audience. Kids often tell me that my books make them laugh. This is funny to me, because writing humor was what I wanted to do when I got started back in 1980! It just took me a while to figure out the best way to do it. I am a member of SABR (Society for American Baseball Research) and SCBWI (Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators). I live in Haddonfield, New Jersey with my wife Nina and our children Sam and Emma." [|source]
 * //Dan Gutman's biography//** ...

//**Carl Deukers biography**//..... "Carl Deuker was raised in Redwood City, California, the son of Jack Deuker and Marie Milligan Deuker. As a young boy, he spend many hours in the creek behind his house and in the wooded area west of his house. Mainly he kicked around with his friend Paul Garibaldi, looking for frogs and lizards and the occasional snake.

Once he started school, Carl continued to wander about in the woods above his house, but as he grew older, he participated in several sports. He was good enough to make most teams, but not good enough to play much. He describes himself as a classic second-stringer. "I was too slow and too short for basketball; I was too small for football, a little too chicken to hang in there against the best fastballs. So, by my senior year the only sport I was still playing was golf."

Carl attended the University of California, Berkeley during the heady days of student protest over Vietnam. He participated in many of those protests, but looking back is not so sure how he feels about those days. "Yes, we students were right about Vietnam. It was a waste. But I'm not sure we understood much of what was happening. I thought I knew everything back then, and I cringe to think how little I actually knew."

Carl was an English major at Berkeley, spending many hours reading the classics and writing (bad) poetry and stories. He participated in intramural sports in those years as well, and was somewhat surprised to find out that he was in fact a decent athlete. Being free from coaches and fans allowed him to enjoy the games more. During his time at Berkeley, he especially enjoyed volleyball.

As an adult, Carl has worked primarily as a teacher, though he also has had some time in the newspaper business. He played basketball and taught some volleyball for many years, but one-too-many sprained ankles forced him to give up both games. Carl still loves playing golf early on Sunday mornings at Jefferson Park, a classic old public golf course located on Beacon Hill in Seattle. Jefferson is the course on which Fred Couples learned to play. (Yes, Fred Couples learned the game on a public golf course.) Carl's handicap at present is 11.1. Most mornings before work he runs Green Lake and then stops by the YMCA in Shoreline to do some weight-lifting and spend some time on the elliptical machine. In winter, he spends more time at the Y and less time at Green Lake.

Married and the father of Marian (who is now in college), Carl currently teaches in the Northshore School District outside of Seattle. He is the author of ON THE DEVIL'S COURT, HEART OF A CHAMPION, NIGHT HOOPS, PAINTING THE BLACK, HIGH HEAT, RUNNER, and GYM CANDY. ON THE DEVIL'S COURT was YA book of the year in South Carolina; HEART was named book of the year in Nebraska, Pennsylvania, and Tennessee; NIGHT HOOPS won in Nebraska; and HIGH HEAT also won the Golden Sower award in Nebraska.

Since Carl grew up in the Bay area, he is a long time Giants fan. His all-time favorite players are Willie Mays, Willie McCovey, and especially Juan Marichal.

Carl's next project is a mystery-thriller-sports book along the lines of Runner. In this one, a mysterious student-athlete (Angel Marichal) shows up Lincoln High, seemingly without a past. Mitch True and Kimi Yon, two students who work on the school newspaper, decide to find out just who this student is and what he's done." [|source]

//**John Ritter's bioagraphy**//.... "The son of a legendary country singing musician/actor [|Tex Ritter] and his wife [|Dorothy Fay], who was also an actress, John Ritter started out his life as Jonathan Southworth Ritter, who was born in Burbank, California, on September 17, 1948. After his father married [|Dorothy Fay] Southworth in 1941, the couple had their first child, [|Tom Ritter], who had been diagnosed with cerebral palsy, and became a lawyer, but John was destined to follow in his parents footsteps. He was enrolled at Hollywood High School, where he was a student body president, and became the most popular student ever.

After graduation from high school, he later attended the University of Southern California, where he majored in Psychology and minored in Architecture. Also in 1966, before attending college, his first appearance on TV was as a contestant on [|"The Dating Game"] (1965), on which he won a vacation to Lake Havasu, Arizona. After making his very first cameo appearance and a couple of years of attending school, he was induced to join an acting class taught by [|Nina Foch]. He changed his major to Theater Arts, graduating in 1971 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Drama. He also studied acting with [|Stella Adler] at the [|Harvey Lembeck] Comedy Workshop. Between 1968 and 1969, he appeared in a series of stage plays in England, Scotland, Holland and in Germany. His father was entertaining troops in Germany at the same time that his son was performing at an air base there.

His acting [|debut] was on an episode of [|"Hawaii Five-O"] (1968), playing various roles. On [|"Dan August"] (1970), he played a campus revolutionary, in a film which also starred [|Burt Reynolds] and [|Norman Fell], who later starred with him on [|"Three's Company"] (1977). Then, he appeared as "Reverend Matthew Fordwick" on [|"The Waltons"] (1972). His guest-starring spot was so popular, that he was interested in having a recurring role on the show. But, he continued making more guest appearances on [|"Medical Center"] (1969), [|"M*A*S*H"] (1972), [|"The Bob Newhart Show"] (1972), [|"The Streets of San Francisco"] (1972), [|"Kojak"] (1973), and, once again, a preacher on [|"Rhoda"] (1974), [|"Mary Tyler Moore"] (1970), among many others. While working on [|"The Waltons"] (1972), he received word that his legendary father had passed away, just a day after New Year's Day in 1974. The following year in late 1975, ABC picked up the rights for a new series on a British sitcom about, [|"Man About the House"] (1973) and Ritter beat out 50 people including a young [|Billy Crystal], to get a major role. The first pilot was trashed, and in order for it to be improved, [|Joyce DeWitt], an unknown actress, played the role of "Janet Wood", the following year, along with [|Susan Lanier] as the dumb blonde, "Chrissy Snow". Unlike the first pilot, it did better but the producers still needed a change and [|Suzanne Somers] came to the show, at the very last minute to play "Chrissy". The series, [|"Three's Company"] (1977), was born. When it [|debut]ed as a mid-season replacement, it became a ratings hit, like many other sitcoms of the 70s, and it focused mainly on his character, "Jack Tripper", an admirable chef who lived in an apartment with two attractive ladies, while pretending to be gay.

Before playing "Jack Tripper" on the small screen, he also made his box office [|debut] in the movie [|Nickelodeon] (1976). Two years later, he worked with his close friend, [|Jenny Sullivan], in [|Breakfast in Bed] (1978), and the following year, played "Pres. Chet Roosevelt" in the movie [|Americathon] (1979). Also in 1977, he and his brother emceed the Annual United Cerebral Palsy Telethon (a neurological condition particularly close to their hearts because of Tom's triumph over it) and racked up millions of dollars for the cause in the 15+ years he ran the telethon. He also became more popular with movies such as [|Hero at Large] (1980) and [|They All Laughed] (1981). In 1980, when [|"Three's Company"] (1977) was sold into syndication, the show became a ratings phenomenon, during its last 2 years. However, at the height of Ritter's popularity, he won a Golden Globe in 1983 for Best Performance by an Actor, after being nominated twice for Best TV Actor in a Musical-Comedy Series and, one year later, he won an Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actor In a Comedy Series, after being nominated twice. By its eighth season, the show began to drop in the ratings and was canceled in 1984. After the cancellation, he starred in its spin-off, called [|"Three's a Crowd"] (1984), starring [|Mary Cadorette], but it lasted for only one season.

His first animated movie was that of a man turning into a dragon, whose job was to defeat "Ommendon" in [|The Flight of Dragons] (1982), on which he played "Peter Dickinson". The following year, he came back to series television as "Detective Harry Hooperman" in the comedy/drama, [|"Hooperman"] (1987), for which he was nominated for both an Emmy and a Golden Globe in 1988, for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series, and won a People's Choice [|Award] for his role. During and after his role on [|"Hooperman"] (1987), he continued doing more box-office films, from 1987-1992, such as [|Skin Deep] (1989), in which he played a womanizing, drunken, alcoholic writer whose life seemed to be falling apart at the seams. Also, in this movie, he was pleased to see his mentor, acting coach [|Nina Foch], and the two worked closely together, after all the years he'd been in school. In the two-part movies, [|Problem Child] (1990), and in [|Problem Child 2] (1991), he played the surrogate father of a rebellious little boy who continues to wreck havoc unto the family and to make fun out of everybody. He also worked on [|Noises Off...] (1992), and [|Stay Tuned] (1992), before returning to another TV series called [|"Hearts Afire"] (1992). On this sitcom, he played "John Hartman", who was an aide to a senator whose life was also complicated by his girlfriend's father, and [|Billy Bob Thornton] played "Billy Bob Davis". Like his first series, [|"Three's Company"] (1977), the show had well-written scripts, but failed to reach a massive audience, which led to its cancellation in 1995. While he was working on [|"Hearts Afire"] (1992), he played "Ward Nelson" on [|North] (1994). Then, he had the opportunity to work with former [|"Hearts Afire"] (1992) actor [|Billy Bob Thornton], in the movie, [|Sling Blade] (1996), in which Ritter played the gay manager of a department store and Thornton was "Karl Childers", a institutionalized man who was hospitalized since the childhood murder of his mother and her lover. Thornton had wrote and directed the movie, giving Ritter/Thornton the best reviews. He provided the voice of "Clifford" in the PBS animated series [|"Clifford the Big Red Dog"] (2000). He was nominated for a Daytime Emmy [|Award], 3 times in a row, making it seven Emmy nominations in his 35-year career. In 1999, he was also nominated for an Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series, playing the role of "George Madison" on an episode of [|"Ally McBeal"] (1997). Soon after wards, he landed his last television role in [|"8 Simple Rules... for Dating My Teenage Daughter"] (2002), based on the popular book. On this sitcom, he played "Paul Hennessey", a loving, yet rational dad, who laid down the ground rules for his three children, and dealt with such topics as curfews, sex, [|drugs], getting [|arrested], etc. The show was a ratings winner in its first season and won a People's Choice [|Award] for Best New Comedy and also won for Favorite Comedy Series by the Family [|Award]s! While working on "8 Simple Rules", he also starred in his second-to-last film, [|Manhood] (2003). That same year, he first felt ill while rehearsing on set, and was rushed across the street to Providence St. Joseph Medical Center in Burbank, California, where he was diagnosed with an aorta dissection, which meant in layman's terms, an unrecognized flaw of the heart. He underwent surgery and died on September 11, 2003, just days shy of his 55th birthday. In the years that he worked, John Ritter was a loving comedian and a passionate actor, who wanted to make everybody laugh. Shortly before his death, his eldest son, [|Jason Ritter], was cast in the role of "Kevin", a young man who was a high school sport star but is now paralyzed for life in the highly-rated drama [|"Joan of Arcadia"] (2003)." [|source]