Smith, Vickery to host book signings in Gulf Shores, Fairhope

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Legendary Auburn University basketball coach Sonny Smith and former professional baseball player, author and radio host Lou Vickery will be in Baldwin County on Wednesday, Sept. 8 to promote their new book Winning the “Head” Game: The Key to Elite Athletic Status.

Smith and Vickery hold morning and afternoon sessions on Wednesday, Sept. 8 in Baldwin County, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the George Meyer Tennis Center in Gulf Shores, and from 3 to 5 p. m. at Page n Palette Book Store in Fairhope.

“Athletics starts with the body, but ultimately, it is the nature of the mind that speaks to the level of achievement an athlete experiences in sports,” according to a release issued to help promote the book. “The mission of Winning the “Head” Game is to provide the necessary ingredients to help athletes and coaches build a bridge from where they are to where they would like to be.”

A native of Tennessee, Smith began his coaching career in 1976 at East Tennessee State before becoming the head coach of the Tigers in 1978, where he led the Tigers to the 1985 SEC Tournament championship and five NCAA Tournament appearances, its first coming in 1984 with future NBA Hall of Famer and Olympic champion Charles Barkely.

Smith also led the basketball program at Virginia Commonweath University (VCU) from 1989 to 1998, winning both the Colonial Athletic Association regular season and tournament titles in 1996 en route to another NCAA Tournament appearance.

He retired from coaching in 1998 with an overall coaching record of 339-304, going 172-154 at Auburn. He was inducted into the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame in 2007.

After retiring from coaching, Smith and legendary Alabama basketball coach Wimp Sanderson, teamed up for “The Sonny and Wimp Show” on WJOX-AM in Birmingham until 2006. From 2003 to 2014 he provided color commentary for the Atlantic Sun Game of the Week on Comcast Sports Southeast (CSS) and currently works as color commentator for the Auburn Sports Network radio broadcast.

Vickery, a resident of Fairhope, signed a professional baseball contract with the St. Louis Cardinals out of high school. Over a 10-year career, he also played for the New York Yankees organization and coaches in the Cincinatti Reds organization.

According to louvickerybooks.com, after his baseball career ended, Vickery got a B.S. degree from Troy State University, coached a year in Troy, then spent four years with Merrill Lynch as an account executive before moving into the training and development field in 1974.

After 1980 he did contract training for numerous national organizations and over a 30-year period worked with over 2,800 companies in 44 states and two foreign countries. He has spoken in every city in the United States with a population of over 150,000 people.

After retiring from the training and development business, Vickery spent 15 years as a radio host of Lou in the Morning. He retired in 2017. This is Vickery’s 16th book.

The book is broken down into five parts:

Part One: Sonny on Sonny is an autobiographical sketch by Smith about himself. This affords the reader a chance to get up close and personal with a side of Smith that very few people have been exposed to, or know about. It’s not every day one has the chance to interact with a coach who has been inducted into eight Hall of Fames.

Part Two: Personal Prep is directed toward the personal phase of how athletes view themselves. We would venture most young athletes see themselves as being capable of doing a lot of things very well, athletically speaking. Some other things they do are passable, and probably a few maybe not so good. It matters how athletes view their present self, but more importantly, are how they view the unseen abilities and possibilities yet to come.

Part Three: Preparing for Action places the accent on the preparation of mentally and physically preparing what goes on between the white lines. We didn't write Winning the "Head" Game for athletes based on their present athletic status and boundaries. Winning the "Head" Game is written for those who see themselves as "a work in progress." Becoming an elite athlete is a developmental process. Our purpose is to help young athletes move from potential to reality.

Part Four: Between the Lines offers some salient ideas for maximizing efforts when the action begins for real. From creating activity to handling setbacks to overcoming defeat, this part of Winning the "Head" Game focuses on what makes a difference when the game action is ongoing.

Part Five: Overtime highlights motivational and inspirational messages under the heading All About Winning. It is great material for handouts that can help keep young athletes expanding and growing.

“There’s plenty here for both coaches and athletes,” according to the release. “Coaches in particular will find some of the commentary by Sonny at the end of each chapter, the right mix of wisdom and relevant points of interest. We call these a Sonny moment. They give all readers a chance to view things from a very different and unique perspective.”

According to the release, Winning the "Head" Game is a resource book where a young athlete or a coach can read a particular applicable heading or message at any point in time that might apply to personal circumstances.

“We believe this book can create the mental, psychological and emotional well-being that will move young athletes beyond what they have been for the greater reward of what they can become.”

Published by Upword Press LLC, Winning the "Head" Game is available at Amazon.com, barnesandnoble.com, louvickerybooks.com or at your local book store.