The Glory of the Game

Ben Reiter

October 29, 2007

Special contributor Rob Fleder's work on The Basketball Book, a celebration of the game in words by SI writers and pictures by the greatest sports photographers, started with a review of the magazine's bound volumes, going back to SI's first issue in August 1954. With all the spectacular material in our archives, the problem was, as it had been with the football and baseball books Fleder (above) edited for SI, what to choose. The same applied to the tens of thousands of photos that Fleder sifted through. He also traveled to the Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Mass., where he was given access to a trove of material not on public display, including balls, shoes and jerseys dating back to the game's creation. Many were photographed exclusively for the book and integrated into striking layouts by SI creative director Steven Hoffman. The Basketball Book went on sale on Tuesday.